Prime Minister
Narendra Modi has discussed with
Tesla Motors CEO the implications of the revolutionary battery technology in India and developments in solar and renewable energy as he visited the American automotive company's iconic headquarters in San Jose.
(
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PM Modi showed keen interest in some of Tesla's path breaking inventions, particularly in the renewable energy sector which can have multiple applications in remote rural areas.
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After touring the iconic American automotive company's campus, PM Modi said he was impressed by the power ball technology of Tesla Motors which stores electricity in a battery for long term.
"Enjoyed discussion on how battery technology can help farmers," PM Modi
tweeted after his hour-long visit to Tesla campus wherein he was given a tour by its CEO
Elon Musk.
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"Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Prime Minister Modi discussed Tesla's developments in battery technology, energy storage, and renewable energy, and the positive implications of this innovation for India," Tesla spokesperson Ricardo Reyes told PTI after PM Modi had an hour-long trip at its headquarters.
"We were delighted to host Prime Minister Modi at the Tesla Factory," he said on Saturday.
During the meeting, Musk gave a presentation to PM Modi on the revolutionary technologies being developed by Tesla, which is likely to change the face of the motor industry and have wider implications on developing countries like India on renewable energy.
In a tweet after the interaction, Elon Musk
said, "Great discussion about solar/batteries empowering rural communities."
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While talking to reporters after the meeting, Musk said that PM Modi and he talked about electricity generation, and how arguably there is way to skip ahead with it as with cellphones.
"For India the main take away was the technology behind long term storage battery, which can have multiple applications," said Vikas Swarup, spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs.
"The Prime Minister was very keen to see how we could utilize the battery the power ball concept to leap frog development in India," he added.
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"In fact example given was just the cell phones enables you to grow from nothing to having mobile telephony, in the simpler way the power ball concept, the solar operated battery can allow clean energy to reach out to the unserviced parts of India where you have nothing right now and by using solar powered and long term battery could provide immediate access to energy," Swarup said.
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PM Modi also interacted with Indians working at Tesla and posed for a group picture with them.
Tesla was founded in 2003 by a bunch of engineers who believed that electric vehicles are better than those powered by gasoline.