Electric vehicle giant Tesla is planning to establish a new battery storage factory in India as per the proposal submitted to government officials, Reuters reports, citing two people familiar with the matter.
The move is unsurprising, given the Musk-led company’s strong interest in the local market.
Report highlights
Tesla reportedly had a meeting with Indian officials in New Deldi and took that opportunity to propose launching its Powerwall in the country by establishing local production.
For context, Powerwall is a battery energy storage system (BESS) product that stores energy from solar panels or the electrical grid during low demand at night or outages.
Tesla is seeking government incentives for the proposed Powerwall factory. However, one of the sources disclosed the Indian officials’ response, saying that the requested incentives would not be available for the battery storage project.
Nonetheless, the government offered assistance to the automaker through customer subsidies. One of the sources also revealed that Tesla plans to offer its battery storage systems to residential and industrial customers.
However, there is no guarantee that Tesla will pursue the proposal at this moment. The New Delhi Government is also still evaluating it.
“Large policy level calibration will be required. Tesla’s intent is to have the Powerwall business in India.”
Unnamed source
Recent negotiations
Tesla has previously announced plans to erect an electric vehicle plant in the country for its upcoming $24,000 model.
The recent negotiations about this proposal seem smooth, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi directly monitoring the discussions.
In addition, India has also announced that it will impose a new EV policy to reduce import taxes for electric vehicle models from foreign automakers if they establish local production.
Inc42 also indicated that the Musk-led company has already leased a headquarters in Pune to explore ways to erect a local factory.
Potential benefits
India’s electricity problems, like peak-time shortages due to demand surge, continue to prevail despite the government’s efforts to boost supplies across the country.
Its power generation also remains reliant on coal resources as energy storage solutions are still expensive.
Now, the Indian Government aims to expand its non-fossil fuel energy generation to 500 GW by 2030 from the current 186 GW.
Therefore, Tesla’s potential launch of the Powerwall can significantly aid the country in achieving that target.
See Also:
- Tesla “Gigafactory India” meeting focuses on car incentives and battery production, per report
- Turkish President courts Tesla CEO to establish a local production in the country
- Tesla achieves 5 million e-car production milestone
- Two-wheeler and Three-wheeler EVs boost clean mobility shift in India
- Six major states dominated 60% of the Indian EV market in Jan to August period
Tesla Powerwall sells at over $5,500 in California, including incentives and additional solar panel expenses. Notably, it benefits from the US tax credit and local state and utility incentives for solar and energy storage products.
Tesla must explore ways to make its battery storage products more affordable if it plans to offer them to Indian customers.
