Jokowi is confident that Tesla will Invest In Indonesia

There's been a lot of rumours that Tesla Inc is about to set up shop in Malaysia, but if we were to listen to what is being offered to Tesla from our neighbouring country, Indonesia, it'd be more likely that they will have Tesla, before we do.

According to a recent report from Free Malaysia Today (FMT), Indonesian president Joko Widodo is confident Tesla will finalise a deal to invest in a production facility in his country, having offered the US car maker incentives ranging from tax breaks to a concession to mine nickel.

"I told him(Elon Musk) that if you invest in Indonesia, I will give you a nickel concession," said Jokowi.

This is probably one of the best reasons to have a manufacturing hub in Indoenesia, as they have rich reserves of nickel ore, which can be processed for use in EV batteries.

Jokowi added that he is "convinced" that Indonesia has an advantage over other countries because it has the largest nickel reserves, large domestic market and is Southeast Asia's largest economy.

Jokowi said it was up to Tesla to accept or not regarding the nickel mining offer, while explaining that Indonesia is open to investment in the battery supply chain and electric cars.

The president, has held talks with Tesla chief executive Elon Musk twice, meeting him in person at his SpaceX facility in Texas last year and a telephone call, to try to secure a deal.

Tesla is looking for additional manufacturing hubs to add on to their current crop of factories, namely Fremont, California, Shanghai, Austin, Texas and Berlin.

In addition to Indonesia, South Korea, Canada and Mexico are also competing to ensure Tesla invests in manufacturing in the country.

Analysts estimate that Tesla needs to build seven or eight more "Gigafactories" to meet Elon Musk's target of selling 20 million electric vehicles by 2030.