Tesla gets approval for 3 more electric cars for Indian market

A few months back, we reported that Tesla has got approval for 4 models to launch in the Indian market. Now, Tesla has homologated three more models for the Indian market. So, now Tesla has approval for 7 electric vehicles. It is not yet known which these vehicles are but they will probably be different variants of Model 3 and Model Y.

😍 Well this time it’s the Model Y(that visited Manali earlier) charging at Tata 25kW CCS2 Charger in Mumbai.#TeslaIndia🇮🇳 #TCIN

Pic Credit :- https://t.co/SzAHVNKSWw pic.twitter.com/B8IpVIWlp1

— Tesla Club India® (@TeslaClubIN) December 12, 2021

Both vehicles have been spotted quite a few times on the Indian roads. In fact, the Tesla Model Y that recently visited Manali is back in Mumbai and was spotted while charging on Tata’s CCS2 charger that has a capacity of 25 kW and is located in Powai.

Tesla has not officially confirmed that these vehicles are variants of Model 3 and Model Y. Having said both of these vehicles are the entry-level vehicles that they offer. So, it makes sense for Tesla to bring these to India first as the Model S and Model X cost significantly more than the Model 3 and Model Y. Moreover, the S and X are larger and more premium vehicles. In India, only the Model 3 and Model Y have been spotted, we have not yet seen test mules of Model S and Model X on the Indian roads.

3 more Tesla Models have been homologated, we don’t know which ones they are.

Good to see some progress, but main thing that’s a issue for launch is import duties. https://t.co/aGZrsGgmHb pic.twitter.com/vo9MwMLAyI

— Tesla Club India® (@TeslaClubIN) December 13, 2021

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Also, the S and X are expensive and the import tax in India is already very high. This would increase the cost of the vehicles significantly. Elon Musk wrote on Twitter that import duties in India are among the highest in the world and that India. Our country treats electric vehicles and fossil fuel vehicles as the same because of which both are charged with the same import duty. Tesla has asked the Indian government to decrease the importing duties on their vehicles because they are electric. Elon Musk also hinted that Tesla might set up their factory in our country if everything works out well.

Tesla will open their dealerships in India. They will start by opening up dealerships in big metropolitan cities first. The dealership will open in cities like Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai. Tesla has themselves registered in Bengaluru, Karnataka as Tesla India Motors And Energy Private Limited.

According to the rumours, the first vehicles would come to India as Completely Built Units or CBU. This would increase the price of the vehicles substantially. So, even the least expensive model of Model 3 is expected to cost around Rs. 60 lakhs whereas the Model Y will cost more. Because of this, Tesla is setting up their dealerships in metropolitan cities first because they know that most of the sales would come only from big cities.

Another issue, that Tesla is currently facing is the low ground clearance of the Model 3. The ground clearance of Model 3 is just 140 mm which is not enough to tackle Indian roads. The agency that conducted the road testing reported, that Model 3 bottomed out on 160 of the 200 speed breakers that it faced during the test. The agency recommended Tesla to increase the ride height of the Model 3 by 25 mm.

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