The 4 Year Wait: Why Tesla Hasn't Entered the Indian Market (Yet)

Tesla is the world's most valuable car company and has its presence in most countries around the world, but not in India. Why?

In this video, we try to understand the reasons why Tesla hasn't entered the Indian market yet and how Elon Musk can take his electric car company to India.

00:00 Tesla Intro
00:55 Why Tesla Hasn't Entered the Indian Market?
01:41 The Money Problem
06:24 Infrastructure Problems – Crazy Roads and Electric Charging Stations
11:41 Government Policies Favouring Local Manufacturers
13:14 The Solution – Policy Reform, Energy Solutions, Superbikes or Superautos

Tesla Intro: Tesla is the world’s most valuable car company with a market cap of over $382 billion (Rs 28 lakh crore). It is worth more than Fiat Chrysler, Ford, Ferrari, GM, BWM, Honda, and Volkswagen combined. It has a presence all over the world including United States, China, Germany, Netherlands, Canada, Mexico, pretty much everywhere in Europe, Jordan, the UAE, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.

Why Tesla Hasn't Entered the Indian Market: There are more than a few very good reasons that are keeping Tesla from coming to India but here are some of the important ones - The money problem, wealth distribution, lack of electric vehicle (EV) Infrastructure including crazy roads and EV charging stations, along with protectionist government policies favouring local manufacturers.

The Money Problem: The cheapest electric car Tesla has on the market right now, the Model 3, without any of the bells and whistles that Tesla is known for, costs $37,990 (Rs 28 lakh). For a country, like India, where the average income of a regular person is Rs 1.76 lakh ($2,338) per annum, the cost of buying a Tesla is higher than in most countries. How High? Well, if you ignore expenses like rent, food, their phone bill, and transportation, and the insane import tax, it would take more than 16 years for an average Indian to save up enough to buy a Tesla.

Infrastructure Problems (Crazy Roads and Lack of EV Charging Stations): Firstly, let's talk about India's crazy roads. We know that all Tesla's electric cars now come with Autopilot pre-installed. Considering the unique problem of Indian roads in terms of potholes and speed breakers that kills hundreds every year and crowded roads, Tesla's autopilot could end up killing more people than making life easier.

Then we have the problem of the lack of electric vehicle charging stations. There are approximately 250 charging stations in India. Now, according to Inc42, India has barely sold 8000 electric cars in the last 6 years. That means India not only has a lack of EV charging stations but there aren’t enough electric cars on the road either. Also, when it comes to electric charging stations, distribution is the key. Majority of the charging stations in India are located in metros, while some states don’t even have a single EV charging station. This is another reason why Tesla is not in India yet.

Government Policies favouring Local Manufacturers: Take for example the import tax. For cars that cost more than $40,000 (Rs 30 lakh), import tax is an insane 100% and 60% if the car costs less than $40,000 (Rs 30 lakh). Tesla usually funds the construction of its factories with the money that it makes from Tesla sales in the country that the factory is built in. Of course, the issue here is that Tesla can’t sell its cars in India because they won’t make any money from them because of the import tax. No money means no factory. Which means no Tesla in India.

The Solution (Policy Reform, Energy Solutions, Cyberbikes or Cyberautos ): Firstly, policy reform. What if the Indian government were to make an exception? For example, they could temporarily waive these taxes on a case-by-case basis for EV manufacturers who are willing to commit to building EV factories and charging stations in India. This would be a win-win for India and foreign EV manufacturers.

Second, Elon Musk can take a completely different approach - offering energy solutions to Indians via Tesla Energy. And this could be a huge opportunity for Tesla - in fact, it could be a much more lucrative opportunity than electric vehicles, because the demand for a predictable, consistent supply of electricity is much higher than the demand for luxury electric cars. Then, once they’ve established a foothold in the Indian energy space, they would be in a better position to tackle the EV market.

Thirdly, it’s well-known that India has more two-wheelers than cars. So, what if Elon Musk focused on launching Superbikes in India instead of cars?

Special thanks to @HyperChange and Chirah Joshi from Driven Differently for helping us out in making this video.
Driven Differently: https://www.youtube.com/EnergyQuotient/
HyperChange: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1LAjODfg7dnSSrrPGGPPMw

#Tesla #backstagewithmillionaires #bwm

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