As many of you know Elon Musk’s Tesla 3 has been the talk of the auto-industry for well over a year now, and, as we edge ever closer to the apparent dates the company will start to roll out its first purchase batches, fans and competitors are all holding their breath.
What is it about the Tesla 3 that has everyone so excited? Let’s look at the specs and features: The standard model priced at $35,000 has a battery life of about 220miles, its home charging rate is around 30 miles range per 30 mins and the supercharge rate is about 130 miles per hour. It has a top speed of 130 mph with 0-60 in 5.6 seconds. Looking at the gadgets inside, there is a 15” touchscreen display with internet streaming radio, on board navigation, voice activated controls and Bluetooth calling and media. There is also keyless entry, auto dimmed mirrors and a reverse camera.
You can, of course, upgrade the model in many ways for higher costs. There is the long range battery for an extra $9,000 which increases all aspects of range, charge, and speed and there are paint and wheel options to change the aesthetics to your taste. However, the big add on feature that everyone is talking about is the autopilot and self-drive capabilities.
For $5,000 extra the enhances autopilot will match traffic speeds, change lanes and keep within lanes automatically, it can also navigate freeways and self-park at your chosen destination. In the future then, a further $3,000 will upgrade you to the full self-drive functions where the car can navigate full journeys without the driver doing anything.
With the low deposit of $1,000 and the projected full cost of $35,000 before government schemes, the Tesla model 3 was a popular pre-order with numbers above 400,000 paying their deposit and waiting patiently, a number which is rising by about 1800 on average per day. However now, there are doubts as to whether these astonishing numbers can be achieved in the amount of time Musk has publicly predicted it will take.
Elon Musk stated that he has “zero concern” that they can reach up to 5,000 cars per week by the end of this year, and 10,000 cars per week by the end of next year in production times, numbers that many people have considered a definite, and possibly dangerous, reach. There are obvious concerns about the quality of these brand-new vehicles being produced at that rate and therefore a concern as to whether Tesla Inc will be able to keep up with demands from customer support queries during the first year to two years of ownership. Tesla also has potential financial problems to deal with, with the significant escalation in manufacturing numbers promised they’ll surely remain in negative cash flow and even after selling $1.5 billion worth of bonds. But what if they can really pull it off? Can the Tesla 3 change the face of the auto-industry? Elon Musk has always stated that he wanted to create a game-changer and some would argue he already has.
With Tesla’s push toward the future of electric, autonomous cars have come a surge of other manufacturer spurred on to do the same. GM, Mercedes, and Audi are all now working with autonomy and many big names including Nissan, Ford, and Volvo promising to see the back of gas-only cars in the next 3-5 years. All of this, what could be seen as Tesla shooting itself in the foot, being so open and transparent with its design and manufacturing is actually what Elon Musk has wanted all along.
Tesla has never been aiming to be the first and only but the first in leading a massive movement within the industry and that is just what we are seeing happening.
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