According to Electrek, Indonesian officials revealed that Tesla, Ningde Times (CATL) and LG are considering building a battery factory in Indonesia.
Particularly, the local media reports that Indonesian Maritime Coordinator Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan recently said that several companies are considering the construction of the Morowali Industrial Park in central Sulawesi. Tesla is one of the participants.
Ningde Times and LG will be stationed there. Tesla may also participate. But it’s still unclear what role it will play. These companies will form a consortium to manage the project.
By the way, Ningde Times is China’s largest car battery manufacturer. It is the most active in this project. But now we learn that LG and Tesla will also participate in this project.
‘CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology) is the one that entered Morowali, then it and LG were the major players. Tesla also joined it, but how much, I did not know… I do not know about Tesla’s role, as their consortium is the one regulating it.’
Pandjaitan also said that the details of the project have yet to be determined. They are now waiting for a presidential decree to provide tax incentives to electric vehicle-related companies and to cut import taxes.
Pandjaitan added:
‘Maybe (if it is completed) in the next three years. My batteries in the next three years would have become better, maybe faster. I think it must be the biggest because we are all, and our costs are cheaper because of the costs.’
Tesla has yet to confirm the source of battery cells for its Gigafactory 3 in China and recently, the automaker hinted that it plans to produce its own battery cells.