Elon Musk 'intrigued' by India's objective of all-electric cars by 2030

He may have recently played down chances of Tesla coming to India in 2017 but Elon Musk - widely regarded as one of the pioneers in development of electric cars - appears to be keeping a close watch on developments here. On Thursday, the Tesla CEO tweeted a report which highlighted India's vision of saying farewell to cars powered by fossil fuels by 2030.

On April 30, power minister Piyush Goyal had said the country is looking at an all-electric fleet by 2030+ . "We are going to introduce electric vehicles in a very big way. The idea is that by 2030, not a single petrol or diesel car should be sold in the country," Goyal had said while addressing the CII Annual Session 2017. Musk took note of the intent and recognised that the country is already the largest market for solar power.

India indeed is at the cusp of being a viable market for selling products which make use of clean energy. The potential demand is only second to the sheer urgency in reasons for a switch, considering India's toxic air has become globally infamous. Add to that that the country is the third-largest importer of oil which adds a burden of $150 billion yearly. However, there is still some way before, at least, electric cars become more prevalent.

Musk in a Twitter reply in May had said he was told 30 per cent of parts must be locally sourced in India and that the "supply does not exist to support that."

This fueled speculation that the speculative launch of Tesla cars in India won't happen in India. While there is still no word on when and if Tesla would come here, the Indian government had replied to Musk's observation by using its #MakeinIndia handle on the micro-blogging platform. Major car makers in country though are looking at India's electric push with a sense of caution, even as Chinese firms look to storm in.+ Volvo, for instance, has welcomed the vision but understands the drastic change it calls for. "I think that's a great ambition. I think these type of ambitions really try to change us," Tom von Bonsdorff, MD, Volvo Auto India, recently told TOI Auto. "13 years is a very short time. It requires some drastic change. "The question is more that we need to kickstart the activities to make sure that we can get there." (Read full interview here) Getting there will of course require a slew of measures and the advent of Tesla can, perhaps, only quicken India's pace towards its dream of going all-electric on the roads.
Source: Elon Musk 'intrigued' by India's objective of all-electric cars by 2030