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Tesla Says Model 3 Had 'Biggest One-Week Launch of Any Product Ever' (theverge.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Tesla announced Thursday that it has received 325,000 preorders for its recently unveiled Model 3. If it sells every car that's been reserved, the company says it will earn enough revenue to make this the "biggest one-week launch of any product ever." A few days ago, the electric car company was saying it had received twice the number of preorders it originally expected to get. Now it's quickly approaching three times that number, which raises questions about the company's ability to meet its increasingly complex production goals. If it can, it stands to make a boatload of money. Tesla says the number of preorders it has received so far corresponds to $14 billion in implied future sales.

11 of 270 comments (clear)

  1. Apple sold 13 million iPhone 6s/6s+ in 3 days by JoeyRox · · Score: 1, Informative

    Sounds like the reality distortion field is strong with this one.

    1. Re:Apple sold 13 million iPhone 6s/6s+ in 3 days by fredgiblet · · Score: 3, Informative

      IIRC the $1000 is refundable if they decide to pull out reasonably soon.

    2. Re:Apple sold 13 million iPhone 6s/6s+ in 3 days by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      13m * $500 average cost = 6.5bn.
      Tesla is claiming $14bn. Seems reality-based to me.

    3. Re:Apple sold 13 million iPhone 6s/6s+ in 3 days by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2, Informative

      Seriously. I don't want to call people "morons", but buying a car sight-unseen is bad.

      Tesla has a well earned reputation for quality. My wife has a Model-S, and it is a very nice car. Certainly the best that I have ever driven. I think most of the people placing these pre-orders can afford the $1000 deposit.

    4. Re:Apple sold 13 million iPhone 6s/6s+ in 3 days by rahvin112 · · Score: 3, Informative

      People bought the first infinity car sight unseen when they did those stupid car commercials that didn't even show the car or talk about it. This is not even close. The Tesla 3 was demonstrated at the launch event, the internet is littered with photos and reviews by people that attended the event and got to drive one. It is still 18months before full production but the tooling is being built right now so there probably won't be significant changes before the retail model is available. The same method was used on the Model S and it changed very little.

    5. Re:Apple sold 13 million iPhone 6s/6s+ in 3 days by Tim12s · · Score: 5, Informative

      Airbus sold 85 A380 for $400m a pop. Emirates purchase 140 of them in 2015 again for $418m a pop. Thats at least 54billion in committed revenue.

    6. Re:Apple sold 13 million iPhone 6s/6s+ in 3 days by Alomex · · Score: 5, Informative

      However, the 380 purchase was not made all at once: 21 ordered in June 2003, and another 21 in November 2003 and so on. So this doesn't meet the requirement of "biggest one week launch ever".

    7. Re:Apple sold 13 million iPhone 6s/6s+ in 3 days by Alomex · · Score: 4, Informative

      Already in the works:

      In an email sent out last night (see below), Tesla confirmed that following the overwhelming number of Model 3 reservations it received, the company is currently âoeincreasing its production plans to minimize the wait for Model 3â.

      http://electrek.co/2016/04/07/...

  2. Re:And this despite lower gasoline prices by Jeremi · · Score: 5, Informative

    I mean, 8 years and your battery is almost a brick right?

    No. It will have reduced capacity, but it will still be functional. The quoted estimate is around a 30% reduction in capacity after 8 years.

    If the reduced capacity is great enough to be covered by the warranty, then Tesla will replace the battery for you. If not, you will have the option of either using the battery as-is, or purchasing a better replacement yourself (which will probably be expensive, but less expensive in 8 years than it is now since battery prices keep decreasing).

    A gas car you can keep going for 15 to 20 years.

    Modulo maintenance, gas, and the various parts you will have to repair or replace, or course.

    --


    I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
  3. Re:And this despite lower gasoline prices by sldunn · · Score: 5, Informative
    Turns out Lithium Ion batteries, if you keep them the right temperature, last a very long time.

    At a high level, the battery is damaged just a little bit each time it's charged. The amount of damage caused during charging is based on the temperature and how full the battery is. This means the longevity of a lithium ion battery is basically a function of how many times they are charged, the temperature, and if you charge it to 100% or only to 70%.

    In the real world, with the Model S, people are reporting under a 20% degradation after 100k miles. It should last somewhere between 300k-500k before it's half dead.

    As I understand it, as the battery capacity decreased, there should be a plan would be to install a new fresh battery pack, with the old one reused in a role for stationary storage, before finally being recycled.

  4. Re:And this despite lower gasoline prices by AlanBDee · · Score: 5, Informative

    I keep fairly detailed records of the maintenance cost of my cars. My 2000 Toyota 4Runner, purchased in 2003, has cost me $13,479 in maintenance. I've put 140,000 miles on it. My 2007 Honda Accord has cost me $5174 with 95,000 miles put on it. This is excluding the purchase price and gas.

    Purchase plus maintenance plus gas on the Accord comes out to about $0.37/mile. The 4Runner is $0.43/mile.

    In theory the EV won't require nearly as much in maintenance cost and would save in gas so even if I had to buy a new battery for $8,000 every 8 years it would probably make sense.