Tesla Model 3 News
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Now that Tesla has opened orders for Dual Motor all-wheel-drive and Performance versions of the Model 3, lots of Green Car Reports readers waiting to order those models can see light at the end of the tunnel. That made us curious how many of you were holding out for those high-zoot Model 3s, which ones you favored, how many were satisfied with the standard model that Tesla has been building up to now, and how many are still holding out for other versions of the Model 3, such as those with the short-range battery pack. We thought we'd ask our Twitter followers that question this week. Which...
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Elon Musk announces Tesla Model 3 AWD, performance Model 3 specsIt wasn't quite a message in a bottle, but Tesla boss Elon Musk tweeted Saturday night some specifications and a ballpark price for his company's long-awaited all-wheel-drive and performance versions of the Model 3. The all-wheel-drive Model 3 will add $5,000 to the base Model 3's price and offer...
Aaron Cole -
IIHS rates Tesla Model 3 automatic emergency braking and forward collision warningAfter a spate of crashes involving drivers using Tesla's Autopilot system, the press is awash in speculation about its effectiveness. Now the IIHS, which rates accident avoidance systems across many automakers, has given the Tesla Model 3 its highest rating of "Superior" in its front crash...
Eric C. Evarts -
Tesla Model 3 software updates revealedAs Tesla has been working to ramp up assembly of its more affordable Model 3 sedan, the company has also been adding features to existing examples with its over the air software updates. We spoke with Tesla to learn the extent of updates and found five updates that have been rolled out to existing...
Eric C. Evarts -
Elon Musk says all-wheel-drive, Performance Model 3s will be available to order this weekIn a tweet response Friday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that buyers waiting to order a Model 3 with all-wheel drive or the Performance package can begin placing their orders by the end of this week. Last month, Musk had said that the Dual Motor all-wheel-drive and Performance versions of the Model 3...
Eric C. Evarts -
Tesla shuts down Model 3 production for five days amid quality concernsThe company says the shutdown has been long-planned and that it will not affect the ramp-up in Model 3 production to the company's long-promised 5,000 cars a week.
Eric C. Evarts -
At this point, the variable build quality of early Tesla Model 3 electric cars has been well documented. One of the main issues is the "phantom touch" on the car's all-important central display. The phantom touch is what Green Car Reports reader Jeff Southern of Atlanta suffered in his car before he invited us to drive it for our full review. Like many Model 3 owners, Southern had to have his car's central touch screen replaced after the screen started randomly "touching" a point at the side of the screen, as described by several owners from January through this month in a post on the Tesla...
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When will Tesla Model 3 all-wheel-drive, lower-range models be available?Musk says the problem is that adding additional configurations with all-wheel drive would make production so much more complicated that it would jeopardize the company's ability to build up Model 3 production to levels that would bring in the revenue the company needs to stay afloat.
Eric C. Evarts -
Tesla Model 3 production crossed 2,000 last week; is it sustainable?Tesla reported Tuesday that it built 34,494 electric cars in the first quarter of 2018, by far its largest quarterly production total ever. But all eyes were on one number: the production of Model 3 sedans, which was 9,766 vehicles out of that total. Of the rest, 11,730 were Model S hatchback...
John Voelcker -
2018 Tesla Model 3 Long Range: first drive review of 310-mile electric car“The Tesla Model S was a moment. The Model 3 is a product.” That pair of sentences perfectly summarized the several hours we spent last month with the 2018 Tesla Model 3 kindly loaned to us by reader Jeff Southern of Atlanta. We’d covered more than 100 miles on a variety of...
John Voelcker -
Tesla employees say Model 3 parts need substantial rework after productionElectric-car maker Tesla is known for troubled launches, at least for the four products it's offered since the first Roadster in 2008. But the launch of the Tesla Model 3, its lower-priced electric sedan, may be the most challenging yet—and it may be the Tesla with the highest expectations...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Model 3 quality is terrible, but will it matter to buyers?So we've finally had the chance to spend time with a 2018 Tesla Model 3, courtesy of a generous and devoted Green Car Reports reader. We'll have our first-drive report and a full review of the car within a day or two—but that's not what this article is about. The build quality of the early...
