Tesla to produce cars in China, India ignored
Tesla's CEO Elon Musk has announced he is in talks with China to produce vehicles. He believes that production costs could be cut by a third by manufacturing in China. China is the world's largest car market and demand for electric cars may rise due to pollution problems. Modi had visited Tesla last month, but was primarily focused on the company's powerwall battery packs
What is Tesla motors?
Tesla Motors is an American automative and energy storage company. It was founded in 2003 by its CEO Elon Musk and four other people. It was named after physicist and inventor Nikola Tesla. They design, manufacture, and sell electric cars, electric vehicle, powertrain components, and battery products. CEO Elon Musk's long-term strategic goal was to create an affordable mass market electric vehicles.
Where is Tesla's current production facility?
Tesla manufactures its cars at the 5.4 million square foot Tesla Factory in Fremont, California. All the cars are built and tested in the Tesla factory in Fremont. For the European market, the car's parts are disassembled and shipped to Netherlands, where the cars are reassembled for distribution. As of July 2015, Tesla had delivered 21,357 vehicles manufactured in the Fremont factory.
PM Modi visits Tesla Motors
PM Modi visited Tesla due to India's interest in the company's solar Powerwall technology. Musk and Modi also discussed the probability of a more affordable car for India. Modi was taken for a drive around the Tesla headquarters in a battery-powered cart. Musk had said that Modi and he talked about electricity generation and how it can be used in cellphones.
Why did Modi visit Tesla?
Solar was touted to be fuel of the century and India had it in abundance. Tesla's powerwall solar battery would make a lot of Indian households self-sufficient in their energy needs. Though it costs about $3000 without the panels, prices were dropping every year. Academic Vivek Wadhwa said that in 14 years, solar technology would be able to fulfill 100% of world needs.
Tesla explores assembly unit in India
Tesla motors was considering building an assembly unit in India. The assembly unit was for Tesla's model 3 which was assembled in Netherlands. The company was in talks with the Indian government to justify the import duty on electric cars. Tesla could launch Tesla Model 3 in India by 2016 end or early 2017. Musk could have been interested in Modi's Make in India.
Why did Tesla not choose India?
Though India faces worse pollution troubles than China but India's resilient political and regulatory environment could have dismissed any interest that Tesla had in India.
