[chiph]

It was just introduced last night by Elon Musk, and the specs look like he's hit the sweet spot.

215 miles of range, with Supercharger compatibility so you can take long trips and commute in it.

The dash board is very clean and smooth, and dominated by a large LCD panel.

Honestly, it looks like a movie prop if they were to make "Demolition Man 2", because it's lines are so smooth and uninterrupted.

By the end of the evening, they had 115,000 pre-orders at $1000 each. I hope they can make that many in a year.

The Tesla Model 3 arrives with 215 miles of range for $35,000

Chip H.

 

[bigdogrod]

yeah nice car, but he can't make that many in a year.. lol

that's why the first deliveries are not till late 2017/ early 2018 and that's to current owners of Tesla's and if the keep that schedule..

and hopefully the incentives will still be around then as well.

 

[zroger73]

Oh, snap. If one were available right now I'd leave work and go get it. This is what I've been waiting for!

 

[AG87BlkLX]

115,000 pre orders in one night...WOW. That's knowing what the market wants.

 

[Carsmak]

115,000 pre orders in one night...WOW. That's knowing what the market wants.

I believe they had 115k pre orders before the vehicle was revealed. Still pretty amazing, Musk get's to sit on $115 Million while finishing development, I bet he could have doubled or tripled the deposit amount and still had the pre orders.

 

[bigdogrod]

ahh but here's the kicker..... the deposit is refundable up until the time they call saying the car is going to production.

let's make the deposit non-refundable and see where the numbers really are

 

[Smokey619]

The luxury Prius is going places by making an expensive car very affordable.

 

[Jonb]

Super excited about the model 3 for no other reason that it is going to grow the market, grow the charging stations, grow the dealerships, grow brand ect. Not to mention it actually a good looking car and affordable at 35k which makes it an option for the average family. For me and the wife a Tesla would work perfect with our small commutes to work but until more supercharger stations hit the roads I would not consider buying one. I want to be able to travel and not have to worry about where the next charging station is. A few more yrs with all the stations they are talking about building it may be something we look at when its time for a new car for the wife.

 

[chiph]

There were some tweets from Elon recently - looks like the dash design isn't final yet. But they will keep the LCD as it is.

I think I saw that there's now 220,000 pre-orders. I expect 10-20% of them will request refunds when they figure out Tesla can't build them as fast as they need to.

Chip H.

 

[Carsmak]

There were some tweets from Elon recently - looks like the dash design isn't final yet. But they will keep the LCD as it is.

I think I saw that there's now 220,000 pre-orders. I expect 10-20% of them will request refunds when they figure out Tesla can't build them as fast as they need to.

Chip H.

Or the fact that only the first 200k will get federal rebates...

 

[chiph]

Well, that's 200k per manufacturer.
So they won't be sharing them with Bolt owners, at least.

Chip H.

 

[AG87BlkLX]

The 3 would be a nice 2nd car to own but pre-orders are up to 276K right now. If you get on the list now how long before you actually get your car... 1 year, 18 months, 2 years?

 

[Jonb]

Regardless of wait times, rebates, asking for refunds ect it is damn impressive that an American made vehicle is making this kind of buzz. When has any other car company in the history of the world ever had 275K+ cars reserved before it is even released? **** when has a car company ever had 100 or even 1000 cars reserved before its released? Clearly Tesla has got something and got something good.

 

[zroger73]

I don't know what most people want, but I, for one, am completely burned out on internal combustion engines. We're still sitting behind pistons hammering up and down dozens of times per second the same way they did well over 100 years ago. Of course, when the masses begin to adopt electric cars you'll see the oil/gas companies become electric companies and they'll find a way to raise electric rates.

 

[AG87BlkLX]

I wonder if there's a midsize truck in Tesla's future?

 

[OwnerCS]

Here's a funny story about the Edison Ford electric car.

Ford, Edison and the Cheap EV That Almost Was | WIRED

 

[Dnick]

I kinda' like our piston engines..... pretty refined by now.

But I'd really like to see an elegant turbine fuel burner, tied to a yet-to-be-had new technology that efficiently converts the surplus heat to electricity; and then run go electric from there.

I mean, why would you not want to have your generating plant on board? "Home charged" batteries seem to me to be an unnecessary "middle-man". I know there are all kinds of practical arguments against this presently, but me thinks the diesel electric train engines are a pretty good concept to start from. Call me old fashioned.

If/when solar or hydrogen conversion (or even fusion) power become realistic, then I'm all for those newer approaches. I just never thought carrying around several hundred pounds of batteries was a very sophisticated advance away from our internal combustion piston engines. My perspective anyway....

 

[chiph]

The Chevy Bolt has a more traditional "car" look to it and will sell for about the same price.

Competition is good.

Chip H.

 

[Dnick]

But what is the name sake?..... Would that be Bolt the dog, or Bolt the Olympic runner?

Time will tell...

 

[Bagger]

Dollar for Dollar the Bolt doesn't compare.. it is overpriced, GM still looking to bank the government tax credits. Most of the technological saftey features on the Bolt are listed as "optional". The model 3 will have them all along with full autopilot as standard and should still be a few thousand less than the base Bolt.