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Tesla Upgrading Its Supercharging Network To V3 For Next-Generation Speeds

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Published on March 4th, 2019 |

by Kyle Field

Tesla Upgrading Its Supercharging Network To V3 For Next-Generation Speeds

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March 4th, 2019 by Kyle Field

The rollout of Tesla’s next-generation Supercharging network is starting on Wednesday, according to a tweet by CEO Elon Musk late Sunday. The first public Supercharging point running at the company’s new version 3.0 spec will go live at 8pm on Wednesday, March 6th, 2019.

The Supercharging V3 spec is expected to level up Tesla’s charging network to compete with the cutting edge speeds of other next-generation public chargers, which are operating at speeds of 150–350kW. Tesla has not disclosed the specs for its Supercharger V3 stations. Though, CEO Elon Musk teased the twittersphere back in 2016 when asked if they would operate at 350kW. He playfully mocked the speed, leading to rampant speculation that Tesla’s next-generation chargers would raise the bar even further, and that was back in 2016!

Increasing the speed of its charging network was one of the critical pushes the company was working on to improve the availability of its Supercharging network in its home market of California and beyond. Increasing the speed of its Superchargers not only gets owners back on the road faster, it frees up the stations being utilized much faster, improving the overall power a station can provide to even more drivers per day.

On the financial side of things, investing more capital into the chargers themselves makes better use of the existing real estate agreements Tesla has in place. The move leverages Tesla’s increased access to capital, thereby improving the usefulness of its existing real estate agreements.

The offset is that the higher power chargers will pull down power from the utility even faster, incurring more demand charges with the utility. Demand charges are the fees ratepayers incur based on how fast they pull down power. The fatter the pipe and the more power they pull at one time, the higher the charges. To offset this, Tesla will install its Powerwall stationary energy storage units to serve as a buffer between their charging stations and the utility.

Take these for a grain of salt, but a redditor who claimed to have inside information from a Tesla employee said that the new standard included:

200kW actual charging speed
Cabinets can support 250kW max speed each
All Model 3 battery configurations can charge at these speeds
Supercharger V3 is a full redesign from previous generation
V3 chargers use the industrial inverters from Tesla’s Powerpacks
All V3 will eventually have much thinner liquid cables than current ones
Coolant pump will be located in the base of the Supercharger and can be installed into existing Supercharger V2 stations
Solar panels and Powerpack integration is a part of the design spec
Up to 7 V3 cabinets per bus (or block) can be linked, with an optional connection to one Power Pack
Supercharger V3 will have 40% better throughput performance thanks to a 96% efficiency inverter versus the 92% efficiency inverter in the Supercharger V2 units.

The new design also brings reduced harmonics and no over-voltage sensitivity
The new efficient design brings an impressive savings in purchased electricity

Combined AC input is 438kVA, 526A
Cabinets are on a shared DC radial configured bus of 880-1000
Any extra power can be shared across cabinets
Site master controller is 4G LTE for communication for remote diagnostics and billing

The new charging spec is simply the next step in Tesla’s full court press on the automotive industry. No other automaker has yet to truly push into solving public charging infrastructure needs for its vehicles. Even Volkswagen and its mandated Electrify America program is not adding enough public charging infrastructure to enable worry-free long-distance travel.

This is not brand favoritism — it is the simple reality of public EV charging networks in 2019. Compare a Hyundai Kona EV and a Tesla Model 3. They are both great cars, but the ability to simply head out on a 5 hour road trip without thinking about it (like you would in a gas or diesel vehicle) only exists in one of the two.

Other companies have public chargers that compete at the speeds being thrown around about Tesla’s Supercharger V3 network, but they are only pilot installations. More cohesive efforts to stitch together networks of next generation 150kW+ DC fast chargers are starting to be rolled out in Europe, but Tesla is leaps and bounds beyond anyone else when it comes to having a consistent product with easy access and more than 12,000 charging points in operation.

The big question with the rollout of the first Supercharging V3 station is about the capability of Tesla’s vehicles. Some of the older battery packs already can’t charge at the full power of today’s 125kW stations. The Model 3 has Tesla’s latest EV charging hardware in it, but nobody knows how fast it can actually take a charge.

About the Author

Kyle Field I'm a tech geek passionately in search of actionable ways to reduce the negative impact my life has on the planet, save money and reduce stress. Live intentionally, make conscious decisions, love more, act responsibly, play. The more you know, the less you need. TSLA investor.

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My Trip To The Tesla Model Y Unveiling: The Day Before The Storm

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Cars Published on March 14th, 2019 | by Paul Fosse
My Trip To The Tesla Model Y Unveiling: The Day Before The StormTwitterLinkedInFacebookMarch 14th, 2019 by Paul Fosse

This article highlights the reasons I came out to California for the Tesla Model Y unveiling and what a saw the day before the unveiling.
Why Did I Come Out Here?There are so many answers to that question, but none of them had to do with the Model Y. You see, modern life is such that I know the best way to see a major event (like a political convention or the Super Bowl or an Apple unveiling) is to sit at home like you and read articles and watch livestreams. The first reason I came to the unveiling is simply because I was invited and I could. My wife recently had major surgery and I wasn’t sure if I should leave her alone. I’m in the middle of training a group of internal customers to use the first data mart that I’ve designed in my career. My son is struggling in his second year of college. I’m halfway done with 4 tax returns that will quickly be due.
But I didn’t overthink it. I knew that I had worked hard to get the invite (from the now defunct referral program) and I shouldn’t waste the chance to be here. When my kids were applying to colleges a few years ago, a presenter from an elite school told me something that has stuck with me. He said you shouldn’t go to our school because our campus is great or our teachers are great (although they are), but because our students are great. He said you spend 15 hours a week with the teachers, but 168 hours a week with the other students. He said they could select all students with perfect SAT scores if they wanted to, but to provide the best outcomes, they selected people who had accomplished something. Maybe they were an Olympic athlete, maybe they had started a company or two, maybe they were on a hit TV show — whatever they had done, they would have learned valuable life lessons they could share with their fellow students. That’s the biggest reason to go to the unveiling, to meet and hang around with exceptional people who share my passion for electric cars and Tesla. Each person has a unique story of how they became a fan of the company that has a news cycle that never seems to slow down. Sometimes it is product related, sometimes it is Elon’s tweets, but we all came together to both be part of this historic product announcement and meet in person so many of the people we feel like we know from YouTube or Twitter or the various EV-focused blogs we all follow.
The second reason to go was to spend some time with my son and introduce him to a new part of the tech world that he may not realize exists.
Tesla Hawthorne Design Center
After landing a day before the event, I went to the Design Center to get some pictures and see the preparations before the big day, and to get an In and Out Burger (animal style) from just down the street.
This is the place the Model S, Model X, Model 3, Semi, and new Roadster had all been unveiled. I found a group of four Norwegian Tesla fans and spoke to them about their expectations. They saw the next-generation Roadster go by twice while I was taking these pictures, so maybe that car will be part of tomorrow’s event. I asked them the size of the area for the unveilings (since they had been to several previous events) and they said it was quite small, so they expect only 500 to 1000 people to be at the event.
HyperLoopAs I left the design center, I had to get a picture of the tube used by the teams at the annual Hyperloop competition.

