All about Tesla in India

Fuel prices are hiking, as of now Petrol prices per liter is Rs 90.60 and Diesel prices per liter is Rs 80.73 as a result of supply cut by OPEC+ the organization of petroleum exporting countries and Russia. And as India consumes nearly 211.6 million tons of oil every year. Out of which less than 35 million tons are only produced locally, which is approximately 15% of the total consumption and for the rest 85%, it depends on imports from countries like Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and Canada. But, due to rising demands and supply cuts hiked up the rates to an insanely 100 rupees a liter.

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But, what about other parts of the world, Well Europe being the largest market of EVs, the European Government likely to ban the sales of pure internal combustion vehicles from 2030 and will shift towards an era of EVs however hybrids will still continue to sell, followed by Europe, American Government also planned to replace all the internal combustion vehicles to EVs by 2035. While talking about Norway which already replaced 76% of its vehicles with EVs. Moreover, scientists have estimated that all our fossil fuels will be depleted by 2060.

                               credit : EV volumes

In all this chaos and hype a company of American origin owned by non-other than Elon Musk and you guessed it right, crown prince of EVs the TESLA Motors is heading to India as all this started after a tweet by Elon four years back that Tesla is coming to India, some people including famous tech YouTuber Amit Bhawani even booked a Model 3 days passed but nothing happened but, recently Elon again tweeted just two words " As promised ". But, this time things are different as the Indian Government itself collaborating with Tesla Motors to revolutionize the Indian automotive market with EVs and Tesla Motors too was in search of an R&D center in India for establishing the company in India, and as planed they opened their first office in Bengaluru, India.

                              credit : web

Now even after establishing an office in India things are not gonna simple. Because as of now only 10-15% of the vehicles are electric out of which a vast majority of them are either eRikshaw or two-wheelers. People in India want to buy an EV but certain things like lack of infrastructure and proper knowledge stop them to buy those. However, certain factors like rising fuel prices and increment in the prices of BS6 vehicles and there service charges also encourage them to buy. Currently in the Indian market if we talk about cars and SUVs customers only have few choices like TATA Nexon EV, Morris Garages ZS EV, and Hyundai Kona are some of the options in mid-segment ranging from 10 lacs to 25 lacs. And moving forward to premium segment there are only two players, Mercedes-Benz EQC based on GLC and the recently launched Jaquar I-Pace ranging over 1 crore.

                                  credit : TATA MOTORS

So far EVs like TATA Nexon EV is doing well in India by crossing over 4000 units in just 14 months, not bad for an EV tough and even the Indian Government is encouraging people to buy EVs by giving subsids in RTO tax. But, there's a catch most of the customers in India are more into highway driving rather than city which creates a major problem of range for instance Nexon EV claims a range of 220-250 km on a full charge in city mode which is not less but you may have to face inconvenience of charging because as of now charging stations in India are quite less and moreover if you want your car to fast charged then its only accessible in the showrooms. Yes, there are options like Kona, ZS EV and EQC but they are'nt aggressively priced like NEXON EV. As we consider most cars sold in India are in the price bracket of 10 lacs.  

Now here comes the Tesla, as they are known for revolutionizing the world with EVs following the footsteps of a visionary leader. Tesla while entering a market or a country does a keen research on market trends and environment. For instance this is the list of official Tesla stores and service centers across the globe

 ( https://www.tesla.com/findus/list ) Tesla also installs fast chargers accros the country for convenience of their customers by charging 80% just in 15 minutes for instance, Tesla only in the US teslaspent over $8 billion to compete against wide spread network of gas stations which made Tesla worlds largest fast charge network owner with over 20,000+ stations globally and between every 10 miles there's a supercharger in the US. And this the the exact same buissenes model Tesla applies to every country and hopefully will take same approach in India. Because in India infrastructure is the biggest problem EV customers are facing right now and if Tesla managed to solve this problem it would be the biggest breakthrough not only for Tesla but for whole nation and EV market. But, its not that simple as it seems be because, for installing superchargers they need land thousands of acres of land but if recal history its never been that easy to get permissions from locals like that TATA Nano factory destruction and protest in West Bengal by farmers. Well tesla always have a backup plan for instance Tesla run a program in the US giving property owners commissions to let them install superchargers hopefully the same works in India too. Now, the second problem starts from manufacturing, Tesla expected to launch Model 3 as their first car to hit Indian market now considering its price in the US $36,990 which is roughly 28 lacs in Indian currency but report says Tesla not likely to make there cars in India any time soon and selling a CBU car in India is a mess because companies have to give 100% tax on that vehicle which also doubles the price of that vehicle making 

Model 3 crazily priced at 67 lacs. following the Model 3 pricing we can also expect higher models like S&X would be priced over a crore if launched making Tesla ridiculously expensive for an average Indian family. But, who knows things may change because so far Elon Musk is operating Tesla in every country so well.

                           credit : wikipidea 

                                        credit : carandbike 

Tesla also comes with world class safety features and Model 3 being the worlds strongest mass market car and recent Indian customers are also aware of safety ratings all thanks to TATA MOTORS. Tesla also have some fancy features like auto pilot and a smart key but it would be interesting to see how Tesla executes those features in India because you already know Indian roads well. 

                              credit : euroncap 

Ok so with that being said, EVs are future and EVs are fun but all of a sudden this revolution would not take place gradually over time EVs will grow on people making them common in lifestyle so far people are excited trying to get rid of fossil fuels and India always been a potential market for EVs. However people still have complains about their EVs and companies are trying to figure it out and Tesla too have their own problems of material finishing and universal chargers that will discuss in next Blog.