Nickel-rich Indonesia pitches EV battery plant plan to Elon Musk

By FIRDIA LISNAWATI and NINIEK KARMINI
Associated Press

DENPASAR, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s top investment official says the government has proposed building an electric vehicle battery plant to Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The official spoke after Musk met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo while attending a water conference on the island of Bali. Indonesia is keen to build up industries to exploit is rich natural resources, which include the world’s largest nickel reserves. Nickel is an important material for EV batteries and solar panels. The official, Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, said that “We made an offer, is it possible to build an EV battery factory, precursor to cathodes, here. And he said he will consider it.”