I also noticed they had put up signs so people couldn’t park here during certain times. This starts a half hour before the event and goes to 2:00 am. Is this an indication that the event will go to 2:00 am?
Orange County Tesla Club MeetupPhoto from Dennis Pascual, organizer of Orange County Tesla Club
Next I got invited to attend the Orange County Tesla Club meetup at the Grimaldi’s Pizza in El Segunda, where in addition to meeting many great members of the local club (including the organizer, Dennis Pascual), we had several special guests! I got to meet my fellow CleanTechnica writers Kyle Field and Chanan Bos. Trevor Page of Model 3 Owners Club helped organize the event and also has a crew here for the event, so make sure you check out their coverage too! Vincent, originally from Beijing, has emerged as a great source of news and insight in the leading EV market in the world, China, over on Twitter. I enjoyed meeting all folks at the dinner and was glad my son found a video game enthusiast to talk to (since he is not as interested in EVs as I am).
ConclusionStay tuned to CleanTechnica, where we will be publishing a flurry of articles on the Model Y and the unveiling event. There is much speculation on whether there will be an Apple-style “One More Thing” at the event. Let us know in the comments below what “One More Thing” you are hoping for.

About the AuthorPaul Fosse I've been a software engineer for over 30 years, first working on EDI software and more recently developing data warehouse systems in the telecommunications and healthcare industry. Along the way, I've also had the chance to help start a software consulting firm and do portfolio management for several investment trusts. In 2010, I took an interest in electric cars because gas was getting expensive. In 2015, I started reading CleanTechnica and took an interest in solar, mainly because it was a threat to my oil and gas investments in my investment trusts. Tesla investor. Tesla referral code: https://ts.la/paul92237

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Love It Or Hate It, Tesla Online Sales Strategy Creates Plenty Of Controversy

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Cars Published on March 7th, 2019 | by Steve Hanley
Love It Or Hate It, Tesla Online Sales Strategy Creates Plenty Of ControversyTwitterLinkedInFacebookMarch 7th, 2019 by Steve Hanley

Tesla’s sudden announcement last week that it is closing most of its stores and transitioning to a 100% online sales model has created a firestorm of criticism and pushed the company’s stock price to a 5 month low. In the media, Forbes and Fortune have run stories this week decrying the move as wrongheaded and possibly dangerous to the company’s very existence.
The UpsideOne investment professional who is not concerned about Tesla’s new online sales strategy is ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood. According to Fortune, she told Bloomberg on March 4 that, even though the decision to close stores and go fully online was “abrupt,” she wasn’t as surprised as other investors. “We got the sense something was up because he is still competing against other auto manufacturers who have their costs screwed down, but at some point, his pricing is going to drop below theirs.” At 9%, Tesla represents the largest investment in the ARK Invest portfolio.
Wood tells CNBC she believes Tesla stock will soar to stunning new heights in the years ahead. The least favorable scenario will see the stock rise 146%. But the most favorable scenario sees it powering up a stunning 1,306% to more than $4,000 per share. “This is a five-year time horizon. Four thousand dollars is the bull case, $700 is the bear case. It’s rare for us to a have a stock that meets our minimum hurdle rate of return in the bear case, so it’s north of 15 percent compound annual rate of return to get to our bear case target.”
Wood added that Tesla is “scaling the electric vehicle market. We think the electric vehicle sales in 2023 will be in total globally 26 million units, up from 1.3 million last year, so that’s a 20-fold increase. We’re talking about exponential growth.”
What Wood is relying on is not Tesla selling bunches of cars but rather Tesla emerging as a significant force in autonomous driving and ride hailing. “The big story [for Tesla] is autonomous taxi platforms. We’re moving from a hardware-centric, low gross margin model which is 25, 30 percent to a transportation-as-a-service model. They’ll get a piece of every ride taken because they’ll own the platform that these fleet operators will be riding on, and that’s more of an 80 percent gross margin business,” she said.
Through the first two months of 2019, ARK Invest’s valuation is up 25% even after taking into account the recent slide in Tesla’s share price.

