Who is Rohan Patel? Meet Tesla’s VP who exits firm days before Elon Musk cancels Delhi trip

Apart from this, vice president of powertrain and energy engineering – Drew Baglino – too left the firm. They both announced about their exit on X and were thanked by Elon Musk.

“My immigrant parents worked their asses off and as a result I’m the luckiest dude. Lucky to have been a part of @BarackObama’s campaign/administration, and truly honored to have worked at @Tesla to positively changing multiple industries,” Rohan Patel posted on X.

To which Elon replied, “Thanks for everything you’ve done for Tesla. Much appreciated.”

Earlier, Patel had worked as a senior advisor to former President Barack Obama on climate and energy issues before joining Tesla in 2016.

ALSO READ: Elon Musk puts off India visit to ‘later’, Internet says, ‘No rush! We’ll hold off on chai-samosa plans’

Musk set aside affordable EV plans?

As per a Reuters report of 2023, Patel was in New Delhi to meet officials from the Invest India agency to discuss Tesla’s plan. He, along with other Tesla representatives were expected to meet commerce minister Piyush Goyal and were to discuss on setting up an EV supply chain and land allotment for a factory.

However, recent Reuters report claim that at Musk’s direction, Tesla has set aside plans to make a more affordable new EV. It was reportedly stated that Tesla is facing fierce competition globally from Chinese electric-vehicle makers, who are pricing their cars as low as $10,000.

But Musk posted that “Reuters is lying” and did not cite any inaccuracies.

Tesla loss in 2023:

Currently, with its share tumbling below $150/share, Tesla’s is giving up all gains that it made in 2023. All this, is being done after the Reuters report which noted that the firm has reportedly put a half on affordable EV plans.

Among others, Tesla has also announced cutting 10% of its staff globally, about 14,000 jobs, and at the same time will try to re-instate Musk’s $56 billion pay package that was rejected by a Delaware judge.

With agency inputs.

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Published: 20 Apr 2024, 05:08 PM IST