Tesla’s Model 3

Electric Cars have been on the road for a long time but due to their cost, limited range and other performance issues have not been able to become a mass market car. Tesla solved the performance issues like speed, acceleration, and range. The resolution of these issues made it clear that electric cars can compete with conventional cars, but can they? There is still a variable which needs to be solved and that is cost. With Model 3, Tesla wants to solve that.

Model 3 was announced by Tesla in March 2016, in its effort to push electric cars to the mass market segment. With a starting price tag of US$35,000, Tesla strives to make the Model 3 in reach of the customers who otherwise could not afford its other higher priced models. Currently, Model 3 is available only for reservation for a sum of US$1000. Tesla has already received at least 400,000 pre-orders for Model 3.

Model 3 is a four door compact sedan and can seat up to 5 adults. According to Tesla, it will have a range of 215 miles equivalent to 346 km. This is a decent range, in line with most other models offered by Tesla and way more than most other cars by its competitors. It can reach 0 to 60 miles or 96.6 km in under 6 seconds which can’t be called as sporty nor it is intended to be as it is aimed at mass market.

According to Tesla, Model 3 will have the hardware needed for full self-driving capability at a safety level substantially greater than that of a human driver. This means that Model 3 will have all of basic Tesla Autopilot features like summon and auto-park will etc available right after delivery. Autopilot hardware consists of 8 cameras providing 360 degrees vision, 12 ultrasound sensors, forward facing radar and many other sensors complemented with a high performance on board computer to process all the data.  Below is a video by Tesla displaying its various Autopilot features.

We know very less about the appearance of Model 3 especially the interior except a few images shot of the test cars on the road. The images below are taken from Imgur. Take a look.

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Some Tesla fans were quick to pick issues like a lot of ugly gap in the panel but these are likely to be resolved in the production models as pointed by car scoops. A major change is that a big touchscreen LCD is taking the place of everything that is normally present on the dash.

As we know Tesla models are quite good when it comes to safety standards and according to Tesla, Model 3 is “Designed to achieve 5-Star Safety Rating”.

Check out our article on Tesla and its Entry into Fortune 500 to know more about Tesla. Below is the unveiling video of Model 3.