The DownsideOn the other side of the ledger, several recent articles in Forbes and Fortune question the wisdom of Tesla’s 100% online sales model. Let’s start with Jeremy Alicandri, writing for Forbes. He claims buyers are simply not ready or willing to give up the traditional car-buying experience. They want to be able to sit in the car they are about to purchase and take it for a test drive. Then there is the issue of correctly evaluating trade-ins, which he claims has to be done in person. Add to that the myriad of financing options and Alicandri says the online model just won’t work for many people. (Elon Musk has noted on Twitter some of this stuff will be done via delivery centers.)
Alicandri thinks Elon Musk’s assurances that people can simply return their new car for a full refund is naive. “As someone who oversaw an extended test drive program with the BMW 7 Series only a few years back, I can attest that these programs often cost more than they achieve, while also attracting chronic abuse from non-buyers,” Alicandri writes. “While Tesla will likely initiate safeguards to prevent abuse, such as requiring full payment upfront, it remains unclear how Model 3 customers can ‘test drive’ vehicles without undergoing major inconveniences if they wish to return them.
“Being responsible for sales tax (which is likely not refundable by state law) as well as the vehicle depreciation (as the vehicle is considered used once registered) are just two issues. It’s also uncertain how these customers will be able to purchase a different vehicle as their credit will be weakened before/during the refund process and likely weeks after.”
Alicandri also says that, while eliminating stores will save money in one area, it will increase costs in others. “There are obvious expenses, like extra call centers, shipping and logistics costs, and IT infrastructure. But there are also less obvious costs, like those related to providing support for vehicles damaged or having mechanical malfunctions at delivery, as well as educating new owners on their vehicles. Advertising and marketing efforts may need to be enhanced to counter the lack of physical presence.”
The Legal IssuesDuring his conference call with journalists last week, Elon Musk rather blithely swatted away any concern that franchise dealer groups and individual states could thwart the new online sales model. “I’m sure the franchise dealers will try to oppose us in some way, but to do so would be a fundamental restraint on interstate commerce and violate the Constitution. So, good luck with that,” he said.
Leonard Bellavia, an attorney and franchise law expert, disagrees with Musk’s legal opinion. He tells Forbes, “The statement by Musk that state dealer franchise laws prohibiting factory direct sales are unconstitutional is an overly simplistic and rather bald-faced generalization.” Expanding its service network is also fraught with legal issues, says Bellavia. “An online sale only model would require both a sales and service facility to satisfy state licensing authorities, which defeats the purpose of online sales.”
There are other legal concerns, including how so-called lemon laws, which vary from state to state, will apply to online sales. In some parts of the country, digital signatures are not enough to satisfy local laws, which often require a “wet signature” on all vehicle delivery paperwork. The devil is in the details and Musk’s rather casual insistence that the commerce clause will sweep aside all opposition to online sales seems rather simplistic. If nothing else, years of litigation will ensue before Elon gets his wish.
The Sudden Change In CourseForbes is focusing this week on the abruptness of the announcement and suggests Elon may not have thought the new strategy through. It reports on one stock analyst, Alex Chalekian, who heads Lake Avenue Financial in Pasadena, California. It manages more than $150 million in client assets but sold all its shares in Tesla for its advisory clients last Friday.
“This was a total 180-degree turn,” Chalekian says. “Tesla had been talking about expanding stores, and all of a sudden they are closing them. To me, this signals a huge financial concern and a possible cash-flow issue for Tesla.” In the fourth quarter of 2018, Tesla opened 27 new retail and service centers, the most in any quarter since the middle of 2017.
In its most recent 10-K filing with the SEC just a few weeks ago, it touted its brick and mortar strategy. “Our Tesla stores and galleries are highly visible, premium outlets in major metropolitan markets, some of which combine retail sales and service. Opening a service center in a new geographic area can increase demand. As a result, we have complemented our store strategy with sales facilities and personnel in service centers to more rapidly expand our retail footprint.”
Is Tesla Being Managed By Adults?For Alex Chelakian, the suddenness of Tesla’s reversal hints at a company that operates on the whims of its leader, rather than on sound business practices. Such erratic and — to an outsider — irrational changes in course are red flashing lights warning of danger ahead for investors. There has been dark muttering this week that it’s time for Elon Musk to step into a new role, one in which he continues to be chief engineer for the company while a professional management team takes over supervision of the company.
Musk’s treatment of employees is another concern. Despite impassioned emails extolling them for their hard work and dedication, Musk seems ready at a moment’s notice to toss them overboard when it suits his convenience. At the start of the year, he announced that 7% of Tesla’s workforce would be let go right after the company achieved its production goals for the Model 3. This latest announcement came via a private conference call with journalist (disclosure: CleanTechnica reporters were on the call) and it blindsided many of those working in the stores that will now be closed.
The message to employees is that you are all expendable on short notice, so keep your resume up to date and don’t make any life decisions based on the assumption you will have a job with Tesla tomorrow. If online sales are the wave of the future, job security is clearly a thing of the past.
Elon always has been and remains an enigma. To some, he is a real life Tony Stark. To others, he is given to wild mood swings that may or may not be associated with the use of Ambien, a drug that helps people deal with insomnia but has worrisome side effects, including impairment of judgement. People who use it are advised not to operate heavy machinery.
Musk is a polarizing person. His single-minded determination has already upended the global auto industry and is rapidly bringing sweeping changes to the energy storage market. On the other hand, his insistence on buying SolarCity is seen by many as a straight up bailout for his cousins. The heavily touted Solar Roof is missing in action and Gigafactory 2 in Buffalo, New York, is hardly ever mentioned in Tesla’s corporate communications. Closing Tesla’s stores will likely deal another blow to an already underperforming aspect of the company.
The Volvo ConnectionCredit: Polestar
Is Tesla in trouble or poised for another spurt of growth? The Model Y is set..

Elon Musk To SEC — That Is Not What We Agreed To

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Clean Power Published on March 12th, 2019 | by Maarten Vinkhuyzen
Elon Musk To SEC — That Is Not What We Agreed ToTwitterLinkedInFacebookMarch 12th, 2019 by Maarten Vinkhuyzen

The SEC is trying to get the court to hold Elon Musk in contempt. The SEC maintains that Musk violated the plea bargain they made after the infamous “funding secured” tweet, a plea bargain that was accepted by the court as its final judgement and thus has the power of a court order for Elon Musk and Tesla.
That is a lot of legalese in the first paragraph of an article. For us simple-minded non-lawyers, the important starting point is: there is a court order that Musk and Tesla have to obey.
The SEC says Musk did not. Musk (and his lawyers) say he did. In other words, we have a simple case of “he said, she said.” But when lawyers are concerned, it is never simple. Look at the 33 pages the lawyers needed in order to say: “Musk complied.”
In the court order, there were a number of provisions about independent directors, chairmanship, fines, oversight, and communications. This complaint from the SEC is about the communications and oversight provisions. Simply stated, these provisions say that: Tesla needs to have a policy and procedures about communicating material information and Musk has to comply with these.
Tesla did create policies and procedures, which is not disputed. According to Tesla and Musk, Musk complied with them. Normally, this would be “case closed.” The SEC, in its unlimited wisdom, however, thinks Musk did not comply with the policy and procedures.
Let’s rewind: What happened? On February 19, 2019, at 7:15pm, Elon Musk tweeted something immaterial (immaterial = it does not really matter). The fact that it was immaterial is not disputed by the SEC‼ Please, don’t discuss it in the comments.
The tweet was corrected, or clarified, 4 hours later. For some reason, someone at the SEC thought this could point to Musk not complying with the court order. The SEC asked Tesla what happened, Tesla answered, yet the SEC had a lot more questions (on a Sunday) and did not wait for the answers (the next Monday), instead filing a complaint that Musk violated the court order and should be held in contempt.

