Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Tesla Inc. investment plan. related to efforts to strengthen the global supply chain of electric vehicle batteries in Indonesia will have serious obstacles.
Even though according to USGS data, Indonesia is the largest nickel producer in the world with production reaching 1 million tons in 2021 with reserves of 21 million tons. At the same time, nickel prices have continued to soar over the past few years.
These two conditions are like two different sides of a coin. On the one hand it can be beneficial, but on the other hand it can be detrimental.
This was at least expressed by Septian Hario Seto as the Deputy for Investment and Mining of the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs when he shared the results of the meeting between Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan and Elon Musk.
“Many car manufacturers and battery companies are shifting from nickel to cheaper technology, including Tesla,” Hario explained to CNBC, Wednesday (11/5/2022).
Hario explained that this was not good for Indonesia, considering that Nusantara has the largest nickel reserves in the world. According to him, it would be dangerous if many companies did not use nickel at all.
“We did an exposure to Elon, there is potential for nickel in Indonesia as well as the technology we are developing. Convincing Elo that Tesla can get the Nickel needed with ESG that complies with Tesla standards,” said Hario.
Hario deliberately mentions the issue of ESG because according to him, Tesla is also a company with high ESG standards. Hario also explained that Tesla’s response was quite good and planned to send their team to Indonesia to see the potential for cooperation.
“The government wants cooperation to be win-win and that is the bottom line for us,” said Hario.
This middle ground is still being sought for Tesla’s cooperation, because in several countries such as Germany and China, Tesla fully controls the company even though it is not located in the United States (US). Meanwhile, Hario also explained that in Indonesia, we must cooperate with local companies.
“Later, it is necessary to discuss the pattern of cooperation, especially since this is a large investment and continues to be processed. At present, feedback is increasingly narrowing, both their wishes and ours,” said Hario.
Elon Musk has previously raised concerns about future nickel shortages that could put a brake on battery efficiency and storage capacity, and make them more expensive to manufacture.
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(RCI/dhf)
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