Tesla Builds Factory In India And Not In Indonesia, Luhut Got Prank?

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan. (Photo: Kemenko Marves)

JAKARTA - Electric car manufacturer owned by Elon Musk Tesla Inc. increasingly positive choosing India as their second production base in Asia. Tesla is nearing the final stages of reaching an agreement to produce electric cars in India. If this agreement occurs, Tesla will have 3 production bases, namely in the United States, China and India.

Then, does this mean that the government failed to attract Tesla to invest in Indonesia? Deputy for Investment and Mining Coordination at the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Septian Hario Seto finally commented, although he was reluctant to elaborate further.

"I'm sorry there is a non disclosure agreement (an agreement that cannot be disclosed to the public). Nothing can be disclosed," he said, when contacted by VOI, in Jakarta, Thursday, February 18.

Seto's statement did not answer whether Tesla's investment plan in Indonesia was canceled by the news that Tesla chose India for the production of electric cars.

In early February, the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Menko Marves) Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan revealed that the government had signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with Tesla. He said this was related to the investment of the automotive company.

The government through the Coordinating Ministry for Marves has received a proposal for Tesla's investment plan in Indonesia on Thursday, February 4, 2021.

Previously, the President Director of PT Pertamina (Persero) Nicke Widyawati who explained that Tesla wanted to develop an energy storage system (ESS) or aka an energy storage system to meet the electricity supply needs of the Solar Power Plant (PLTS).

"Tesla is interested in energy storage, not in electric vehicle batteries," he said at a hearing with Commission VII, Tuesday, February 9.

Nicke said that Tesla's interest in developing domestic ESS was due to a plan to increase the number of PLTS en masse in Indonesia. With the increasingly massive PLTS, the electricity supply to ESS will be more reliable, so it is considered to be an attractive business for Tesla.

"He (Tesla) came to Indonesia to see the potential to maintain supply reliability from PLTS is ESS, this is a big market," he said.

This is in line with what was conveyed by the Deputy for Investment and Mining Coordination of the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Septian Hario Seto, on February 5.

Seto said that the investment plan proposal offered by Tesla is different from other potential partners, namely a company from China, CATL, and a company from South Korea, LG. He said this difference was because the basic technology used by Tesla was different from the two other companies.

According to Seto, Tesla is likely to invest in the energy storage system (ESS) sector. This ESS is like a 'powerbank' with large-scale gigantic batteries that can store up to tens of mega watts of electric power, even up to 100 MW for stabilizers or as a replacement as a peaker generator (peak load support).

Furthermore, Seto explained, at night when the electricity consumption of the community is high, this can take advantage of this ESS. In addition, Tesla said that Indonesia which is an archipelago has the potential to combine new and renewable energy with this ESS technology.

"They told us that from the demand side with other countries it is very high, but the supply of ESS is not much. If they want to cooperate with Indonesia with an archipelagic country with the potential for EBT, they can combine ESS technology in Indonesia," said Seto.