What is important is that the court order and the Tesla policy are about material information. For information to be material, there must be “a substantial likelihood that the disclosure … would have been viewed by the reasonable investor as having significantly altered the total mix of information made available.”
Again, the SEC is not disputing the fact that the tweet was immaterial. It is basing its complaint on not seeking and receiving prior clearance for the tweet. But for immaterial tweets and communications, prior clearance is not needed. (Getting dizzy yet?)
Ah, says the SEC, but to determine that it is indeed immaterial, you need prior clearance. This sounds logical, until you start thinking. This is about all written communication. In effect, Musk needs prior clearance for any written communication, even internally. Musk can’t write anything about Tesla without prior clearance. And if he wants to repeat himself after more than two days, he again needs clearance. That is the consequence of the SEC interpretation.
After a lot of legal arguments, Musk’s lawyers state: “Musk never consented to and would not consent to such a sweeping gag order, and Tesla has not implemented any such policy.”
This is essential. The court order is based on an agreement between two parties, the SEC and Tesla/Musk. You can’t alter in a one-sided way such an agreement, as the SEC is trying to do here. And even if this had been in the order, it would not have been valid, because it violates the US Constitution.

That leaves the question, what was the SEC thinking when it rushed to file the complaint. It did not even wait for the answers to its own questions. It is very hard to prove there is “clear and convincing evidence that an unambiguous court order was violated,” especially when the people who wrote the Tesla “Senior Executives Communications Policy” and were charged with enforcing it say that the tweets were not in violation of the policy.
In a normal court proceeding, this would be the end of it. But in proceedings where the SEC is a party, courts operate differently. The defending party is no longer presumed innocent until guilt is proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Rather, some believe the policy has become, in cases of the slightest doubt, the SEC is right.
If the result of this court case is that there is a significant difference of opinion, there is a huge problem. The basis of every argument is that “the clear and unambiguous terms of the Court’s Order” are indeed clear and unambiguous. In the Tesla rebuttal of the SEC arguments, the SEC is accused of altering the meaning of the settlement.
If the judge sides with the SEC and declares the SEC interpretation correct, the “Musk never consented to” argument throws the whole plea deal back to court. I can’t wait for the verdict.

About the AuthorMaarten Vinkhuyzen Grumpy old man. The best thing I did with my life was raising two kids. Only finished primary education, but when you don’t go to school, you have lots of time to read. I switched from accounting to software development and ended my career as system integrator and architect. My 2007 boss got two electric Lotus Elise cars to show policymakers the future direction of energy and transportation. And I have been looking to replace my diesel cars with electric vehicles ever since.

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Supercharger V3 — Shocking Power & Smart Strategy By Tesla (Charts!)

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Clean Transport Published on March 8th, 2019 | by Dr. Maximilian Holland
Supercharger V3 — Shocking Power & Smart Strategy By Tesla (Charts!)TwitterLinkedInFacebookMarch 8th, 2019 by Dr. Maximilian Holland

Supercharger V3 stalls look almost identical to this V2 stall, but will eventually come with thinner, liquid cooled charging cables.
On Wednesday night, the eagerly anticipated Tesla Supercharger Version 3 (V3) technology was unveiled, allowing the Model 3 Long Range to receive peak charging power of 250 kW! That’s well beyond the power levels expected by seasoned Tesla tech analysts (myself included). What does this all mean? Let’s dive in and discuss this new Supercharger technology.
In this article I want to outline some initial analysis of V3 and discuss some of the implications. I’m going to look separately in a coming article at what it means in practical terms for charging times on road trips and the like. In short — Tesla is obviously giving us EV technology that smooths away residual friction for fossil-driving folks considering whether or not to make the jump to an electrifying transportation life.
Estimated Charging CurveLet’s dive in first with some modeling of what the charging curve of the Model 3 Long Range on Supercharger V3 might look like (and compare it with the maximum charge power recorded on Supercharger V2):

