Teslas are coming to India. Everyone said it, including the man, Elon Musk, who excitedly tweeted saying Tesla is reaching India’s shores in summer, back in February this year. But those hopes were dashed and they may stay so for a while to come.
Yes, the wait for Tesla’s arrival could be long and arduous, mostly because the company uses technology that’s not only going to be hard to reproduce in India, but also to implement.
Also Read: Elon Musk Hopes to Bring Tesla Model 3 to India This Summer
The Tesla Model 3, X or S electric vehicles, powered by electric charging technology is reliant on batteries composed of nickel, cobalt and aluminum, or NCA. And it turns out, these batteries are not too comfortable in of our humid, tropical clime.
Tesla is said to have patented a NCA-packed lithium battery that’ll be seen running its fleet of electric vehicles in the future.
This truth has been more or less confirmed by a source who has worked at Tesla, designing battery and electronics components. According to this source, the performance of NCA lithium-ion batteries start deteriorating around 50 degree Celsius.
The battery starts producing heat of its own after some time because of the motor, and its brushes and NCA can only operate at up to 50 degree Celsius for best results.Source to The Quint
In India, the temperature goes way beyond the tolerable mark for the battery.
Generally, battery temperature during peak summer in India hits around 75 degrees Celsius air temperature or 80-85 degree Celsius road temperature, which isn’t the right climate for NCA batteries to operate at.Source to The Quint
And if that wasn’t enough to cement your doubts about a Tesla coming to India anytime soon, then we’ve got some more bad news for you.
We all know that Tesla makes fast chargers at its Gigafactory unit to supplement its EVs, but according to The Quint’s source, the power requirement for these chargers will be difficult for India to manage.
Getting Telsa to India isn’t going to be practical for many years to come, until DC charging infrastructure becomes available here for Tesla’s fast charger, or else, you’ll end up taking 2 to 4 days to charge cars in the country.Source to The Quint
The part worth noting is that Tesla cars use high-speed, 440 volt chargers, which make it possible for the car to be fully charged in 35 minutes to one hour. But with our existing capability (barring a swift and drastic change), those numbers are just not feasible.
Also Read: Elon Musk, How Do We Charge Your Teslas in Power-Starved India?
At the Electric Vehicle Expo recently, The Quint spoke to a number of people who felt that consumers in India neither have the resources to manage EVs like Tesla, nor can they bear the brunt of charging it on-the-go or even at their homes with the scope of power we have available right now.
Also Read: Indian Govt Gives Elon Musk a Crash Course on Make in India
Musk earlier suggested that existing Make-in-India regulations to source local components could hinder the launch of his EVs, which was quashed by the Ministry. But it looks like there might be more to this than meets the eye.
Also Read: Someone Just Imported the First Tesla Model X to India
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