Time and time again, Elon Musk and Tesla stress that batteries are the main limiting factor in their expansion to produce and sell more cars. During Tesla’s Battery Day the automaker revealed their newest 4680 battery cell to help them produce cheaper and higher ranged vehicles. One of the main components of this cell is Nickel. Shortly after Battery Day Musk went on to say that he hopes more Nickel mining will take place and that Tesla will give a “giant contract for a long time” for any company that can efficiently and sustainably mine Nickel. Now, according to a recent report, Tesla will be presumably taking steps themselves to source more Nickel for their ever-growing needs.
The news comes from Indonesia’s deputy head for investment and mining coordination, Septian Hario Seto, who told reporters that he has received an investment proposal from Tesla. While Seto could not divulge too much information due to a non-disclosure agreement, he did state that he would meet virtually with the Tesla team next week to further discuss the proposal.
The proposal appears to be dealing with battery and energy storage solutions and it would be more than a simple supply contract. Seto stated that “if they only want to buy raw materials, we are not interested. This (proposal) is beyond just taking the raw material.” So it appears to be something more involved on Tesla’s end and we could possibly see another Gigafactory in the works.
Indonesia has been the largest exporter of Nickel barring last year when they stopped a lot of exportation to work on their Nickel supply chain. With the country being so rich in the metal it does seem like a no-brainer for Tesla to try and establish itself in the country and build cells to possibly supplement any future Asian factories that they might have planned.
We will keep our ears open next week to see if any more developments come from this meeting.
What do you guys think of the chances of another Gigafactory making its way to Indonesia? Let us know down in the comments below.
Source: Reuters