Allow me first to note that I’ve called this an estimated charging curve, and called the current Supercharger parameters “Beta.” There are a couple of reasons for this: Tesla’s blog article about V3 makes it clear that the company considers the present hardware and software settings to be a public beta, and it is looking to “review and assess” the early results before rolling out more hardware and potentially tweaking the software and parameters next month. The other reason for sticking on labels of “Beta” and “Estimated” are that the announced (and 3rd party documented) Supercharger V3 parameters have come as a big surprise to me and other Tesla hardware geeks. One well known and highly regarded Tesla community geek and detective (whose name we will gracefully not speculate on) said to me “how is that possible?” Personally, I was predicting peak charging on Model 3 of not much more than 160 kW, and “never” more than 175 kW! I’m going to have to stick some small print on my Tesla hardware predictions from now on. 😉
The charge curve I’ve modeled above is based on what we know so far:
Maximum peak power is 250 kW on the Model 3 Long Range.This corresponds to a peak of “up to” 1000 miles added per hour charging.5 minutes of (sweet spot) charging gives up to “75 miles” of “peak efficiency” range (likely EPA city range), which is slightly less than gained from 5 mins @ 250 kW and the “1000” rate (above).Thus, we can deduce that 250 kW is a short peak lasting a little under 5 minutes.Videos (including 3rd party videos) suggest 250 kW peak power starts somewhere before 10% state of charge, and sub-5 minute duration points to likely taper starting not much beyond 20%.Videos show that the Model 3 screen estimates charging from low levels to 80% still takes around “27 minutes” and to 90% takes “35 minutes.”Thus, we know that after the short peak, there is still significant power taper at higher states of charge.The curve is a decent fit to all of these parameters (I’ve run the numbers in geek-level detail on the spreadsheet that generated this curve). Obviously, this curve (as well as Tesla’s above factoids) specify peak performance (“up to”) under ideal conditions. You’ll rarely hit all conditions in the real world for perfectly optimal charging — but if you do, the result could be something like this curve.
However, as I noted above, Tesla may anyway tweak the parameters it has so far specified, based on results of the Beta testing. There are also alternative mild variants of the above curve that could give a similarly close fit to the parameters. I should add that charging from the typical 10% starting point to a high of 80% can take just under 25 minutes — significantly faster than on V2 (around 33–35 minutes). Note that the maximum recorded charge power values on V2, as indicated in the orange dotted curve, come from the data gathering and research of our friends over at A Better Route Planner (ABRP).
As a final note on the curve shape, aside from the unprecedented power levels, the profile characteristics (especially the very early peak) do have precedent in a Tesla. Check out the charge profile of the older Model S 70 kWh battery pack (again from ABRP data gathering):

What Does It All Mean?Designing an early high peak of the charging power is a smart strategy by Tesla for a number of reasons. Most importantly, it is the safest way of charging quickly whilst protecting the battery — the power still tapers steeply back to well established power levels after 50% state of charge, to prevent over-stressing the batteries.
We know the Model 3 Long Range battery pack is good for 330 kW of peak power output, so 250 kW (for a short period of under 5 minutes) is within reason. Tesla by now has extensive data and knowledge about the performance of these batteries over long periods and diverse conditions and use cases. The early peak power is more efficient since, on a given charge session, a good proportion of owners will often need only a given amount of additional range to complete their journey — and not need to recharge all the way to 70% or 80% (or more), when 40 or 50% may be sufficient.

Front-loading charging power and added range in this way is more efficient overall than delivering the peak power at 60–80% state of charge as many other EVs do. This happens mainly because most non-Tesla EVs spend the majority of the charging cycle at power levels that are in fact limited by the maximum current (amps) of the charging hardware, and the pack voltage — which cannot be adjusted post-hoc — is gradually climbing throughout the charge session. Recharging a battery is by definition lifting its voltage back to maximum potential difference (volts). As a consequence, on a charger whose current is maxed out for most of the charging session, the peak power is necessarily somewhere in the second half of that session, when the voltage is closing in on its peak. Newer and more powerful public chargers are improving this by moving to much higher levels of current (amps) delivery, up to 500 amps in many cases. This may allow some EVs to change the shape of the charging curve. Tesla designs both the vehicles and the chargers, so can have a more coordinated approach to this optimisation task than any other EV maker can.
Amp It Up!Whilst we’re on the topic, this question of current (amps) is the main reason for surprise about the Supercharger V3. Let me explain. The Model 3’s battery pack has a nominal voltage of around 355 volts. Nominal battery voltage is usually somewhere near the midpoint of full charged voltage (high) and fully depleted voltage (low). For lithium-ion chemistry cells, this often varies between roughly 4.2 volts when full and roughly 3.0 volts when discharged, with a nominal value around 3.6–3.7 volts (i.e., the full voltage range is roughly 15–20% above or below the nominal value). For the Tesla Model 3’s overall pack with 355 volts nominal, this suggests that when charge is depleted, the pack voltage is likely around 300 volts, and when full, around 410 volts.
If this is correct, then the 250 kW of peak power is delivered to a nearly empty pack whose voltage is likely somewhere in the range of 310–320 volts. Since watts is a function of volts * amps, to achieve 250 kW at ~315 volts, the peak current has to be somewhere close to 800 amps, which is unprecedented for EV charging! Geek forecasters were under the impression (on the basis of solid evidence) that the Model 3 had hardware limits of around 525 amps. Something approaching 800 amps (even for a very short peak) was well beyond any expectation. Bear in mind that the designed-to-be-futureproof CCS 2.0 charging specification (that the Model 3 in Europe is compatible with) currently taps out at 500 amps. 800 is a big number and a big surprise.
The Supercharger V3 hardware is reportedly also capable of delivering up to 500 volts (though likely not simultaneously with 800 amps). This bodes well for future Tesla EVs that may boost pack-nominal voltages up by 20% or so. If you’re interested in the possibility of Tesla raising pack voltages, I discussed this in another recent article looking at Supercharger V3 (much of which now looks hopelessly low-ball, given what has transpired)! The Audi e-tron and Jaguar I-PACE have nominal pack voltages of around 425 volts.

Smart StrategyWhat else can we say about this elevated peak power? In V3, peak power is assured because the system design gives dedicated power to each stall, not kilowatts at risk of being shared (and reduced) by the back-end power cabinets having to do double duty across two stalls. The Model 3 will also have a pack-preconditioning feature that will attempt to get the pack close to the ideal temperature for high-power charging when the vehicle knows you are heading for a Supercharging session. This allows the pack to receive higher power levels than would otherwise be sensible (for pack health and longevity).
Tesla has said it expects the average Supercharger session duration to be reduced by around half. This leads us to another reason why early peak power is a smart strategy by Tesla. The expectation of halving average charging duration is not because the average charging power has doubled over the entire charging session (it is only double for the first 20% to 30% or so, then gradually approaches the V2 charging regime, and is not much different from V2 from 50% state of charge and above). No, the prediction of average charge duration being halved is because, unlike on..

