Tesla hands over keys to the first six Chinese Model X customers

Tesla has officially handed Chinese customers six Model X in a ceremony at the Tesla Beijing Golden Port Gallery center yesterday, surrounded by media and guests, marking the first deliveries of the electric SUV in the Asia-Pacific region and beating Europe.

Present at the event were Tesla's Vice President of Asia-Pacific Mr. Ren Yuxiang and General Manager of China Zhu Xiaotong. Mr. Yuxiang handed the keys personally to the owners, highlighting Tesla's corporate vision to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy by bringing bold innovations and breakthroughs to the market.Tesla has so far opened twenty stores in mainland China, four of which are in Beijing alone. Tesla's Supercharger network will spread even faster thanks to the Chinese government very favorable approach to electric vehicles. More than 400 Superchargers and 1,300 destination chargers are already available for Tesla customers, a network covering north, east, south and northwest, southwest and other key areas in China, making it more attractive to own an electric car. "Our current charging network enables our customers to drive their cars from Shenzhen all the way to Harbin," Xiaotong said

China has been stimulating the introduction of electric vehicles to curb the level of pollution in densely populated cities around the country. Some of the policies put in place in cities such as Beijing, Tianjin, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Shanghai exempt electric vehicle owners from paying US$12,000 for a license plate. For example in Beijing, drivers who wish to purchase a Tesla vehicle can enter the separate license plate lottery for electric vehicles, where odds of winning are much higher than for petrol vehicles.

Source: Tesla China, South China Morning Post.