The Tesla Model 3 is no stranger to breaking records and even taking home the #1 vehicle position in European countries, but that has historically just occurred in the third month of big quarters. Sweden has something to say about that.
In terms of unit sales, the Tesla Model 3 was again the only premium-class car in the US top 10 in the second quarter of 2019. According to official figures from automakers and CleanTechnica’s estimate for Tesla’s US sales, the Model 3 was the 9th best selling car in the country in the quarter.
The most popular stories on CleanTechnica last week were led by the story of a DIYer in Texas who bought a used Nissan LEAF and turned it into a solar car. After that, it was the usual Tesla bonanza — a major auto reviewer (in this case Edmunds) showering impressive praise on the Tesla Model 3 (calling it the “ultimate driving machine”), some hot tweets from Elon Musk (in this case regarding the coming Tesla pickup truck), and more Tesla sales record (in this case, over in Europe in June).
I had to do a double take when seeing this tweet. I thought perhaps it was actually from The Onion, not Edmunds. In case you are not aware, Edmunds is no hippie-dippie cleantech site. In fact, it makes a shit ton of money funneling internet surfers to local auto dealers to buy gasmobiles. That’s sort of its thing. So, for Edmunds staff to bash a conventional auto company by saying that its popular tagline fits Tesla better is … well … sort of shocking.
The most popular articles on CleanTechnica last week were, surprisingly, not topped by a Tesla story. I don’t remember the last time that was the case! In fact, the thrid most popular story also wasn’t primarily about Tesla. Apparently, readers were especially pulled into reading a story about the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid’s solar roof, another mainstream media review of the Tesla Model 3, and why EV transmissions are a thing and will likely become a bigger thing.
I recently had our Polish Tesla Shuttle Model S for a few days (it normally lives in Cracow). I didn’t expect I’d experience many new things in the car and thought I wouldn’t have anything to write about, but I was wrong.
Six years ago today, I published a poll on CleanTechnica asking readers what they thought would be the first electric car to break into the top 10 of global auto sales.
There was no “Tesla Model 3” back then, just a “more affordable Tesla model coming by 2017.”
There are a lot of things that slip into the “Tesla narrative” and common Tesla discussions. Some of those things make sense. Some don’t. Some provide insight into the future. Some don’t.
Two days ago, just before the second quarter Tesla conference call, I wrote a long and rambling piece about Tesla demand, essentially writing that no one knows what Tesla demand is or will be.
The Tesla conference call tonight could go into all kinds of topics, and CEO Elon Musk is known to pull a rabbit out of his hat from time to time. But there’s one fundamental question that will almost definitely be asked a few times, perhaps in different ways or perhaps in exactly the same way repeatedly: How much demand is there for Tesla vehicles?
The most popular stories on CleanTechnica last week covered a wide variety of Tesla stories, some fun Nissan LEAF stories, a piece on the new EV approach from Nikola Motors, news of a 10 gigawatt battery factory for India, and some scientific advancements in geothermal energy and batteries.
