Connect with us
Tesla Model 3 charging at V3 Supercharger in Jinqiao, Shanghai Tesla Model 3 charging at V3 Supercharger in Jinqiao, Shanghai

News

Indian State of Delhi scraps electric vehicle subsidies

Tesla Model 3 charging at V3 Supercharger in Jinqiao, Shanghai (Credit: Tesla China via Ray4Tesla/Twitter)

Published

on

The Indian State of Delhi has decided to do away with electric vehicle subsidies, incentivizing drivers to purchase EVs.

New reports from various Indian media outlets have stated that the country’s electric vehicle policy has been revised with the intention of withdrawing EV subsidy programs that offer rebates when EVs are purchased. The move is somewhat shocking, considering several Indian government officials are petitioning for large-scale battery manufacturers to set up production lines in India. Additionally, several well-known EV companies, including Tesla, are attempting to enter the market with the help of government officials who are attempting to reach terms with the Silicon Valley-based car company that would see its EVs enter the market through imports.

Delhi offered electric vehicle drivers a subsidy of 10,000 ($135) per kWh of battery capacity, with benefits being capped at 1.5 lakh ($2,020) per vehicle. Drivers also had road tax and registration fees waived when purchasing an electric vehicle.

Earlier this week, Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said that the government was planning to scrap the subsidies for passenger and privately-owned vehicles in favor of two-wheeler, freight, and public transport vehicles instead. “The electric cars segment has received the required push in Delhi. Our focus now is to tap the two-wheeler, freight, and public transport segments of electric vehicles (EVs) as they constitute a major chunk of Delhi’s over 10 million registered vehicles. They also ply on the road more as compared to private cars, thereby causing more pollution,” Gahlot said to the Hindustan Times.

The government now wants to offer subsidies to those who are in need of more benefits and breaks, which includes the commerce and logistics sectors. “Actually, a subsidy is not required for e-cars as such because those who can afford to pay around 15 lakh for a vehicle do not care if the cost is 1-2 lakh more, sans the subsidy,” Gahlot said. “Our aim is to provide the subsidy to those who need it the most, and they include auto drivers, two-wheeler owners, delivery partners, and so on.”

Delhi has only offered EV subsidies since August 2020. However, the offerings have established a notable amount of demand from Indian consumers. Politicians hope that the incentives, when offered to commercial entities, will have the same effect. “We are witnessing good results of our electric vehicle policy, and the adoption of such vehicles is gaining pace. We are committed to realizing the dream of making Delhi the country’s electric vehicle capital, according to the vision of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal,” Gahlot also said.

Advertisement
-

Delhi has registered 7,869 EVs from July to September, with August and October showing increased figures of 22,805 units purchased. In just four months, the State has registered nearly 31,000 EVs, meaning the incentives have worked. It still accounts for a small portion of the total automotive market in the region, which spans across 10 million total registered vehicles in the private sector.

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

Advertisement
Comments

Elon Musk

Elon Musk gives his most telling Tesla-SpaceX merger conversation yet

Elon Musk hinted a Tesla-SpaceX merger could be coming, and Wall Street is taking notice.

Published

on

By

Elon Musk gave his clearest signal yet that Tesla and SpaceX could eventually combine, telling the All-In Summit in Los Angeles that the two companies’ deepening collaboration makes the question worth asking. Sawyer Merritt first surfaced the highlight on X Tuesday.

Asked directly why Tesla and SpaceX remain separate given how closely they already work together, Musk told hosts at the summit: “Great question there. With all this collaboration, on so many levels, who can imagine what action one might take when there’s so much close collaboration in so many areas.” SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, who joined Musk on stage, added that SpaceX personnel have already moved into xAI to fill leadership and engineering gaps, saying the businesses are integrating “faster than I thought,” though “not fully integrated yet,”

The comments landed on top of merger speculation that has been building on Wall Street for months. JPMorgan has called a tie-up “strategically coherent on paper,” pointing to overlapping ambitions in AI, robotics, energy, transportation and space. Jefferies went further, estimating Musk could retain roughly 55.3 percent voting control in a deal structured without a premium, a scenario that would still leave room for Tesla shareholders to come out ahead. On Kalshi, traders now put the odds of a merger before 2028 at 66 percent.

Tesla’s stake in SpaceX, still under one percent, traces back to its earlier investment in xAI, which converted to SpaceX equity after SpaceX absorbed the AI company. The two are also jointly building Terafab, a chip facility in Austin meant to serve both Tesla’s AI computing needs and SpaceX’s satellite ambitions. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives has stood by a 2027 merger timeline for months, and Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest recently floated a similar case, an idea Musk pushed back on directly at the time.

