Tesla’s Model 3 Marks the Coming of Age of Electric Cars

A High Demand in an Expensive Market

Tesla’s Model 3 gives examples of many good reasons most people regard electric cars as an indulgence of the rich. First of all, they’re expensive, yet research shows that most car owners would prefer electric cars. This type of vehicle compares to those powered by internal-combustion engines (ICS). If electric cars were reasonably-priced and better able to make good-distance on a single charge, you would see more around. 

That has been a distant dream for Tesla fans for over a century. Although the dream’s reality grew closer in recent years, electric cars still fall short in many ways. In March 2016, however, the game changed when Tesla announced its $35,000 Model 3. If initial enthusiasm provides any indication of success, the Model 3 may well be the first electric car to fulfill the dream.

Tesla’s Model 3 Focuses On the Car to Forgo Advertisements

Unlike Tesla’s Model 3, most car companies launch new models with vast and expensive advertising campaigns. These marketing tactics aim to stimulate interest and therefore sales. Tesla skipped this strategy and merely announced the new model’s imminent arrival.

It appears to have worked! Huge numbers of potential customers immediately placed pre-order deposits without even having seen the car. Within hours of the Tesla motor company announcing the Model 3, 276,000 eager punters paid the $1,000 refundable booking deposit. According to the Financial Times, this occurred despite the cars not being scheduled for delivery until the end of 2017.

Tesla’s Model 3 Technology Turns Heads

Tesla’s Model 3 launch was more like the launch of a new Apple iPhone than the launch of a car. Aspiring owners queued overnight outside Tesla’s premises. These fans reason that if they pay the deposit as quickly as posible, they would be among the first to take delivery.

Tesla’s Model 3 vehicles maintain the company’s reputation for appearing on-trend. Similarly to Apple, they also manage to breaking away from the old ways of engineering necessities. Indeed, it could be argued that Tesla is a computer company that decided to make cars. Computers play a huge role in the new Tesla’s Model 3. They control battery performance, motor management, navigation, fault diagnosis, climate control, entertainment systems, and instrumentation.

In addition, Elon Musk runs Tesla Motors. He represents a visionary CEO with a track record in cutting-edge business ventures, many related to IT. His “coolness” credentials could hardly resonate more favorably with the iPhone generation. He is a founder of PayPal and CEO of Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX). This was the first private company to launch a spacecraft that docked with the international space station (ISS).

Tesla’s Model 3 differs from Apple in many obvious ways. For one thing, the Tesla’s Model 3 costs about 60 times as much as an iPhone. Many people consider a car as important and as indispensable as a smartphone. These customers figure they may as well queue for the coolest, newest one. Tesla’s future is not without uncertainties. The company’s cachet may help it fend off competition from the polluting, gas-burning ICE cars produced by legacy motor manufacturers.

Can Tesla’s Model 3 Fulfill its potential?

Yet that tailwind may disappear quickly if the new Tesla’s Model 3 does not live up to expectations. Production delays due to the unexpectedly high demand are likely to be Tesla’s biggest immediate problem. Musk claims the company will be able to produce about 500,000 units per annum.

In addition, it is building its own battery plant (called the Gigafactory) in Reno, Nevada. That plant will begin producing cells in 2017 and reach full capacity in 2020. Indeed, that timescale may suit Tesla, since gas prices are currently at an historic low. Environmental considerations aside, running cars with ICEs is more economical for the time being.   

Tesla’s Model 3 fulfills niches created by markets for transportation in a world that grows more health-conscious by the day. Although less than 1 percent of private cars currently sold in the US run on electricity, that scenario changes yearly. With battery and motor technology constantly improving, and prices falling, electric cars are becoming more attractive every day.

The low price of fuel may delay the switch from petrol-driven cars to electric. Although, few experts expect that competitive advantage to last indefinitely. With new technology, change usually happens quickly; the first iPhone launched in 2007 and quickly undermined many of the existing market leaders. It may take a few more years, but the future of cars tips towards that of electric.