Electric car maker Tesla eyes India for ‘gigafactory’

Even as electronic car maker Tesla Motors is looking at the possibility of building a car factory in China, the California-based electric car maker might also consider a car battery factory in India, Elon Musk, founder and CEO of Tesla, said in a tweet.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited the Tesla factory while on his Silicon Valley visit last month.

"Given high local demand, a gigafactory in India would probably make sense in the long term," Musk said in response to a specific question about whether he would consider a factory in India too.

Electric cars use lithium ion batteries and a manufacturing facility for such batteries is called gigafactory.

Modi's Tesla sortie in September was primarily focused on the company's Powerwall battery packs, with an eye towards procuring off-grid electric power technology for India.

The fundamentals arise from Tesla's work on its high-end electric cars.

While reports recently suggested that Tesla is building a car factory in China soon, Musk later said that he was misquoted. He clarified on Twitter that the factory could come in three to four years when it launches the Model 3, its proposed mass-market electric car.

Tesla Model S is priced above $70,000 or around Rs60 lakh, and very few units are sold in India in that price bracket.

China, the world's largest car market, has seen a huge surge in demand for Tesla cars with more than 1,300 units sold during the third quarter. The Chinese market is set to overtake the US as the largest car market for Tesla.