The World Inside Tesla Is Completely Different From The Media’s Portrayal Of Tesla

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Cars Published on March 10th, 2019 | by Zachary Shahan
The World Inside Tesla Is Completely Different From The Media’s Portrayal Of TeslaTwitterLinkedInFacebookMarch 10th, 2019 by Zachary Shahan

I guess I should preface this video by saying that it is largely a joke. That is hopefully obvious within a few moments of watching it. The article, however, is not a joke.
Walking into Tesla’s large, open, light office space at its Fremont factory, it only took a moment before something hit me. The atmosphere is enormously different from the image of Tesla that you find in much of the media.
The day of our visit was less than one short week after the company announced both its $35,000 Model 3 and a shift to online-only sales. While much of the media (including CleanTechnica) was feverishly trying to figure out what everything meant, what stimulated the changes in sales, what was going on with the stock, and what the future of Tesla would look like, hundreds of Tesla employees were happily working away at their desks, chatting with each other, and entering or exiting the front doors.
When we strolled through the factory, it was the same. People were calm, smiling, and working hard. When we stopped to talk to some of them, they often exuded pride in their work and happiness for being part of the Tesla story. They didn’t hide from cameras (for the most part), but they also weren’t prepped for the visit — sometimes staring at us like we were rare animals in the zoo. The media? Spies? Enemies or friends?
Of course, some of them were regular CleanTechnica readers who scroll our stories when they wake up in the morning, before pulling themselves out of bed and over to the breakfast table. That was cool to hear, and definitely was not expected. These people didn’t highlight any drama, didn’t drown in their sorrows or reveal any signs of Elon whipping them, and they apparently weren’t feeling down about the relentless media attacks. They were having fun! They were happily toiling away at their cool jobs and enthusiastically told us about what they do every day, answering essentially all of our questions — just not the ones poking for specific numbers, since those of course can’t be revealed to people like me.

I definitely wasn’t searching for this story that I’m writing right now. On the trip to learn more about Tesla, I simply expected to get into the details. I entered the doors with an open mind, ready to soak up what I saw and write about whatever floated my boat. It just struck me after a few minutes inside the doors and walls of Tesla, “How can the atmosphere inside the company be so different from how the media portrays it?“
It reminded me of my first test drive of a real, live Tesla Model 3. The title of that review article was, “Sorry, Elon — Tesla Model 3 Much Better Than I Expected.” The apology (which was sort of meant as a joke, but since Elon actually ended up seeing and retweeting the piece, it did end up being a genuine apology) was partly an apology for falling for the anti-Tesla FUD. I thought the FUD didn’t affect me, but when I experienced the super premium Model 3, its wonderful doors and feel, the soft seats, and the easy-to-use navigation screen, I realized that the countless comments of Tesla trolls had even seeped into my expectations a bit. The good news is that meant I was happily surprised by the car. (The other part of the apology was because I liked the Model 3 more than the Model S, which is still the case.)

But let’s get back to the Tesla tour we took last week. When we got into the factory and talked to various production engineers, we asked questions about burst rates, slow periods, and much more. Top engineers didn’t understand where the media hype about some of these things originated. They were consistent — production is continuously rolling strongly. They are constantly trying to produce a steady and high-volume stream of cars. There aren’t big “bursts” and then declines in production. And the whole production process is going well. Now, if you’re cynical and presume you know better, you may think I was lied to, tricked, taken for a fool. I consider myself to be a pretty good read of character and really good at noticing when someone is pulling my chain or trying to mislead me. These people were not. Tesla production, like many things, is not what company critics would have you believe.
It’s funny, I had this story on the article list after the Tesla site visit, I was ready to start drafting it, and then I saw the following tweet from Ross Gerber:
I don’t know if he went on a tour around the same time or just came to the same thought in a different way, but Ross’s tweet lined up smoothly with my thoughts. There’s the anti-Tesla hype, and then there’s the reality.
Someone at Tesla indicated that Tesla executives are routinely misquoted, with some “quotes” seemingly coming out of thin air. It’s clearly frustrating for them, and bewildering. The whole approach many in the mainstream media have towards Tesla is confusing overall. There’s a US manufacturing revival on the scene (a cleantech one at that), but many in the media seem intent on smearing the company, sometimes with completely incorrect quotes. Unfortunately, that has become a big part of the broader Tesla story.
We have much more to come from our visit and our interviews, but have no doubt about it, the motto inside Tesla is essentially this one: “Keep Calm And Charge On.”

About the AuthorZachary Shahan Zach is tryin' to help society help itself (and other species). He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director and chief editor. He's also the president of Important Media and the director/founder of EV Obsession and Solar Love. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, and Canada. Zach has long-term investments in TSLA, FSLR, SPWR, SEDG, & ABB — after years of covering solar and EVs, he simply has a lot of faith in these particular companies and feels like they are good cleantech companies to invest in. But he offers no professional investment advice and would rather not be responsible for you losing money, so don't jump to conclusions.

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Tesla Drops 1st Real Image Of The Model Y As Event Invites Go Out

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Autonomous Vehicles Published on March 9th, 2019 | by Kyle Field
Tesla Drops 1st Real Image Of The Model Y As Event Invites Go OutTwitterLinkedInFacebookMarch 9th, 2019 by Kyle Field

Tesla casually dropped a new teaser image into the invites for the Tesla Model Y reveal event that went out last night, several hours and thousands of email refreshes after CEO Elon Musk tweeted to confirm that invites would be sent out that day. The reveal event is set for March 14th at 8pm at the Tesla Design Studio in Hawthorne, California, which is also where Tesla revealed the Model 3 nearly 3 years ago (click that link for completely exclusive video footage of the test track on that night).
The new image gives us the first look at the actual exterior of the car (sort of) and shows off similar headlight accent lights to those used in the Model 3. It also previews the higher ride height of the Model Y compared to the Model 3, while still maintaining the wide, stable posture of a Tesla.
We expect the Model Y to follow in the same footsteps as the Model X did compared to the Model S, in this case building a higher SUV body on top of the existing Model 3 platform. However, this product addition will come without all the one-off, headache-inducing innovations Tesla crammed into the X (like the falcon-wing doors). In fact, we know those are definitely out of scope for the Model Y, which will instead have normal doors — presumably, doors just like the Model 3 but a bit taller. For example, look for the manual door handles from the Model 3 to make another appearance as lower cost, functional alternatives to the electrified versions used on the S and X. (To chat all about these possibilities, jump over to our brand new Tesla Model Y Club forum.)
Elon has previously said that the Model Y will have 76% of parts in common with the Model 3. The new Model Y teaser image gives us the first real insight into where the sharing might come from. Actually, at ~76%, the question is what is not shared. Being taller, the doors will be taller and a different shape, but otherwise, the burning question is what Tesla will need to change for the body type and perhaps as an improvement over the current Model 3.

