Luhut Pandjaitan Reveals Why Tesla Interested to Invest in Indonesia

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investments Luhut Pandjaitan in his Instagram post claimed that there is one reason that has attracted Tesla to invest in Indonesia; it is the country’s potential in the nickel industry, which is the critical ingredient for the EV battery. 

“The real relief for me personally was when Elon Musk revealed the reason he was interested in this partnership, which was because of my presentation on the major nickel industry potential in Indonesia that changed his perception, as he sees it to be promising in supplying raw materials for electric vehicle batteries,” the minister wrote in his social media post. 

Apart from the recent meeting between Indonesia’s entourage at Tesla headquarters, Luhut said he plans to invite Elon to attend a B20 forum that is included in the series of the G20 Summit in Bali, Antaranews reported. 

“I am hoping this is not our last meeting with each other and we hope there will be discussions regarding the progress of Indonesia’s nickel industry that will take our country to enter the global EV industry supply chain,” he added. 

Luhut Pandjaitan also recalled how his entourage, including from the Bakrie Group, received a warm welcome from the Tesla owner himself. The meeting itself lasted roughly an hour and mostly touched on electric vehicle batteries and explorations toward the mineral downstream program. 

Tesla itself has reportedly shown interest in Indonesia and there were talks about entering the Indonesian automotive market two years ago. However, the series of negotiations did not come to fruition. 

Read: Bakrie Group Says It Is Committed to Developing Electric Vehicle Ecosystem after Meeting with Tesla

ANTARA