Elon Musk hopes to bring Tesla Electric cars to India by 2020. He revealed this information while talking to IIT Madras students during the Hyperloop competition.
The Avishkar Hyperloop student team from India didn’t win the event but they came to know the news that every electric car fan back home is dying to hear.
In one of their questions to Elon Musk, the students asked — ‘Whether he’d be bringing Tesla Electric cars to India?’. Musk Replied by saying that he would ‘love’ to be here in India and we can expect a launch by 2020.
Elon Musk Could Bring Tesla to India
Elon Musk is known for making outrageous claims and this one could be one of those. But if Elon were to bring Tesla to India next year, here’s what he’d need:
- Robust Infrastructure for Fast Charging Station
- Huge number of service centers
Robust Fast Charging Infrastructure
As of right now, there are only a handful of fast-charging stations in India. The Government has recently planned on bringing the EV supportive infrastructure to speed by introducing several incentives in the Union Budget, but that’s not enough.
Elon will to install private superchargers for Tesla if he wants his electric cars to be taken seriously by the masses. On the topic of expanding the EV infrastructure, a good example is the Ather Electric scooters. The company recently opened a new showroom in Chennai.
The Bengaluru based startup not only sold neatly designed electric scooters but also paved the way for other electric vehicles by offering to install charging ports throughout the city.
Ather has named the collection of their charging stations as Ather Grid, which also gives them a bonus point for branding. Tesla has installed superchargers across America, 14,081 to be exact. However, not a single one of them is currently present in India.
Tesla naturally comes with a humongous battery than your average electric cars like Hyundai Kona or Mahindra e20, so anything less than a V2 supercharger is just asking for trouble.
The recently launched Hyundai Kona has employed another strategy, due to the lack of EV charging infrastructure. The company is offering two chargers, a normal 3-pin charger, and a DC Wall charger. The company will install the DC wall charger to the place of your preference, be it your workplace or your home.
However, Hyundai has partnered with IOCL to come up with electric charging stations in the near future.
Huge Number of Service Stations
Notice how I said, ‘Huge’ it’s because India is a country with still-developing road infrastructure. A Tesla might run a million miles in Fremont, California without any maintenance but be prepared to reduce that figure significantly if you are driving that car in New Delhi.
Also, in order to make Tesla Electric cars more affordable, Tesla could lose some of its luxuries like the Air Suspension. An amalgam of cheap, robust and durable parts combined with a long-range battery will spell the ultimate success for Tesla’s electric cars in India.
Elon Musk might be ready to bring Tesla cars to India, but there’s still a lot to be considered before taking that humongous step. I say this not because I don’t want Tesla cars roaming around in India, quite the contrary. I want Tesla to annihilate the competition and do it seamlessly.
