Can Elon Tesla be Mamata Banerjee’s new Tata in Bengal polls?

Banerjee dialling Tesla is a big task to ask from Musk.

Agencies
Two announcements are likely to fly past each other without sparks flying. (In pic: Mamata Banerjee (L), and Elon Tesla) (Image: PTI & Getty)
Two announcements are likely to fly past each other without sparks flying. But here’s our nudge’n’wink in case either party reads this nonetheless.

First, Elon Musk’s bisyllabic tweet, ‘As promised’, last week to announce Tesla setting up shop in India. The company is reportedly in touch with state governments in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh for opening outlets and factories.

Second, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s ‘breaking news’ in a rally on Monday that she will be contesting upcoming polls from Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district.


Nandigram, all good Luddites will recall, was where Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress upended the Left Front government’s plan to turn farmland into a special economic zone in 2007. She also led an agitation in Singur in Hooghly district that drove out the proposed Tata Nano car factory in 2008.

Together, these led TMC to rid Bengal of the Left in 2011.

By wooing Tesla to open a factory, or even a dinky showroom in Nandigram, before polls, Banerjee could resurrect two dead birds — industry, especially auto, and farmer uplift — and kill one bird — BJP’s challenge from her one-time TMC commander in Nandigram, Suvendu Adhikari (now contesting from Nandigram) — with one stone. But will Banerjee dial Tesla? It is a big task to ask from Musk.
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Tesla Roadster or CityAirbus: What Will You Ride To Work?
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Your ride to the office or even a pleasure trip will be faster, higher and more energy efficient.

Your ride to the office or even a pleasure trip will be faster, higher and more energy efficient.

It is a multi-passenger, autonomously piloted electric flying car concept that can takeoff and land vertically (VTOL).

CityAirbus is designed to carry up to four passengers over congested megacities to places like airports or train stations in a fast and environment-friendly way.

Its integrated drive train includes eight propellers that deliver exceptional torque-to-weight ratio. Its first flight is scheduled for the end of the year.

It is a multi-passenger, autonomously piloted electric flying car concept that can takeoff and land vertically (VTOL). CityAirbus is designed to carry up to four passengers over congested megacities ..
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Hoverbikes are coming to take motorbikes off the roads.

You can ride the Malloy Hoverbike or make it fly autonomously, deliver aid, transport people and equipment over buildings, rivers and mountains.

It has a payload capacity of 130 kg, can reach an altitude of 9,000 feet and can fly at a speed of more than 100 knots, or about 185 kmph.

Hoverbikes are coming to take motorbikes off the roads. You can ride the Malloy Hoverbike or make it fly autonomously, deliver aid, transport people and equipment over buildings, rivers and mountains..
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Get ready to fly off like a superhero in a new breed of solo flying machines.

If the jet-powered carbon fibre wings invented by Swiss aviator Yves Rossy go commercial, you will soon be able to fly through the skies.

Powered by four miniature jet engines, this wing unit can hit speeds of up to 300 kmph.

Get ready to fly off like a superhero in a new breed of solo flying machines. If the jet-powered carbon fibre wings invented by Swiss aviator Yves Rossy go commercial, you will soon be able to fly th..
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The passenger version of Egan Airships’s Plimp (Model J) can carry up to eight passengers and cruise at a speed of 100 kmph.

The unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) can manoeuvre and move quickly like fixed-wing aircraft, hover and vertically take off and land like a helicopter.

It uses partial lift by helium, which is not flammable, and partial lift by its rotational wings. Turn the engines off and the Plimp gently floats back to the ground.

The passenger version of Egan Airships’s Plimp (Model J) can carry up to eight passengers and cruise at a speed of 100 kmph. The unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) can manoeuvre and move quickly like fi..
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The future of sailing is not going to be dependent on wind or fossil fuels.

An e-power catamaran, Silent 55, promises an unlimited range on the high seas.

It is powered by solar energy and can cruise up to 100 nautical miles a day.

Inside, you can watch TV, run air-conditioning and produce up to 2,000 litres of drinking water per day.

The future of sailing is not going to be dependent on wind or fossil fuels. An e-power catamaran, Silent 55, promises an unlimited range on the high seas. It is powered by solar energy and can cruise..
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Autonomous cars are on the horizon, but none can beat the 2020 Tesla Roadster, which can go from zero to 96.5 kmph in 1.9 seconds.

Apart from its record-setting acceleration, the Roadster has a range of 997 km with one charge and a maximum speed of 420 kmph.

It stores a removable glass roof in the trunk for an open-air, convertible driving experience.

(Text: Rajarshi Bhattacharjee)

Autonomous cars are on the horizon, but none can beat the 2020 Tesla Roadster, which can go from zero to 96.5 kmph in 1.9 seconds. Apart from its record-setting acceleration, the Roadster has a range..
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