Tesla Model 3 production to start Friday, deliveries July 28

Tesla Model 3 Driving on a Public RoadAs he had promised he would late one evening last week, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk has tweeted out some updates on the upcoming Model 3. He expects first production Model 3 electric car, with serial number 001 ("SN1"), to be completed this Friday, July 7. The first 30 customers to buy Model 3s should receive them, he followed up, at a "handover...

Fall debut for electric BMW 3-Series to fight Tesla Model 3: report

2019 BMW 3-Series, portion of spy shot from Motor Authority  [Image via S. Balfauf/SB-Medien]In August 2016, when the first U.S. ads for the BMW 330e plug-in hybrid sport sedan hit the airwaves, they carried an interesting promise. "You will wait, and wait, and wait some more," the voiceover intoned, "all before that electric-car company's new model ever even arrives." That would be the Tesla Model 3, of course, the 200-plus-mile sedan...

How many Tesla Model 3s will be delivered by Dec 31? Poll results

First release candidate Tesla Model 3 electric car, from video tweeted by Elon Musk, March 2017With photos of Tesla Model 3 test cars now popping up regularly, it seems likely that some number of Tesla's lower-priced all-electric sedan will roll off the production lines within the next few months. The big question is when the company will start delivering them beyond the board members, investors, friends, and passionate owners who will get...

Tesla Model 3 acceleration found in chart on Model S advantages

Tesla Model 3 spotted at service centerElectric-car maker Tesla doesn't announce models in the usual fashion. It trickles out bits and pieces of information, often in the form of tweets from CEO Elon Musk, punctuated by occasional large flashy debut events for owners and investors at which a vehicle is revealed. That's the pattern followed by the upcoming Tesla Model 3, which the...

Chevy Bolt EV costs $28,700 to build, Tesla Model 3 a bit higher: analysis

2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV pre-production vehicles at Orion Township Assembly Plant, March 2016The costs and prices of electric cars are endlessly debated, not only among owners and advocates but within the industry itself. The cost per kilowatt-hour of electric-car batteries is closely held, with a few notable exceptions. One of those was the statement by GM product chief Mark Reuss that the company pays $145 per kilowatt-hour for the...

Manufacturing expert says Tesla Model 3 plan to skip beta testing is risky

Tesla Model 3 design prototype  -  March 2016Tesla is taking a major gamble regarding the production of its upcoming Model 3 sedan in skipping prototype tooling and jumping straight to permanent production tooling, says a noted auto-manufacturing expert. "He's pushing the envelope to see how much time and cost he can take out of the process," Ron Harbour, a manufacturing consultant at Oliver...

Tesla Model 3 caught on video during daylight testing

Tesla Model 3 test car, Los Altos, CA, Apr 8, 2017  [clip from YouTube video by OMG_Tesla}The emergence of spy photos, and more recently video, has always been one of the standard indicators of a car nearing production. With production still said to start this July, pre-production versions of the Tesla Model 3 electric car should have been popping up in spy photos by now. Two weeks ago, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted brief footage of what...