John Voelcker -
Production numbers for Tesla electric cars have always been slightly murky. The company announces deliveries only quarterly and refuses to break them down by country, meaning there are no sales figures that directly compare with those routinely issued by other makers. The Tesla Model 3 has endured a long, painful, and somewhat public "production hell" as the company struggles to get it into steady, automated, high-volume production at the necessary levels of quality. DON'T MISS: Tesla Model 3 choke point: automated battery line equipment still in Germany? Similar concerns over the earlier...
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Tesla Model 3 variants delayed; will some buyers lose $7,500 tax credit?"Overall, I think, while there were challenges associated with Model 3 ramp, we were in a deeper level of hell than we expected, so a few levels deeper than we'd like to be, but swiftly exiting, I think." Those chastened but seemingly optimistic words came from the CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, during a...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Model 3: what parts breakdown says about high-volume electric carTesla CEO Elon Musk has aspirations of vertically integrating his companies as much as possible, trying to avoid traditional suppliers wherever he can. While Tesla has been successful in developing things like their electric motors in-house, the company still relies on others for many of the...
Bozi Tatarevic -
Tesla Model 3 Long Range rating of 310 miles: Is it understated?Amidst all the coverage on Wednesday of the Tesla Model 3 production numbers, we realized we'd forgotten one piece of the Model 3 saga. That would be the official EPA range and efficiency ratings for the 2017 Tesla Model 3 Long Range version. Those were issued at the end of November, and they...
John Voelcker -
What was our most important story of 2017? Twitter poll resultsYear-end roundups are an unavoidable necessity of the media business. They let editors and writers opine, and they fill space when there may be little real news. They also serve the more valuable function of forcing a longer-term perspective on the hundreds of news items a month that flow through...
John Voelcker -
Lists, news roundups, and general reflections are the usual order of business as a calendar year comes to a close. We've published more than 1,600 green-car news stories so far during 2017, and it's proven to be quite a year. In the car market at large, the most notable trend was a continued move toward utility vehicles of all sizes as passenger sedans and hatchbacks lagged in popularity. DON'T MISS: Tesla Model 3: impressions of a BMW i3 driver (and reservation holder) In the U.S., that's largely due to continued cheap gasoline prices and the higher fuel efficiency of all types of new...
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Tesla Model 3: impressions of a BMW i3 driver (and reservation holder)With DC fast charging fully electric vehicles can be charged to around 80% of their full battery capacity in under 30 minutes
Tom Moloughney -
Electric car buyers' struggle: practicality vs luxury, Chevy vs TeslaCompetition for the title of most popular electric car has sparked a long and highly charged race between Tesla and Chevrolet. Though these brands offer vastly different versions of electric vehicles, they seem to be the two dominating electric vehicle sales in 2017. Reports show that top monthly...
VentureBeat's GreenBeat -
How many Model 3s will Tesla deliver by Dec 31? Twitter poll results, againWhat a difference a few months makes. In June, one month before the delivery of the first 30 Tesla Model 3, we polled our Twitter followers on how many of the lower-priced electric cars Tesla would deliver by the end of this year. The view then was pretty rosy, with more than half the respondents...
John Voelcker -
Configuring a Tesla Model 3: buyer walks through the process with usVery few of the 455,000 people who put down $1,000 to reserve a place in line for the Tesla Model 3 electric car have received the opportunity yet to configure their cars online and place a firm order. The volume of Model 3s is still apparently at low numbers—a few hundred last month...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Model 3 Long Range electric car tested by Motor TrendWithin the last week, we wrote that not one major automotive media outlet had independently tested the less-expensive and higher-volume Tesla Model 3. That changed on Monday, when Motor Trend published the first instrumented test of Tesla's affordable electric car. This gives us the first...
Sean Szymkowski