Tesla CEO Elon Musk has continued his recent run of meetings with world leaders, this time with India Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New York. The pair discussed the possibility of Tesla building a manufacturing base in India.
“He really cares about India because he’s pushing us to make significant investments in India, which is something that we intend to do,” Musk told reporters after the meeting.
“We’re just trying to figure out the right timing.
“It was a fantastic meeting with the Prime Minister and I like him quite a lot. He visited our Fremont factory several years ago so we’ve known each other for a while.
“He really wants to do the right thing for India. He wants to be open he wants to be supportive of new companies but at the same time make sure it accrues to India’s advantage, which is, you know, that’s the job.
“I am a fan of Modi.” said Musk
Elon Musk: “I’m Incredibly excited about the future of India; He (Modi) really cares about India because he’s pushing us to make significant investments in India, which is something we intend to do; It was a fantastic meeting.” @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/WLd68GQs0z
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) June 21, 2023
A reporter asked Musk what he personally looks at when deciding whether to invest in India.
“Well I think there’s tremendous amount of potential for all three pillars of the sustainable energy future.” Musk replied referring to energy generation, storage and electric vehicles.
“India is great for solar and the amount of land area you actually need to generate enough electricity to power India is very small. I believe it’d be probably one or two per cent of the land area of India.
“So it’s very doable and then you need to pair that with stationary battery packs because the sun isn’t shining at night. And then you need electric vehicles and then you have a sustainable energy future.”
“And I think the interesting thing people will find is that this is a lower cost way to go as well. That may surprise people”
Tesla factory in India is a case of when not if.
“I am confident that Tesla will be in India and will do so as soon as humanly possible,” Musk told reporters after being asked about Tesla’s plan to invest in India.
“We don’t want to jump the gun on an announcement but I think it’s quite likely that there will be a significant investment and relationship with India”
BREAKING: Elon Musk confirmed @Tesla is looking to invest in India & says he is visiting next year.
“We don’t want to jump the gun on an announcement, but it’s quite likely that there will be a significant investment and relationship in the future.” pic.twitter.com/09RMDaZlRZ
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) June 20, 2023
“I would like to thank the prime minister for his support and hopefully we’ll be able to announce something in the not too distant future,” he added.
World leaders courting Musk for future factories
Musk’s meeting with Modi comes after a string of meetings with other world leaders in recent weeks including the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and French President Emmanuel Macron, his second meeting with Macron in 5 weeks.
“I’m going with an agenda,” Macron told reporters before his meeting with Musk on Friday.
“We’re going to talk about artificial intelligence, in which he is involved, social media, regulation framework… And then I’ll also talk to him about cars, batteries, to promote French and European attractiveness.”
France’s Digital Minister Jean-Noel Barrot was even more explicit about France’s desire for a Tesla gigafactory.
“It will be great to have a Tesla factory in France, there has been a lot of effort and energy to make sure this is possible and this can happen,” Barrot told CNBC.
“We have also invested in an entire sector of electric batteries so we will try to convince him that France is the best possible place in Europe to establish the next Tesla factory.”
Musk also met with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in April who pitched his country as an ideal place for Tesla to build a gigafactory, citing the country’s cutting-edge industrial robots and high-skilled workers, local news reports said.
“Should Tesla decide to invest, we will provide active support in terms of location, workforce and taxes,” said President Yoon at the time.
It’s nice to be wanted and Tesla seems to have many options on the table. Musk has said that Tesla will announce the location of a new factory by the end of the year but there will likely be more than one announced over the next 12 months.
Daniel Bleakley is a clean technology researcher and advocate with a background in engineering and business. He has a strong interest in electric vehicles, renewable energy, manufacturing and public policy.