Elon Musk’s Tesla EV all set to begin its Indian journey in 2021; research on aluminium-ion batteries is ongoing: Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Govt. of India

Tesla Inc., the American electric vehicle and clean energy company will start operations in India early next year, as commented by Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Govt. of India. Tesla is considered as the world’s most valuable automobile company, evaluated as more than double the combined value of Toyota, Ford and General Motors.

Elon Musk, while commenting on Tesla EV’s Indian journey, stated that definitely, it will be 2021, but not the early part of the year. 

Gadkari said: “Tesla would first start by selling its cars in India. The India price of the Tesla Model 3 should be in the INR 55-60 lakh range and depending upon the response, maybe look at assembly and manufacturing operations as well.”

The Transport Minister added: “India is going to become a number one manufacturing hub for electric vehicles in five years. Indian companies were also working on electric vehicles and in due course of time, you will get electric cars which will be equal to Tesla. I am confident and the cost will be very less and in due course, India would be the number one manufacturer of electric vehicles like cars, bikes, trucks, tractors and construction machinery that run on electricity.”

He further said: “A lot of small companies have started manufacturing electric scooters and bikes in factories in Uttar Pradesh and other parts of the country and that there is already a lot of research going on to indigenously develops an alternative to lithium-ion batteries since most lithium-ion batteries are imported from China.”

“There are some problems related to lithium-ion. Argentina has got huge reserves of lithium-ion. Our Indian players are also trying to get lithium-ion the world over. But this is also true that the Chinese have already picked up stakes in the majority of the lithium-ion mines,” he said.

The Indian researchers are now trying to invent a better alternative to lithium-ion batteries.

Speaking about the developing ecosystem for EVs, Gadkari said: “Research is on to invent aluminium-ion batteries also and he has already inaugurated heavy construction machinery that runs on electricity. The important thing is already there is a lot of sale of the electric buses, like in Mumbai and Pune, Nagpur etc.”