It looks like Tesla is ramping up the production of its much-awaited Model 3 electric car. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the car's design will be finished in six weeks. Also, the company will open a colossal gigafactory in July as preparation for its biggest launch in history. Now, here's the latest round-up of update about Tesla Model 3 pre-orders, specs and price.
In an interview with Nilay Patel of The Verge, Musk said the Model 3's design would be "pencils down" in about six weeks. He added that "hubris" was one of the major causes of car's delayed release. He admitted that they tried to place too many technologies in a new model.
Furthermore, Musk claimed that Tesla will conduct the big event in the fourth quarter of the year. Several websites claim this could be the debut of the finished, production-ready Model 3, considering that the design will be finished in a few weeks' time.
On April, Tesla Vice President of Business Development, Diarmuid O'Connell, announced the reservations for the Model 3 hit 400,000 mark. Industry experts say that is a huge achievement for an electric car that's only been available for reservation. Tesla won't start shipping it until 2018. Interestingly, many of those pre-orders were made before the car's March 31 announcement.
Now, Tesla seems to figure out how to deliver the cars on time. The Week reported the company is set open its gargantuan gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada on July. The 130-acre facility is expected to produce the costly lithium-ion batteries of Model 3.
For those who want to pre-order a Model 3 car, Tesla customers just have to pay a refundable deposit of $1,000. The fully functional car costs around $35,000. Interested buyers can visit Tesla's official website to make a reservation.
Based on estimates from Cairn Energy Research Advisors, Tesla could deliver approximately 12,200 Model 3 cars next year, and another 64,660 Model 3 cars in 2018. On 2020, the company could ship more than 400,000 cars.
We previously reported Model 3 would have a minimum range of 215 miles on a single charge. Performance wise, the base model can run for up to 62 mph in less than six seconds. For the all-wheel-drive variant, it can charge at 0-62mph in around four and a half seconds.
We'll give more details as soon as we know more. We mentioned earlier Elon Musk will announce further information about Model 3 by the end of the year. Stay tuned for more updates.
