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Elon Musk Announces $35,000 Tesla Model 3 Electric Car
Elon Musk has officially unveiled the Tesla Model 3 electric car at the company's facility in Hawthorne, California. The Model 3 is being dubbed as a "mass market affordable car." The base-model Model 3 will be able to travel 0-60MPH in less than 6 seconds, with "versions of the Model 3 that go much faster." In terms of range, it features an EPA range of at least 215 miles per charge. All Model 3's will come standard with autopilot hardware and autopilot safety features. The Model 3 will also fit five adults comfortably, thanks largely in part to the large, rear piece of glass on the roof area. You'll find front and rear trunks, offering more cargo capacity than any cargo gas car with the same external dimensions. Safety is a big concern for Tesla so they've manufactured the Model 3 with a 5 star safety rating in every category. The Model 3 starts at $35,000 with a release date scheduled for 2017. Tesla will take your preorder now for a $1,000 down payment.
A large percentage of cars sit in the same price range. Most can't afford anywhere near $35,000 in a single payment, but if it's financed, lots of people can. 115,000 already have, according to Musk. It's a good looking car, and good step in the right direction. This one car isn't going to bring electric cars to the poor, but it will enable Tesla to do so in the future.
It's already been stated many times - but $35k is the average selling price of a car in the US. If that isn't the mark of "affordability"... then what is?
$35k with financing is ~$600 a month. If you look at this advice from Consumer Reports ( http://www.consumerreports.org... ) it says you should be making ~$75k a year to afford this car. $75k for a household is not "rich" in my book. It's "doing well"... but MANY people will be able to "afford" this car.
They said "affordable"... they didn't say "cheap".
Thanks. Yeah Elon Musk called me up and said he'd write me a check for ONE MILLION dollars to run this story, because he said he really wanted the Slashdot AC's to hear about his new car, and because he said it wouldn't be covered anywhere else.
I laughed... would read again +8 :)
"Safety is a big concern for Tesla so they've manufactured the Model 3 with a 5 star safety rating in every category."
They haven't manufactured it at all yet. And they hope to get a 5 star rating. They don't award the starts themselves, so they'll have to do their best and wait and see what happens like anyone else.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
That average is pulled up by larger, more expensive, vehicles such as SUV's and trucks. And given that the Tesla 3 is a sedan - that suggests that average is largely useless as a mark of "affordability" since it includes a large number of vehicles that aren't sedans purchased by a large number of people, the bulk of whom are unlikely to replace those vehicles with sedans. (To be fair, this includes folks driving cheap compacts as well as folks driving expensive SUV's.) A few minutes searching around (but by no means exhaustive) seems to show that the average price of a mid-sized sedan is somewhere in the $20-25k range. So, using your criteria but correcting the numbers to compare apples-to-apples... the Tesla 3 falls well outside the affordable range. (But within the range for luxury sedans, a not inconsiderable market.)
If you're making in the range of $75k/annum, you're in the top third of US families. Not rich, no, but above average (which is around $55k/annum currently).
Sure, but if you're using it to commute and you have a decent commute, that $624 a month will be more like $424 a month with all the gas you're no longer buying. Lots of people have cars with payments in that range.
Maybe... But to save $200 per month, you need two things to happen...
1. Electricity has to be free... It isn't... it is cheaper than gas to be sure, but it isn't free...
But lets pretend it somehow is...
2. You'd have to drive more than 3,800 miles... a MONTH... to save $200 in gas...
Buy a Ford Fusion, spend half the price ($17,500 buys, after rebates, a nice Ford Fusion that carries 5 people), so end up with a payment of $310 a month.
Combined city/highway is 29 MPG. At $1.50 a gallon for gas, you're spending $1 for every 19.3 miles you drive.
If you average 12,000 miles a year (a reasonable number), that is 33 miles per day. So you're spending about $1.60 per day, or $48 per month in gas.
But keep in mind, if you don't drive at all for a week, go on vacation, get laid off, or change your driving, the payment remains.
Stop driving the Ford and the gas cost goes away.
Also, keep in mind that we assumed that wall power was free. The above numbers are worse in real life for the Tesla because:
1. Electricity isn't free
2. A home charger isn't free
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It is also worth noting that there are many lease programs on the Ford Fusion, I regularly see $199 a month lease deals with nothing due at signing. Just sign and drive.
Now you might say... "but, but, the Tesla isn't a Ford, it is fancy!" Maybe... but is it twice the money fancy? It is a box with 4 wheels that takes 5 people someplace.
They'll sell, but don't kid yourself, it is still expensive.
the cheapest you can get gas right now is more than $1.80/gallon. Most places in the US it's more than $2/gallon, so why did you use $1.50 for your calculations?
Out of sight, out of mind I guess.
That's the fundamental truth of a consumer society and it doesn't just apply to powering vehicles. Almost everything you buy will involve dubious if not downright unethical environmental or societal practices. They're just all hidden from view so as not to concern you.
And I admit to being just as guilty of being oblivious.
With "Nobody" you mean the about 33% electric energy, that comes from renewables for instance in Germany, the 80% in Austria and Switzerland and the 90% in Norway?
Yep, tax gas cars enough and provide large enough EV incentives, and people will do that sort of thing...
Doesn't make it a rational market nor mean it will work elsewhere. :)
Purely "rational" / "homo economicus" behaviour is very far away in the mobility market even without EVs:
- Passenger trains are (often) subsidized directly and indirectly by not having to pay full cost for using rails, stations etc.
- Cars are subsidized indirectly by building roads, but taxed directly with sales tax and (often) extra vehicle tax or import tax
- Gasoline is taxed with sales tax and other taxes, but subsidized indirectly by military interventions / protecting shipping lanes
So let's see what your rational mobility decision is in a country without a functioning government to 'distort' the market. My bet is going to be on walking, especially walking away :).
We have solar panels and we're producing more than we need. Bought them in anticipation of an electric car in a few years. In my street, half the houses have solar panels. That's an average street with young families, not a rich neighborhood. Even now that the subsidies have run out, people are still installing them because it takes less than 10 years to recoup the investment and they last about 20 years.
Meanwhile, given the massive interest in solar panels, new technologies are being discovered all the time yielding cleaner production methods with less toxic materials. All of that while at the same time the oil industry is investing in fracking and other extremely polluting methods.
How can you seriously say that we need to continue to burn fuel?
I would say electric cars are more of a status symbol for people who want to pretend they are better than you.
Or people who really like high acceleration and don't need long-range capability. My friends who drive them don't show the attitude you're complaining about.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Doesn't make it a rational market
Neither does making gas available for cheap and forcing your pollution to others. Still, it's the logic used in most of the world.