Elon Musk Will Handover The First Tesla Model 3 To A Lucky Customer Tonight

It’s not everyday that industry pundits and tech geeks around the world liken the launch of a car to the 2007 unveil of Steve Jobs’ iPhone. Yet, that’s exactly what’s happening. With the promise of a fully-integrated EV experience, access to Tesla’s now built-out Supercharger network, and a semi-autonomous drive that could see a full autonomous mode rolled out via an over-the-air software update, the Model 3 could see the democratisation of affordable electric transportation.

At an event in Fremont, California this evening, Tesla CEO Elon Musk plans to handover the first Tesla Model 3s to a handful of customers and thus mark the ramping up of production. The company plans to produce 100 cars in August, 20,000 cars per month by December and a lofty 500,000 vehicles in 2018. That, to put into context, is more cars than Porsche produce.

Around 400,000 people put down a $1,000 deposit last year when the car was first announced, and these are the customers destined to see deliveries start to hit their driveways this year. Prices for the Model 3 have been confirmed at $35,000 (around £28,000) and this paves the way for affordable EV motoring after the more expensive Model S and Model X.

Of course, the success of production of the Model 3 rests squarely on the shoulders of Tesla’s Gigafactory, the biggest building in the world by footprint and one of the world’s largest producers of lithium-ion batteries. Once the Gigafactory reaches full capacity, Tesla estimate that it will be able to ship one million vehicles by 2020.

So what next? If Tesla successfully pulls off this roll-out, they’ll move from being a hip, niche EV movement to a car-producing heavyweight. From there, we could see the eagerly anticipated Model Y SUV and an even swifter move to autonomous driving than we all saw coming.

How do you feel about the rise of Tesla and the impending launch of the Model 3? Let us know in the comments.