Photo: Tesla
Tesla is looking for the best locations for its next gigafactories, with countries like Canada, South Korea, India, Mexico, and Indonesia rumored to have Elon Musk’s attention. Nevertheless, Indonesia is about to make a big step toward hosting Tesla’s next gigafactory, helped by the country’s reserves of key battery materials.
Tesla likes to have all the options open when choosing the location for the next gigafactory. Many countries around the world would do almost anything to have a Tesla production facility, but for now, the EV maker has chosen its finalists. The battle is between Canada, Mexico, India, South Korea, and Indonesia. Each one has its strong and weak spots, and all are either in Asia or North America.
Based on this, we figure Tesla is looking for one location in Asia and one in North America. We can all but rule out India since the government’s passive-aggressive stance toward Tesla was not to Musk’s liking. That’s why Indonesia and South Korea are now competing for the privilege. Both countries have been courting Tesla for a long time, and both have recently announced concessions to Tesla in a bid to become more than parts and materials suppliers.
A new Bloomberg report claims Indonesia is one step closer to luring Tesla into the country. According to the report, which cites people familiar with the matter, the future plant would produce as many as one million cars per year. It’s the same as Giga Shanghai, Tesla’s main production facility, and in line with the company’s goals to have all its factories eventually reach that production capacity.
The discussions include plans for multiple production facilities for vehicles and components, although a deal is not yet certain. The agreement could still fall through, people told Bloomberg while asking not to be identified as the talks are confidential. When asked about the potential deal on Wednesday, Indonesian Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said that negotiations with Tesla are being led by the Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment.
Indonesian president Joko Widodo visited Musk in May last year and, in August, signed a $5 billion deal to supply nickel to Tesla. Widodo was open about his desire to have Tesla producing cars in the country, not just batteries and materials.
Indonesia could act as a gateway to Southeast Asia’s 675 million consumers, although the market is dominated by the sub-$20,000 cars. If Tesla decides to locate its next gigafactory in Indonesia, it would probably choose to produce a more affordable electric vehicle, rumored to be currently in development.
Elon Musk used the annual shareholder meeting in August to let everyone know that Tesla’s ambition is to have 10 to 12 gigafactories all over the world. At today’s prices, though, Tesla would not have enough customers for that many cars. Even at its current production capacity of around two million vehicles, Tesla is struggling to find customers. The EV maker produced about 60,000 cars more than it sold in 2022, a sign that growth might become more difficult from now on.
Based on this, we figure Tesla is looking for one location in Asia and one in North America. We can all but rule out India since the government’s passive-aggressive stance toward Tesla was not to Musk’s liking. That’s why Indonesia and South Korea are now competing for the privilege. Both countries have been courting Tesla for a long time, and both have recently announced concessions to Tesla in a bid to become more than parts and materials suppliers.
A new Bloomberg report claims Indonesia is one step closer to luring Tesla into the country. According to the report, which cites people familiar with the matter, the future plant would produce as many as one million cars per year. It’s the same as Giga Shanghai, Tesla’s main production facility, and in line with the company’s goals to have all its factories eventually reach that production capacity.
The discussions include plans for multiple production facilities for vehicles and components, although a deal is not yet certain. The agreement could still fall through, people told Bloomberg while asking not to be identified as the talks are confidential. When asked about the potential deal on Wednesday, Indonesian Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said that negotiations with Tesla are being led by the Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment.
Indonesian president Joko Widodo visited Musk in May last year and, in August, signed a $5 billion deal to supply nickel to Tesla. Widodo was open about his desire to have Tesla producing cars in the country, not just batteries and materials.
Indonesia could act as a gateway to Southeast Asia’s 675 million consumers, although the market is dominated by the sub-$20,000 cars. If Tesla decides to locate its next gigafactory in Indonesia, it would probably choose to produce a more affordable electric vehicle, rumored to be currently in development.
Elon Musk used the annual shareholder meeting in August to let everyone know that Tesla’s ambition is to have 10 to 12 gigafactories all over the world. At today’s prices, though, Tesla would not have enough customers for that many cars. Even at its current production capacity of around two million vehicles, Tesla is struggling to find customers. The EV maker produced about 60,000 cars more than it sold in 2022, a sign that growth might become more difficult from now on.
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