Tesla has signed contracts worth five billion dollars with companies in Indonesia to supply nickel, essential for the production of batteries for electric cars.
five billion dollars. It is the total sum of contracts signed by Tesla in Indonesiawith local businesses in particular, announced a minister of the country to CNBC Indonesia. The American automaker will be able use nickel from the countrymade up of thousands of volcanic islands.
It is precisely on Sulawesi Island (600 kilometers North East of Bali) that this contract covers. Indeed, the nickel processing companies are based there, more precisely at Morowali. According to Luhut Panjaitan, Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investments, quoted by Reuters, Tesla signed a five-year contract with these companies.
However, the Austin firm did not no official statement. ” We are still in constant negotiations with Teslabut they started to buy two excellent products in indonesia” continued the minister, in an interview broadcast on Monday.
A new step in the nickel race
Indonesia concentrates a quarter of the world’s nickel reserves. Suffice to say that the territory is attractive. The factories that Tesla turns to, however, are held by the Chinese Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt.
These contracts signed by Tesla are further proof of the interest of nickel for manufacturers of electric cars. This metal is essential in the manufacture of batteries for these vehicles. As well as lithium, cobalt or manganesefor which manufacturers are also fighting.
On average, an electric car contains no less than 50 kilos of nickel, for “only” seven kilos of cobalt and 45 kg of lithium. Especially since nickel can replace cobalt, extracted in the Democratic Republic of Congo in particular. This under sometimes dubious environmental and social conditions. It remains to be seen the nickel mining conditions in Indonesia, which are not necessarily more brilliant.
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