Model 3 configuration invites started going out to non-Tesla employees today!!

Doesn't mean much time frame wise, but without this milestone, the full roll out can't happen.

Sometime within the last week or two, my reservation was changed from April-June to May to July. I only reserved this year too, although I'm leaning toward the full option package and have that temporarily selected.

I did not get any. My timeline was changed from Nov-Feb to Jan-Mar.

That's the concept behind waymo. self driving cabs that pick you up, they are doing practice runs in arizona because the roads are wide and marked clearly
https://gizmodo.com/waymo-announces-fully-self-driving-cars-are-here-taxi-1820221010

Timelines were pushed 1 month on the 1st. Not many people got the invite, but that fact that the process has started is good news.

There is a lot of this work going on. It's quite the race. Tesla has said they will use their cars for a Tesla Network, and they have the most real world driving information, but Autopilot 2 seems behind now. Waymo is testing in VERY limited areas, and Uber just announced they were buying something like 24,000 Volvo autos for their fleet a day or two ago. It's going to be interesting.

No, mine wasn't. I logged in on the 2nd and around the 8th or so to check, and I was surprised to find my "guess-o-meter" to still have the same timeline as I originally got. Logged into today, and it got pushed a month.

I think that the Model 3 production is mostly in good shape, and once the battery thing is cleared up they'll start rolling off the lines really quickly. I think they purposely made it out to be worse than it is, to try to temper expectations a bit, but based on the fact that they didn't move actual delivery by much, I think they think that once this gets cleared up, they will be cranking them out quickly.

The folks getting invites to configure are current owners based in Cali.

Elon is all about the anti-sell on the model 3 right now. They already have way more orders then they need right now. I’m sure that he’d rather push sales toward the model S and X right now. Those cars are being built and equat to real cash right now, not pre-sale funds.

My email came in 11/1 at 7:18pm. I was under the impression they all got changed at the same time.

The email came in for me at 7:52pm the same night. I checked almost immediately, and it hadn't changed. It has since slid.

Having said that, to me, I feel really far ahead. I reserved in April, and expected to be fall of next year at the absolute earliest when I did. If I get the car in the summer, I'll feel like I skipped the line.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/11/01/technology/business/tesla-earnings-model-3-production/index.html

thanks for the three weeks old news.

You mean fake news?

nah that's super slow. probably something wrong with that charger. 14kph is barely more than you'd get from a standard American 120-volt outlet.

i get about 50 kph from the charger in my garage. superchargers can charge up to 500kph or more depending on how low your battery is to begin with.

Can’t do that with a model 3

Can ya blame them?

QSS

Tomorrow starts my new 1 month delayed delivery window. I want to believe I'll be able to take delivery mid January, or even the last day of February. My gut tells me sometime in April, my head tells me it can be as late as June.

I'm hoping I'm pleasantly surprised.

So it appears to be that Tesla is showing a Model 3 at the LA Auto Show. I really did not want to go but now....my delivery window (delayed) starts in January, so I be following your post jalpert.

https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/12/02/spacex-will-try-to-launch-elon-musks-tesla-roadster-on-new-heavy-lift-rocket/

This is so awesome. The goal of the maiden voyage of their new heavy rocket will be to put a Tesla Roadster playing “Space Oddity” on repeat in orbit around Mars, where it will stay for a billion years or so.

It is kind of funny, and I am pretty sure its a joke. If they do launch the Tesla on the Falcon heavy it won't make it to orbit Mars. It would basically just go off into orbit around the sun. This is a test launch and SpaceX doesn't have an upper stage capable of maneuvering, correcting trajectory along the way and getting into orbit once it reaches Mars. Once it separated from the second stage it would basically be on its own. Theoretically they could build a third stage to take it to Mars if Elon wanted to invest millions. Or they could put it into the trunk of a Dragon capsule I suppose, but the heavy test launch will be using a payload fairing and normally the Dragon flights do not have a fairing.

So it could be done, but I don't think it will happen this time. Either way, I will have a front row seat to watch the launch whenever it happens.

Looks pretty official now. No more tax credit for EV after 12.31.2017.
Kills it for me. I guess at the rate people are going to ask their deposit back...... We probably won't see that for a while.
That tax bill is crazy. More defisit in the budget, and crazy tax cuts to corporations. Kills small business and the middle class.

Without getting political, the Senate version which has more chance of passing as is preserves it.

If they completely gut it, while of course extending more tax cuts to fossil fuels, I don't think it will kill EVs at all. It will just give the rest of the world and specifically China a huge leg up on the future.

There have been numerous reports that due to the hard pivot back to fossil fuels, China and India will both have larger economies than the US within the next 15 years.

Having said that, it won't change much for me. Heck, my 3 might not have the credit by the time I get it anyway, and that didn't make me hesitant to put down money on one. I honestly think it will affect people that aren't Tesla a lot more, as they are nearing the end anyway.

Finally, if it doesnt die, expect a ton of misreporting on it anyway, as people really don't understand how it works.

The Tesla owners club of the mid-Atlantic (US) is having a social this Sunday (12/10/17) between Baltimore and DC. Two model 3 owners are coming with their cars, if anyone here is in the area and wants to come out.

teslamidatlantic.club and go to the events calendar for more info.

35k for a car in that range and performance compared to what else is out there is still competitively priced. not that 7500 isnt a lot of money, but that shouldnt make or break buying that car.

Try living in TN. I had to pay an extra $100 to register my car just because it is electric. Not a big deal but how stupid is that. Supposedly TN is one of the worst states for renewable energy stuff. Still though, I love my state and just don’t see why I’d be expected to pay more for something my registration.

Tennessee interstates also have reservations for the HOV lanes.

