Tesla reveals Model 3 production, full delivery could take years

3 Jul 2017

Tesla. Image: Andrei Tudoran/Shutterstock

With hundreds of thousands of orders for the Model 3, Tesla’s production capacity is such that it might take two years to clear the backlog.

By the end of July, 30 customers will be sitting in their new Tesla Model 3 cars. That represents 0.0075pc of the estimate of 400,000 orders of the vehicle.

According to Elon Musk, who owns the pioneering electric automotive company, production will soon ramp up to 1,500 in September, and then 20,000 per month by the end of the year.

That conservative estimate could be as much as 100,000 off, though, meaning the production of 20,000 per month would need about two years to clear off the pre-orders.

That’s before subsequent interest is taken into account.

The car’s huge following comes for a number of reasons, most notably its price tag of roughly $35,000, far below anything Tesla has produced before.

That, added with the Apple-like fandom Tesla enjoys, and the gradual shift towards electric vehicles, combined to produce an incredible amount of pre-orders, coming within just a few hours of the Model 3’s announcement.

The car is expected to reach 100kph in six seconds, with 315km attainable on a single charge.

The first Tesla Irish store officially opened for business on 26 April, with the sales and repair centre located in Sandyford, Dublin.

Much like Apple’s business model, Tesla cars can only be repaired or serviced at its own centres, so potential customers outside of Dublin might want to remember this fact.

However, a spokesperson for the company told Siliconrepublic.com during a visit that there are plans in the future for a representative to come and collect the car in Ireland – a service it offers in the UK – or send someone to repair it at a customer’s home.

Tesla’s business plans don’t end with the Model 3, obviously. The company reportedly recently met with record labels, with plans to one day provide its own music streaming service in its vehicles.

Elsewhere, TechCrunch reports that a $2m investment in a “months-old” start-up called Redwood Materials has Tesla fingerprints all over it.

Based in California, the company’s executive officers include Tesla co-founder and CTO JB Straubel, as well as Tesla head of special projects, Andrew Stevenson.

Redwood is working on “advanced technology and process development for materials recycling, remanufacturing, and reuse”.

Tesla. Image: Andrei Tudoran/Shutterstock

Gordon Hunt was a journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com