I wrote an article a few days ago about 7 things Tesla “couldn’t do,” according to top experts in the auto field. As it turns out, these are things Tesla actually went ahead and did, while blowing nonchalant kisses at the crowd.
Some other ideas for things “experts” were convinced Tesla couldn’t do have come to mind, so here’s a sequel to the article from the other day.
Since I got the Tesla Model 3 a month and a half ago, I’ve been trying to figure out a one- or two-sentence summary of the car. It’s been tough. I’m plagued by a few issues. For one, I’m used to communicating with people who know a ton about Tesla (you), whereas people in the “real world” are often not such people.
I wrote earlier this week that I would conduct some new 5 year cost of ownership comparisons between the Tesla Model 3 and its top luxury car competitors. I’ve actually never before conducted an analysis comparing the Model 3’s cost of ownership to the cost of ownership of the Mercedes C-Class or Audi A4. I think the main reason is that it was just clear from the Model 3 comparison with the BMW 3 Series and 4 Series that the Model 3 would embarrass these other cars on a cost of ownership basis. Nonetheless, now seemed like a good time for a new round of comparisons.
The top 20 articles on CleanTechnica last week, in terms of views, were led by quite an interesting and surprising article. If you didn’t see it before and are now curious, just be advised that it is delivered better on a computer than a phone — and scrolling down to the comments may be worthwhile sooner than later if you’re confused.
“It’s the little things.”
“Stop to smell the roses.”
“Don’t forget to enjoy life.”
There are various phrases that try to remind us that big-picture topics don’t always dominate our lives. In fact, little things of daily life can influence us on a grand scale. With many little things, it wouldn’t hurt us to pause and appreciate them a little more.
Yesterday, I wrote about the 4 top reasons we just bought a Tesla Model 3 and decided to say goodbye to a 2015 BMW i3 REx we loved. Below are 3 more reasons — not as big as the core 4 but notable nonetheless. Were any of these critical in deciding to bring home a Model 3? No, but they were big improvements over the i3 that continually came to mind and helped build the case for the switch. In our first day with the car, each of them was already noticed and appreciated.
Jesse over at Mountain Pass Performance picked up a Tesla Model 3 Standard Range+ to fiddle with, and a few dyno tests confirmed that the lighter weight of the SR+ does indeed result in a faster car than the Model 3 Long Range at speeds over 65 miles per hour.
Tesla just rolled out a series of updates to the Model 3 configurator that lowered prices across the board in many countries. The new change was accompanied by a flip flop on the base color of all of Tesla’s vehicles — from black to “pearl white.” It is now an extra $750 to add black but no extra charge to choose white. Grey (“midnight silver metallic”) and blue (“deep blue metallic”) cost $1000 and red costs $2000.
Recently, we found out the German Tesla website introduced business leasing for the Model 3. Here is an example from the Tesla site. Congrats for those of you wanting a business lease in Germany!
John Rougeux recently ordered and took delivery of a Tesla Model 3 Standard Range with 570 miles on the odometer. He was charged $35,400 (there was a $400 price increase recently), but he got $1,250 off since the car had 570 miles.
