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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.
I don't need this car because I can use the hyperloop in order to drive to work at the gigafactory in order to afford a journey to the mars colony!
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.
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.
Dear person reading the above comment in the future,
Hahaha, yeah, there were really people that thought that way in 2016. The writing was on the wall, though.
Love,
2016
PS: Sorry we weren't timely with the whole 'carbon' thing.
I'll go there. Seriously, how many Americans can truly afford to buy a $35k car?
Don't know, but the average new price of a car is $33560 so with inflation to 2017 it's well... average? And I'm guessing there's somebody buying them so eventually there's cheaper second hand cars on the market. Of course it comes with the range limitations, but from the prices I've looked at tanking up a Tesla is cheaper than a gas guzzler, the value drop-off because of the aging battery is a bit unknown but overall I don't think it should have a higher total cost of ownership. It's not exactly a bargain either but he only needs mass market appeal, not mass market dominance.
I preordered one but that's mostly due to Norway's crazy high tax rates on ICE cars while EVs get a lot of benefits, but I'll see how much of that stays way until 2018, it might help that 2017 is an election year. If not, well it's a reservation so I can still cancel... but just to give you an idea, with our tax incentives the EV market share is about 15% and hybrids 22% and I think the Tesla 3 is a much better price/performance car than the current crop of Nissan Leaf, BMW i3, Renault Zoe and Tesla S that currently make up most of those 15%. It'll sell real well here.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
This is bases on my x-country trip in my brother's Model S:
With the 4WD option this car is really superb in the snow. The computer can adjust torque on all four wheels completely independently, and the low center of gravity make both acceleration and breaking solid.
Where a Tesla will get you is in the reduced battery capacity. Tesla operates their batteries at 72 +/- 1 deg. F. and it will use power from the battery to maintain that temperature. At some point it gets cold enough that waste energy from motors and battery discharge is not enough to keep the battery at operating temperature and at that point there is a noticeable drop in range. Cold weather also extends charging time because the battery needs to be warmed up before charging.
The spookiest part (from my perspective) is that you could park the car with enough charge to get to the next super charger, have the battery cool off, and end up short of charge. In general a 110 outlet is not enough to charge the car (a full charge at 110 would take 25 hours), but we did plug the car into 110 overnight to keep the system warm. People with engine block heaters will know how this works.
The visibility was decent. A large front windscreen is both a blessing and a curse in rain/ slush. The lane-assist is not a smart option when visibility is poor.
Depending on how and where you drive the car, the biggest issue will be a strong desire to keep the car plugged in when stopped in the cold.
Strive to make your client happy, not necessarly give them what they ask for
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".
"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
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?