After a few months of rumours and whispers, it appears that Tesla will be investing in a battery material facility in Indonesia.
Per Reuters, Senior Minister Luhut Pandjaitan posted details from a recent trip to San Francisco to visit Tesla officials. On the post, he noted:
He [Elon Musk] wants to invest in the manufacturing of materials for lithium batteries… The investment will be quite big. Let’s wait for Elon to come here around the end of September or October this year.
Indonesia is ripe with nickel and has been attempting to woo Tesla and other auto manufacturers to the region for some time. Tesla has already struck deals with multiple companies in the country to source nickel, making for an easy supply chain for Tesla.
The Minister also confirmed that Tesla would not be building a car factory in the country which puts some rumours to bed about the next Gigafactory location being on the island nation.
In addition to investing in a new battery material facility, the Minister confirmed that Starlink would go live in the country to provide rural internet services. The Minister did not provide any additional details, including when that would happen or any pricing.
Neither Tesla nor Starlink commented on the reports, but we could see more information in the coming weeks and months.
