West Java Governor and President of the Association of Oil and Gas Producing Regions and Renewable Energy (Adpmet) Ridwan Kamil he warned that Indonesia must be careful with its attitude China in supply nickel RE.
Kang Emil, as he is commonly called, said Tesla Inc often buys nickel raw materials for its electric vehicle batteries from China. While China buys nickel supplies from Indonesia.
“We have to be careful with China, he gets nickel from Sulawesi, part from us, a little from China. I heard Tesla bought it from China, nickel from us. So, I think it’s a bit immoral”, as quoted by CNBC Indonesia Tuesday (4/10).
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The government continues to strengthen the ecosystem of Indonesia’s electric vehicle battery industry. This can be seen from the number of nickel smelting projects by Chinese investors in Morowali, Sulawesi, for the production of battery raw materials.
Previously, Tesla had signed a contract worth approximately $ 5 billion or equivalent to Rs 74.5 trillion (assuming an exchange rate of Rs.14,901 per US dollar) to purchase battery materials from a company. Chinese nickel processing in Sulawesi.
The two companies are Zhejiang Huayou and CNGR Advanced Materials. From these two companies, Tesla purchases processed nickel mixed precipitated hydroxide (MHP) and nickel sulfate for battery cathode raw materials.
This was also confirmed by the coordinating minister for maritime affairs and investments Luhut Binsar Panjaitan. He detailed the contract Tesla signed for the purchase for five years.
Launching Reuters, Luhut said his party was still negotiating with Tesla to invest in Indonesia.
“We are still negotiating with Tesla, but they have started buying two superior products from Indonesia,” said Luhut.
Zhejiang Huayou is a company engaged in the research, development and production of new energy lithium battery materials and new cobalt materials. The company is headquartered in Tongxiang Economic Development Zone, Zhejiang, China.
Meanwhile, CNGR Advanced Materials is a subsidiary of Hunan CNGR Holding Group Co., Ltd, which focuses on providing professional and comprehensive services for advanced lithium battery energy materials. The company is headquartered in western China, in the Dalong Economic Development Zone, Guizhou.
Jodi Mahardi, a spokesman for Luhut, said that although Tesla bought Indonesian nickel from a Chinese company, the cooperation has also benefited Indonesia.
“The factory is in Indonesia, the workforce is Indonesian, taxes are paid in Indonesia even though the company is Chinese,” Jodi said.
He also explained that in recent years Indonesia has banned exports of nickel ore and encouraged the internal processing of nickel ore.
Therefore, foreign companies build nickel ore processing plants in the country. Hence, the products become export goods such as steel and battery raw materials which provide added value.
“There are certainly many benefits to the state, including jobs, tax revenues, foreign exchange, encouragement for industrialization,” Jodi said.
(mrh / dzu)
