Image: Luhut Pandjaitan
Tesla and Indonesia are planning a meeting in the coming days, state officials said. The country will roll out incentives to buy EVs to attract investment from companies like Tesla.
Indonesia will provide incentives to boost sales of electric vehicles starting March 20 as part of efforts to accelerate adoption and attract investment from companies like Tesla, Senior Cabinet Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said on Monday, according to Reuters.
Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita said the stimulus program will cover the sale of 200,000 electric motorcycles and 35,900 electric vehicles, as well as the conversion of 50,000 motorcycles with internal combustion engines.
Indonesia is keen to develop domestic electric vehicle manufacturing capacity as the country has rich reserves of nickel, an important material for battery production. To do this, state representatives are in negotiations with major manufacturers such as Tesla.
“We are finalizing negotiations with two big global car producers. We hope this new policy will make our position much stronger than before,” Luhut said without naming the companies.
“If we don't give [incentives], they will not come to us,” he added.
Luhut was asked about talks with Tesla, and he said he plans to speak with the company in the coming days. There have been numerous rumors in the past that the Texan manufacturer wants to settle in Indonesia, however no official announcement has been made so far. Representatives of the company and the country have already met several times.
During Investor Day, Tesla announced that it would build a factory in Mexico. Luhut believes it will only serve the North American market. He believes that a separate facility will be built for Asia.
“Whether it would be Indonesia, we will see,” he said.
Agus said that companies eligible to join the incentive program in Indonesia are required to have a plant in Indonesia and meet certain local content requirements.
© 2023, Eva Fox | Tesmanian. All rights reserved.
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About the Author
Eva Fox
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.
