BILLIONAIRE entrepreneur Elon Musk today said electric car pioneer Tesla is “working through” a lot of challenges with the Indian government, ahead of long-awaited plans to launch in the country.

Tesla is hoping to sell its vehicles in one of the biggest markets in the world, but it has been stalled by efforts to negotiate lower import duties, which can be as high as 100%.

In response to a tweet asking him about a potential India launch date, Musk said his California-based company is “still working through a lot of challenges with the government”, without giving further details.

He had in July last year tweeted that Tesla wants to enter India, home to 1.3 billion people, “but import duties are the highest in the world by far of any large country”.

He added that the firm is hoping for temporary tariff relief.

India imposes a 100% tax on imported electric vehicles costing more than US$40,000 (RM167,000), and 60% for those costing US$40,000 or less.

Tesla fears the steep duties will price them out of the cost-sensitive market in India.

New Delhi has introduced incentives for foreign carmakers to manufacture their vehicles locally, but Musk said he wants to gauge demand with imports first.

Electric cars accounted for only 1.3% of all vehicles sold in India in 2020-21, according to research by digital consultancy Techarc.

India’s target is for 30% of private cars to be electric by 2030, as part of a wider push to decarbonise the transport sector. – AFP, January 13, 2022.