Another Tesla SpaceX merger prediction by ARK Invest has Elon Musk talking

Advertisement
-

The timing adds another layer. Tesla has scheduled an October 1 unveiling for its next generation Roadster at a venue near SpaceX’s McGregor, Texas test site, using the phrase “Go for launch” in its promotional material. Both stocks dipped roughly 2 percent Monday before recovering slightly in premarket trading Tuesday, with SpaceX shares up about 0.4 percent and Tesla essentially flat.

Musk stopped short of confirming anything is in motion. But unlike his past denials of a corporate restructuring, this response didn’t rule one out, and it came with Shotwell sitting next to him describing an integration that’s already underway.

Continue Reading

Elon Musk

Tesla Roadster unveiling is getting hyped up by Elon Musk

Published

on

tesla roadster
Credit: Petersen Auto Museum

The Tesla Roadster unveiling is getting hyped up by the company’s CEO Elon Musk, who has been a big reason the product has such high expectations due to delayed timelines and a constant need to make it even more insane than before.

Tesla announced on September 12 that it would officially unveil the Roadster in Waco, Texas, on October 1, ending years of patience for fans and reservation holders who have waited for the all-electric supercar to enter production since 2017.

Musk has said that this event will be well worth the wait on several occasions, and last year on the Joe Rogan Experience, he said that there should be a closing chapter to supercars- the end of cars that aren’t focused on safety.

He said:

“Whether it’s good or bad, it will be unforgettable. My friend Peter Thiel once reflected that the future was supposed to have flying cars, but we don’t have flying cars. I think if Peter wants a flying car, he should be able to buy one. I think it has a shot at being the most memorable product unveil ever. This is some crazy technology in this car. Let’s just put it this way: if you took all the James Bond cars and combined them, it’s crazier than that.”

Musk’s teases have continued, and now that the event is roughly two weeks away, it seems like Roadster is finally going to show up and blow some minds:

Advertisement
-

Tesla has definitely dragged out the development of the Roadster, but there is a good reason for it.

Tesla has been working on many other projects, most notably self-driving efforts to increase passenger safety, and those simply took priority over the Roadster, a low-volume, high-performance sports car that has a lightning-fast acceleration rate of 0-60 MPH in just 1.1 seconds, could potentially fly, and contributes very little to the company’s mission.

Advertisement
-

However, many people have the Roadster on pre-order through the referral program or with their own money, and it is time that Tesla delivers on that.

Continue Reading

Elon Musk

Elon Musk’s Boring Company has big plans for Las Vegas by year’s end

Elon Musk’s Boring Company says Vegas Loop stations will double by year end once again.

Published

on

By

the boring company's vegas loop entrance

The Boring Company says the Vegas Loop’s station count will double by the end of the year, tying the target to a hiring push for drivers and operations managers in Las Vegas. “Vegas Loop is getting bigger – the station count will double by end of year!” the company wrote in a post on X, attaching listings for a Loop driver and a senior Loop operations manager.

The number checks out against what’s already public, with the Vegas Loop currently running 14 operational stations, while the Boring Company’s own project page lists 28 as the target for the end of 2026.

Much of that growth is tied to tunnels that are already built and waiting on an opening date. A roughly two-mile dual tunnel system under Paradise Road, connecting Westgate to a planned station at 4744 Paradise Road, is expected to open in stages over the coming weeks, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority chief executive Steve Hill told the Review-Journal last week. New stations at 4744 Paradise, Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, and the former Gordon Biersch site would come online with it, several of them built to speed up rides to Harry Reid International Airport ahead of Formula 1’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Clark County entitled Vegas Loop for 123 stations after approving 19 more in August, as Teslarati reported at the time. Entitlement and construction move at different speeds on this project, so county approval alone does not guarantee a station opens on any particular schedule.

Clark County approved 18 additional stations back in 2023, part of a plan that pushed the system’s target to 69 stations across 65 miles, doubling the network on paper for the first time. The target kept climbing after that, to roughly 93 stations by the end of that year and 104 by last year, before August’s vote pushed it to 123. This week’s announcement is the first time that doubling language has been attached to stations actually running rather than stations merely approved on a county map.

Ridership gives some sense of what a denser network could carry. Boring Company executive Mike Baier said in July that the Vegas Loop already moves around 40,000 passengers on busy convention days, a total that tops most light rail systems in the country despite the system running on a fraction of its planned tunnel mileage. Company leadership has projected ridership could triple or quadruple once the airport connector tunnels fully open.

Advertisement
-

Boring Company did not say which stations beyond those already under construction would open by year end, or whether the hiring push points to a fleet expansion alongside the new stops.

Continue Reading