The rEVolutionary event will be televised (er, livestreamed) on Tesla’s newly minted Model Y page. There has been no mention of the reservation process for the Model Y to date, but there are expectations that will go live for $1,000 per reservation just before the event as hundreds of thousands of customers look to get their own next-generation electric crossover. That said, CleanTechnica Director Zach Shahan asked Elon Musk in the middle of last year if the reservation process would be the same as with the Model 3 and Elon indicated they hadn’t thought much about it yet and weren’t sure.
As a CUV, the expectation is that the Model Y will be in higher demand than the Model 3. Add onto that the increased awareness of Tesla’s brand thanks to the success of the Model 3 and Tesla could have another powerful storm on its hands as hundreds of thousands (or even millions?) of reservations flood the Tesla website. We should find out soon.
If you want to jump into wild speculation about what we’ll find out in 5 days, here’s a reminder that we have a brand new Tesla Model Y Club forum online, and it uses the new Model Y teaser image now as well. 😀
Update: Here’s a nice little photo shop from a reader putting the Model 3 nose on the Model Y teaser image:
Update: Marques Brownlee found that playing with the dark image Tesla sent revealed a license plate on the teaser image that reads “NICE TRY.” Classic Tesla Easter Egg on a trick they knew people would pursue in the quest to learn as much as possible about Tesla’s latest automotive creation.

About the AuthorKyle Field I'm a tech geek passionately in search of actionable ways to reduce the negative impact my life has on the planet, save money and reduce stress. Live intentionally, make conscious decisions, love more, act responsibly, play. The more you know, the less you need. TSLA investor.

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Tesla Opens Up Ordering On The $35,000 Standard Range Model 3!!

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Autonomous Vehicles Published on February 28th, 2019 | by Kyle Field
Tesla Opens Up Ordering On The $35,000 Standard Range Model 3!!TwitterLinkedInFacebookFebruary 28th, 2019 by Kyle Field

Tesla just officially announced that it is opening up ordering for the Standard Range Model 3 today, following a brief Twitter tease about a big announcement today at 2pm Pacific.
The Standard Range Tesla Model 3The new Standard Range Model 3 will come to the market with the expected 220 miles of range and be available at the $35,000 price point. Combining that with the available federal, state, and local rebates makes the new Standard Range Tesla Model 3 one of the most affordable, feature-packed long-range electric vehicles in the world.
The Standard Range Model 3 will have a lower top speed of a still lofty 130 miles per hour and maintain a 0–60 mph time of 5.6 seconds. The beautiful part about the Standard Range Model 3 is that, while the range is lower, the bones of the car remain the same. It looks and feels like a Tesla. It drives like a Tesla. And it will still accelerate like a Tesla.

Standard Range…PlusTesla also surprised us with a new Standard Range Plus configuration that offers buyers a bit more range — 240 miles of range — that brings with it an improvement in performance. The Standard Range Plus configuration can go from 0–60 mph in just 5.3 seconds and has a top speed of 140 miles per hour. That’s damn fast and is only $2,000 more than its little brother, at $37,000. The Standard Range Plus also comes with “most premium interior features,” which is a nice bonus and serves as the cherry on top of what looks like the sweetest deal in the family.
At the top of that list is safety. Tesla’s three vehicles, including the Model 3, have achieved the highest safety ratings in their respective classes, and that holds true for the Standard Range Model 3. It retains its 5-star crash rating, as enabled by its low center of gravity, thanks to the skateboard battery design, supplemented by its advanced active safety systems.
The Standard Range and Standard Range Plus are both available for ordering on Tesla’s website today, though orders will be processed and delivered based on the place in line for reservation holders.

Interestingly, in addition to the current configurations, including the Mid Range, Long Range All-Wheel Drive and Model 3 Performance builds, Tesla is bringing back the Model 3 Long Range, Rear-Wheel Drive in the U.S.. That amounts to a lot of different base configurations for a vehicle that was designed from the ground up to simply the supply chain and manufacturing processes. Expect some pruning of these configurations in the next few weeks as Tesla works through its existing inventory of parts, with the Mid-Range first on the chopping block.
Affordable AutopilotTucked into the news of the Standard Range Model 3 was an update on Autopilot. Tesla slashed the up front price of Autopilot from $5,000 to $3,000, making the system much more affordable for buyers to get into. It also re-introduced the option to purchase Full Self-Driving up front, for $5,000.

To make the numbers work, Tesla shifted some of the more significant features previously included in Autopilot up to its Full Self-Driving package including Navigate-on-Autopilot, Summon and Autopark. That comes as a bit of a bummer, but considering that the total price for Autopilot and Full Self-Driving drops from $10,000 to $8,000, it feels like a fair compromise. The lower bar of entry for Autopilot itself will also help to lure more buyers into the promise of Full Self-Driving as Tesla starts pushing out FSD updates.
InteriorBeyond the battery, Tesla is adding two new offerings for the interior of the Model 3. Starting with the roof, which we really didn’t know what Tesla was going to do and it turns out that they aren’t going to do anything. All Model 3s at all trim levels will come with the glass roof as the standard roof, which is a relief because that glass roof is just beautiful and is a drastic improvement on the in-car experience.
All configurations will also include auto-dimming, power folding, heated side mirrors. This will help the Model 3 in dense cities where cars without folding mirrors essentially have a built-in monthly fee to pay for the inevitable mirrors being sheared off by parking on tight streets. Custom driver profiles and bluetooth media streaming are also included in all Model 3s.
Tinted glass roof with ultraviolet and infrared protectionAuto dimming, power folding, heated side mirrorsMusic and media over Bluetooth ®Custom driver profilesStandard InteriorThe Standard Range Model 3 will come with a Standard Interior that takes away a few of the more luxurious options for the interior in exchange for more basic offerings. That starts with the seat and steering which both revert to manual adjustments in the Standard Interior.

