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Tesla CEO Elon Musk has announced that his company's "mass market sedan", the Model 3, can be pre-ordered in March 2016 for $35,000. The cars will not be available until 2017 at the earliest. From CNBC:
What's taking so long, you ask? Right now, the batteries that would power the Model 3 would cost about as much as the car is slated to. Tesla is building an enormous lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility in Nevada to make its own batteries for far less money — the "Gigafactory" mentioned in Musk's tweet.
Not much more can be revealed about the Model 3 except that, as Musk mentioned cryptically during a Q&A session on Reddit, "It won't look like other cars." What does that mean, exactly? We'll find out in March.
In the meantime, you can order yourself a new Model X — if you have the cash. The entry level model will cost around $5,000 more than a Model S with the same options, Musk wrote in yet another tweet — though you can easily spend well into the six figure range for the "Signature" high-end series.
Tesla customers will begin receiving their Model X "all-electric SUVs" beginning on Sept. 29.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 05 2015, @02:14AM
As to why they are Li-cobalt type (probably LiNiCoMn or some such, these days) instead of Li-iron type -- I don't think "nearly same" energy is close enough at this point, for the range and price goals they have set. 20% less energy/$ means they need 25% more expensive battery to meet the goals, and I don't see the budget for that. Ten years from now, I bet the market will be big enough to sell both types (marketing will decide whether it's LiFePO4 for normal people, LiCoO2 for the range-anxious people who need/want an extra 20% or so, or LiCoO2 for normal people, LiFePO4 for those who plan to keep their cars >5 years instead of trading them in), but at this point I understand if they calculate that they need that 20% margin on range (and/or cost, obviously it's a tradeoff) to bust open the market.