New Delhi: With Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk confirming his first-ever India visit to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 21-22 and announce key investments in the electric vehicle (EV) space, industry experts have said that the country could grow into a considerable market for him in the foreseeable future, generating at least $3.6 billion in revenue by 2030.
The news of Musk arriving here brought cheer to millions of Tesla lovers in India, after a determined PM Modi convinced the tech billionaire to look at the country — which has been witnessing stupendous economic growth across quarters for the past decade — as his next destination to build a Tesla plant and a global supply chain system.
According to experts, there’s a lot of history and talk about Musk’s intentions to enter the Indian market.
The current EV penetration in India is 2.3 per cent, which is likely to reach 28 per cent by 2023.
The electric cars priced around $25,000 (Rs 20 lakh and above) will have at least a 15 per cent market share by 2030, according to the latest industry data.
Moreover, India has the potential to become a manufacturing hub for producing cars in the sub-$25,000 price range, with opportunities for export to developing and underdeveloped nations.
Additionally, said experts, Tesla’s preference for establishing its supercharger network could catalyse the growth of India’s EV charging infrastructure, mirroring the standardization seen with US automakers adopting the North American Charging Standard (NACS) charging standards.
Also known as the Tesla charging standard, NACS is an EV charging connector system developed by Tesla. It has been used by all Tesla vehicles in the US since 2021, and was opened for other EV automakers in November 2022.
