This article will be an update on a bunch of year-end Tesla topics. I’ll cover the latest news on the tax credit, the referral program, availability of inventory cars, the improved financing, the trade-in and delivery process, whether wait for the $35,000 car, and the latest on volunteering at the end of the year at a Tesla Delivery Center.
After a positive October, the German plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) market slipped again in November, down 2% to 6,266 registrations. This is in the midst of a seismic change happening in the fuels mix, with full electrics (BEVs) jumping +41% YoY while plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) continue sinking (-39%). Full electrics now outsell plug-in hybrids by a decent margin, flipping the script on this market (68% share for BEVs in November).
Whanganui district councillor and dental surgeon Dr. Hadleigh Reid recently purchased a Model S, one of several hundred Teslas in New Zealand. In 2017, it was reported that he and another councillor, Josh Chandulal-Mackay, were working to bring an EV charger to Whanganui. At the time, Reid said getting a charging station could enhance tourism, and bringing more visitors to the area was one of the ideas he had when he was running for office to support economic development.
A group of Tesla owners in the UK pulled together to donate a few mini Tesla Model S vehicles to a local hospital. The new vehicles will be used by kids going into surgery to travel into their operating theatre in style.
I just published an article examining the FUD around Elon Musk supposedly terminating employees “on a whim” and what that may mean. This, however, isn’t the only recent FUD-based narrative that I feel is worth exploring at the moment.
There are about 276.1 million cars in the USA in 2018. 77 million of them or about 28% could be fully powered by wind generation alone if they were electric and used full time.
Accidents happen. It sucks. But with a Tesla, you have extra protection to help keep you out of one.
A Tesla Model 3 owner up in Canada shows the rest of the world how to open the handles on the Tesla Model 3 when they freeze shut. The video is paired with a priceless quote that will surely go down in history: “The Tesla Model 3 is a car, not a crystal glass; give it a smack and stop complaining about frozen handles.”
Tesla continues to drop easter egg bombs on owners, and this time, they stink. Well, they would if Tesla had Smell-o-Vision, but thankfully they don’t (yet?) and simply add to the ambience of the in-car experience.
If the BMW 3 Series seems to be in trouble in the US due to the Tesla Model 3, it appears it might have a much bigger problem in China. The Tesla Model 3 Long Range is already at the top of the price range of a BMW 3 Series and Mercedes-Benz C-Class, and lower-trim options should eventually arrive to compete with those models’ lower-trim options.
