Indonesia wants US electric car maker Tesla to manufacture cars there, not just batteries, Bloomberg reported, quoting the country’s President Joko Widodo (Jokowi). Indonesia is also willing to take the time needed to convince Tesla Founder and Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk to see the country as more than just a rich repository of resources, according to the president.

“What we want is the electric car, not the battery. For Tesla, we want them to build electric cars in Indonesia,” Jokowi said in an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday. “We want a huge ecosystem of electric cars.”

The president also said that he had similar expectations from other car makers including Ford Motor Co, Hyundai Motor Co, Toyota Motor Corp and Suzuki Motor Corp, in a bid to show his intent to seek investment and ensure Indonesia was not relegated to being just a raw material supplier or component maker in the global electric-vehicle supply chain, the newswire reported.

Indonesia is home to almost a quarter of global nickel reserves and the country has emerged as a powerhouse producer in recent years. The country, therefore, becomes an attractive destination for auto and battery-makers.

“It’s still a discussion. Everything needs time. I don’t want to be quick with no result. It needs intense communication and the result will show,” Jokowi said in the interview, when asked what is holding back a deal with Tesla.

The Indonesian government has held talks on potential partnerships with Musk’s team over several years, including on the development of EVs with Tesla and on the possibility of a SpaceX rocket launch site in the country — but no agreements have been reached.

Indonesia aims to become an international hub for the EV industry. It is the world’s largest nickel producer and the owner of rich deposits of cobalt and bauxite and copper ores, the main components in the production of EV batteries.

South Korean firm Hyundai has begun manufacturing at its first electric car assembly plant in Cikarang, West Java, in March. The factory produces the carmaker’s newest EV, the IONIQ 5, with an annual capacity of 250,000 vehicles.

Jokowi previously said the government aims to establish an “integrated EV ecosystem” that would include such industry activities as metals mining, battery production and car assembly.

Indonesia woos Tesla with green energy; factory set-up proposed to be in Batang regency – report