Wait till you see the annual fees they tack on in california because electric car owners aren't paying into the gas tax to fix roads
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/03/states-yank-electric-car-aid-add-new-fees-to-pay-for-infrastructure.html

I will most likely still end up getting the M3, but if the $7,500 tax credit vanishes, I will not be in a rush to be in on the first production run of the extended range battery and premium package for $49,000 base price. As a current MX owner, and first day reservation holder, I saw the tax credit as providing me a 'discounted' higher capacity battery or a 'free' premium package, paint color, and delivery fee. I'm in no rush to receive my M3, as my current vehicle will be inherited by my daughter in 2 years when she starts driving, and I can keep driving it until then. I just wanted in early to take advantage of the tax credit for the 'free'/'discounted' options. If it really does go away with this new tax bill, then I'll happily wait and more than likely have more options to choose from (color, interior color, cheaper autopilot, cheaper battery upgrade, AWD, upgraded suspension, etc). I mention cheaper autopilot and battery because, as a current MX owner, I've witnessed the decrease in cost for those options while owning.

I feel the same, I have an old Subaru which is economical, reliable and has been paid off more than 7 years ago, so if no tax credit I’ll just wait until I need a new car.

I don't understand your point. You obviously know that the gas tax on every gallon of gasoline sold is at least $0.25. So compared to a fossil fuel burning car, electric car owners are still not paying our fair share for maintaining the roads. What's your problem? How else is the infrastructure going to be paid for?

China and India are going hard into nuclear power generation like we should have done 20+ years ago. Nuclear power and electric cars are a natural combo.

There are better ways of making everyone pay their fair share to maintain roads. We've collected gas taxes because that was the most fair way to do it at the time. Now we have GPS in every phone, and insurance ODB boxes that can collect insurance based on miles driven, or road taxes for that matter. Oh but the conspiracy theorists wouldn't want anything tracking them, same way they said they'd never buy into automatic toll collecting system because they don't want a record of where they've been, or letting time stamps show they were speeding. Your phone is collecting data all the time. Every search you make is recorded somewhere, if you text while driving any insurance company can subpoena that info to prove you were at fault. And if you have an amazon echo, it's ALWAYS listening because that's how it works. It's always listening for a command.

Also gas taxes are only a small fraction that actually go towards paying for roads, most of it is collected from property taxes:
https://frontiergroup.org/reports/fg/who-pays-roads

If that weren't the case, we'd also have bicycle taxes (yes, bicycles also use roads)

Re: a phone GPS solution, so anyone who shuts off their phone while driving gets to dodge road taxes?

Re: an ODB solution, what about the millions of cars without ODB ports including my Tesla?

These aren't very realistic.

I guess that does make sense. At first I couldn't for the life of me understand why the higher charge. At least now I can wrap my head around it.

You cannot shut off your GPS in your phone. When you turn it off in your settings, you only disable the software, the GPS is still running, it is just that your apps cannot access it. I believe there even is a law or FDC regulation that regulates that. GPS can be accessed from your provider at any time. I am not talking cell tower triangulation, but GPS.

Here's another example why gas taxes don't work. let's say I'm a landscaper. I fill my truck up with gas because that truck is using the road. Now I have to fill up my lawnmower, my hedgeclipper, edger, weed wacker... All those products use gas, yet they aren't affecting the roads but I'm paying taxes on the gas to run them. If battery technology suddenly catches up and I can realistically power all those things with electric, are the roads going to once again suffer because of a gap in taxes paid?

You already can. My mom has an electric riding mower.

See, I used to own a retail biodiesel fueling station so I actually know more about this than you might think.

You can buy gas that isn't road taxed for non-road purposes. Diesel for home oil heating for example isn't taxed.

The forms aren't fun to fill out, and at least in my state they watch that like a hawk, but if you have a legit use you can buy non-road taxed fuel.

Yes you can shut off the GPS. You put the phone in a potato chip bag. The mylar acts as a faraday cage, totally blocking the signal.

Besides, the scheme is useless. What about passengers, riders on buses, taxis, and streetcars? Think about it. It's a silly idea.

Trust me, this problem has been looked at by tax regulators for years and years. Registration price hikes are the easiest to manage, basically zero cost to administer, and 100% effective. Everything else can either be circumvented or costs a fortune. Care to speculate on costs to install plug in sensors on cars?

100% agree with you. Did not mean to state you should do this, just wanted to point out that your gps is not turned off just because you disable the software.

I think gas taxes are too low, people driving 5000 pound pickups because gas is so cheap.

Plus many people don’t pay a lot of taxes (if the get paid under the table, off the book etc) so consumption tax is more fair to get more people paying in.

Plus it’s noted that higher gas price will lead to more fuel efficient cars and less driving so the roads will be less congested.

My brother in law bought one after realizing the difference in cost would pay for itself within two years of using it for his property. I really regret it seems battery push mowers seem to have come into their own one year after I bought mine.

Oh, and for the tax credit, if it goes away, I'll reconsider the battery in my 3. Right now, the deliver estimator says I could get a long range before the credit runs out. If that doesn't happen, I may save myself that money as I really would rarely need that much charge.

If the credit goes away, the new Leaf will suffer somewhat, the Bolt will suffer somewhat, but I think the people it will really affect are the Fords and Hondas out there that only have made crappy compliance cars so far. Tesla isn't losing money on each car sold, GM has stated they will be making money soon, Nissan has said they already are too. Companies that haven't made EVs will be severely hurt.

I don't actually care if they survive the transistion or not. I get its a bad thing in the economy if we lose them, but that's capitalism.

It seems that in the next 5 years or so, every major auto maker will be producing EV’s. My guess is that 90% of the population has no idea that the change will be here so quickly.

Here’s the link to the article. http://mashable.com/2017/10/03/electric-car-development-plans-ford-gm/#1hWlusjvkiqm

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