GigaFactory in Indonesia and Monterrey Mexico Still Postponed, but Surprising a New Plan of GigaFactory in Saudi

Riyadh 6.01pm / DC 11.01am

Saudi Arabia is trying to nail down access to critical minerals and diversify away from oil, and it’s in early (separate) talks with Trafigura and Tesla’s Elon Musk (for GigaFactory) to do it.

Tesla’s Elon Musk and Saudi are in talks for an EV factory or gigafactory that could be supplied with metals from the kingdom's pushing into African mining assets. Amid tension on government-to-government level between Saudi and U.S., contrary, in B2B still gigantic deal between them. Biden's inner-circle view Saudi Arabia as such a terrific military partner? The Saudi defense firm that courted Raytheon — and Russia and China.

Last August, Indonesia Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, “jack of all trades” for Indonesia President “Jokowi” Joko Widodo mentioned that he recently had a meeting with Tesla CEO Elon Musk to discuss Indonesia’s economic development and the current condition of Tesla Inc. The main focus of the investment appears to be on the manufacturing of materials for lithium batteries, which are crucial components of electric vehicles (EVs).

Are the recent decisions of the oil producing nations changing the dynamics of the global oil market? China’s restocking has made this easier but that support should have played out by now. Previously unreported documents show what Exxon said publicly about climate change was very different from how it approached the issue after 2006. Former US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and his fellow Exxon executives worked to obscure the company’s complicity in climate change.

Demand destruction due to high prices and triumph of EVs will make it hard to sustain the high prices though. If the price cap on Russian oil was successfully lowered and enforced, that would change the incentives for Russia from a high prices approach to a high volumes approach which would balance the market on a lower level.

While it seems that Tesla is not considering a vehicle production facility in Indonesia at this time because Tesla’s plan in Mexico (build Gigafactory) is postponed, plans for a battery materials plant are underway. Meanwhile, Tesla recently filed to implement a US$700 million expansion at Giga Austin.

15 Years ago, when oil prices went US$150 - US$155 alongside the Subprime Mortgage crisis, there was no option about EV cars. Today, around 3% of cars on the road are EV. The more oil prices uncontrollable, the more chance of EVs being sold. Despite the US busy erecting barriers to foreign-made EVs, & Chinese batteries in particular, BYD has grown to be the largest manufacturer of battery-electric buses in North America.

China's economy is sluggish but autos are a big pocket of strength. China delivered 2.24 million cars wholesale in August, the most for a month this year and a record high for what is usually a slow period. For more complicated, Mohammed bin Salman, indirect owner of Saudi ARAMCO, the 4th biggest company in universe today, is also shareholder of EV automaker RIVIAN, one of TESLA’s Elon Musk rival.

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-prada- Adi Mulia Pradana is a Helper. Former adviser (President Indonesia) Jokowi for mapping 2-times election. I used to get paid to catch all these blunders—now I do it for free. Trying to work out what's going on, what happens next. Arch enemies of the tobacco industry, (still) survive after getting doxed. Now figure out, or, prevent catastrophic situations in the Indonesian administration from outside the government. After his mom was nearly killed by a syndicate, now I do it (catch all these blunders, especially blunders by an asshole syndicates) for free. Writer actually facing 12 years attack-simultaneously (physically terror, cyberattack terror) by his (ex) friend in IR UGM / HI UGM (all of them actually indebted to me, at least get a very cheap book). 2 times, my mom nearly got assassinated by my friend with “komplotan” / weird syndicate. Once assassin, forever is assassin, that I was facing in years. I push myself to be (keep) dovish, pacifist, and you can read my pacifist tone in every note I write. A framing that myself propagated for years.

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