Indonesia Is Trying HARD To Get Tesla, What Is Malaysia Doing?

When someone plays hard to get, we turn things up a few notches to make things more interesting. That is what the Indonesian government is doing right now in hopes that Tesla agrees to build its new factory in Central Java (or Kalimantan), and they're planning to power it using geothermal power. It's getting harder for Elon Musk to say no to Indonesia, eh?

What the Indonesian government is doing right now is promoting the use of renewable electricity supply sources for industrial estates. This move might help to attract more foreign investments, particularly Tesla and other firms who are really into reducing their overall carbon footprint.

*Image credit: Tesla

Tesla to build mega factory in Indonesia?

A recent report posted by The Star stated that Indonesia's Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister, Luhut Pandjaitan, has proposed another 'salt bae' move towards Tesla to build its new mega factory in Batang regency of Central Java. The proposal involves the factory being supplied with green energy. This location was chosen in the proposal as its nearby geothermal sources can be harvested to supply around 400 megawatts of power, which can be used to power the Tesla gigantic plant.

Even the country's president, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, has recently stated the idea of banning the export of renewable energy sources in hopes that it'll make foreign investors more interested in inking deals with them rather than with countries they supply the electricity to. Again, another potential move to get that sweet, sweet Tesla deal signed and sealed.

*Image credit: Tesla

500,000 Teslas made in Indonesia

Luhut also mentioned that Tesla is also interested in the upcoming North Kalimantan Green Industrial Park project, which is currently being constructed and has the potential of being powered with hydro or solar power plants. By the looks of things, they might have enough juice to power that highly probable Tesla factory which is said to have an annual output of around 500,000 units of EVs.

As for Malaysia, Tesla is interested in including its network of rapid charging stations in the country but some folks, however, are stating that this move is just to cater to other neighbouring countries like Singapore which already have the brand's sales operations.

As for the Malaysian government, some meetings have been reported here and there (not with Musk because if that has happened, all of us would've seen it all over the news by now), but not anywhere close to what Indonesia is doing right now just to get Tesla to set up shop (a really big one, too).