Motor Trend: The Tesla Model 3 “Is the Most Important Vehicle of the Century”

July 29th, 2017

Via: Motor Trend:

The Tesla Model 3 is here, and it is the most important vehicle of the century.

Yes, the hyperbole is necessary. The original Tesla Model S was a proof of concept—it was possible to make a long-range electric vehicle. The Model X showed that you could make an electric SUV. But neither was affordable to the masses. And although the Chevrolet Bolt has shown that 238 miles of electric range is possible for less than $40,000, GM’s volume aspirations are modest.

Not so for Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who wants to blow out the walls of his Fremont, California, factory to build a half-million Tesla Model 3s every year.

Tesla gave Motor Trend an opportunity for an extended test drive with the Tesla Model 3 engineer. Following is Testing Director Kim Reynolds’ review.

6 Responses to “Motor Trend: The Tesla Model 3 “Is the Most Important Vehicle of the Century””

  1. prov6yahoo says:

    But EV still won’t be as good a bargain as an internal combustion car until they have halved the price, doubled the range, one-fiftieth-ed the charging time, and have one-thousand times more charging stations. So you really do not want to buy one for another 10-20 years, if ever.

  2. Kevin says:

    While I wouldn’t buy it (I’ll be in the used minivan demographic for the foreseeable future) and you wouldn’t buy it, over a half million people have paid $1000 to reserve one so far.

    https://electrek.co/2017/07/29/elon-musk-confirms-model-3-reservations-have-surged-to-over-half-a-million/

    And that’s without Tesla trying to sell any yet.

  3. prov6yahoo says:

    Yep, people just dying to have the latest ‘fad’ tech.

  4. Kevin says:

    This is not a fad.

    “Daimler is set to dump about $1.13 billion into battery production around the world.”

    https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/mercedes-benz-heads-to-china-to-build-740m-ev-battery-factory/

    Daimler isn’t stupid. They are late, but definitely not stupid.

    BMW thought it was a fad, pretty much only dabbling with clean air compliance cars, but now they’re desperately trying to push out an electric 3-Series vehicle because the Tesla Model 3 makes the internal combustion 3-Series look lame.

    http://gas2.org/2017/06/29/bmw-electric-3-series-coming-september-company-cuts-options-pay-evs/

    We would like to be able to stop paying for gas for our vehicle. If we had an EV, our solar power system easily generates enough electricity to run our house and an electric vehicle. We don’t drive enough to justify the expense of an EV minivan (of which there is only one model in the world) at this point. NZ will be slow in rolling out EVs because we mostly buy the castoff cars from Europe and Japan for a fraction of the cost of buying anything new here.

  5. Miraculix says:

    Definitely NOT a “fad”. That said, I suspect Prov’s comment was aimed at the “early adopter” set, who define and measure their social status via the “new-ness” of the technological trappings with which they navigate the modern world.

    The real meat of the matter is the transition of the automotive market writ large to EV technology, as in infrastructure build-out AND most importantly, shifting — or not-so-gently forcing — consumers away from the ICE (gas and/or diesel) by any and all means.

    The last few months have seen EU nations & the UK adopting the first round of combustion engine bans and deadlines, thus far all aimed at the PR-friendly “2040” timeframe. At some point, the penalties for owning a non-EV will push all but the most recidivist (and enthusiast) types into the brave new world of electric vehicles.

    Funny thing, not that many years ago the diesel darlings of the auto industry and their political fixers were trumpeting “clean diesel” as the next big thing — especially here in Europe — and now ALL these vehicles are first on the chopping block.

    As ever, such things smell like the industry legislating their future sales cycles into existence, more than demonstrating any actual ecological concern. The easiest way to drive sales : render the current alternatives illegal and unfashionable.

    Merge this process with the steady shift toward self-driving vehicles as the “safe” alternative to human-piloted transport and the path forward — or at least it’s general direction — becomes a little bit less vague.

    Eventually, with every vehicle on the road fully trackable and autonomous, we the passengers will have surrendered the bulk of our own autonomy to the industry and their government proxies. What freedom of movement remains in our lives will involve walking, cycling, or “illegal” activity — like owning & operating an old fossil-fuel based vehicle.

    Much like the vinyl album, petrol-powered cars aren’t going away any time soon, but it’s clear that they’re headed for niche-market status sooner rather than later, based on all the current top-down trends unfolding in the press.

  6. prov6yahoo says:

    Right, ‘fad’ is the wrong term. Early-adopter is the right one, like the people who paid $10,000 for first 50″ flat screen plasma TV’s.

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