Cloth seats and a more basic trim help keep costs down on the fabric side of things while the audio system is, as expected, offered with a basic audio system. The center console actually keeps its 4 USB ports, which is a nice surprise as the two rear ports were widely expected to disappear in the base configuration. The Standard Interior does not include the smartphone docks that are included in the two higher trims,
Manual seat and steering adjustmentCloth seats and base trimBasic audioStandard maps and navigationCenter console with storage and 4 USB portsPartial Premium InteriorFor the Standard Range Plus model, Tesla is introducing a new Partial Premium Interior that comes with some of the features of the Premium interior, but not all of them. Power seats are a nice addition and the seats themselves come in the premium seat material and trim that all Model 3s to date have shipped with.
Partial Premium also gets an upgraded audio system that’s more fleshed out than the basic audio system that comes with the Standard Interior, but doesn’t deliver the full-blown experience that comes with the Premium Interior.
12-way power adjustable heated front seatsPremium seat material and trimUpgraded audio – immersive soundStandard maps & navigationLED fog lampsCenter console with storage, 4 USB ports and docking for 2 smartphones100% Online SalesThe cost cutting required to deliver the low cost $35,000 Standard Range Model 3 was severe and will see Tesla moving all of its automotive sales online. Said another way, Tesla is closing all of its sales centers. Some will transition into showrooms where people can come to look at and see the vehicles, but to buy one, they will have to head online on a computer or even on a phone.

Elon said that it took less than a minute to buy a Tesla online, which is actually a bit of a scary prospect if you ask me. Drunk dialing is one thing, but what about the first person to order a Tesla while intoxicated? On that note, Tesla is extending its return policy to a full 7 days after purchase to give online buyers more peace of mind that they can always just return it if they don’t like it.
AvailabilityThe Standard Range Model 3 goes on sale today at Tesla.com for $35,000 or you can spring for the Standard Range Plus for $37,000. Elon said that orders that go in today should expect to get their car by the end of June, or by the end of the next tax credit cliff, when the federal tax credit for Tesla buyers in the US gets slashed in half again.

Overseas buyers will understandably have to wait a bit longer, with orders opening up online in 1-2 months and deliveries firing off in 3-6 months. For many buyers, the news likely resets the clock on their wait time for their new vehicle, but when that comes with the opportunity to save $10,000, and a much lower price for Autopilot it’s not all bad news.
The new Standard Range and Standard Range Plus configurations give buyers an amazing value at great price points. I personally think that the Standard Range Plus is the best value in Tesla’s lineup today and couldn’t imagine not spending the extra $2,000 considering all that you get for the money.

We were shocked by the news that the Standard Range Model 3 went on sale today, but it’s a good kind of surprise. This is the car we have all been waiting for and it is finally here. Hitting the $35,000 price point opens up Tesla’s vehicles to millions more buyers around the world and opens up the possibility of driving an electric vehicle to new customers who simply could not afford a long range electric car until today. The future is now.
To learn more about the Tesla Model 3 Standard Range and Standard Range Plus, head over to Tesla’s website but be warned: you can buy one in less than a minute and they are contagious. There’s also a nice post on Tesla’s official blog that broke the news about the new configurations to the world.

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Tesla Rolls Out V3 Supercharger Capable Of Delivering 1,000 Miles Of Range Per Hour

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Clean Transport Published on March 7th, 2019 | by Kyle Field
Tesla Rolls Out V3 Supercharger Capable Of Delivering 1,000 Miles Of Range Per HourTwitterLinkedInFacebookMarch 7th, 2019 by Kyle Field

Tesla rolled out the first of the next-generation V3 Supercharger tonight in Fremont, California, at an exclusive event for an exclusive subset of Model 3 owners in Tesla’s Early Access Program. The new chargers will initially roll out for the Model 3, with the capability being provided for the Model S and X via over-the-air software updates over the course of the next few months.

The new V3 stations will charge up vehicles at 250 kW of power, making Tesla’s vehicles the fastest charging vehicles in the world! If that doesn’t sound like the realization of a long-term plan to convince the world of the supremacy of electric vehicles, I don’t know what would be. The new V3 Supercharger standard represents a step change improvement in charging capabilities.
Every four chargers will be fed off of a single 1,000 kW power cabinet, which means owners will no longer have to concern themselves with which charging pair they are plugging into when charging on a V3 Supercharger.

Core to the new high-speed performance is a new liquid-cooled cable that translates to a more flexible and easier to use cable. Tesla has flirted with adding liquid-cooled cables to Superchargers in the past, but the rollout V3 is the first use of the new technology at scale.
Tesla is also flexing its software muscles with the new V3 Supercharger standard with a creative feature called “On Route Battery Warmup.” The feature preconditions the battery for charging when the vehicle recognizes that it is navigating to a Supercharging station. Tesla says that preconditioning the battery on the way to the Supercharging station will reduce the average charge time by 25%. Because this is just a software hack, the fix can be rolled out to the Model S and X as well.
These powers features combined translate into a real-world charging rate of 1,000 miles of range delivered per hour. Boiling that down to real-world rates, the new chargers will push 75 miles of range into a vehicle in just 5 minutes. Looking at average charging times for a Long Range Model 3, the V3 chargers will cut the time required to charge by 50%. Tesla expects this to result in average charging sessions of about 15 minutes. Said another way, the 15 minutes I spent at a Tesla urban Supercharger operating at 72 kW this afternoon would have given me a nearly complete charge instead of the 72 miles of range that it added to my battery.
In parallel to the new V3 Superchargers, Tesla will be updating its existing network of V2 Superchargers to enable a peak charging rate of 145 kW. 145 kW is the charging rate of a current shared pair of Tesla’s Superchargers, so the fix seems to be a simple software unlocking of the max speed of a single vehicle charging on a shared pair.

The new faster stations, the logic improvements, and the increase in speed on the V2 Supercharging network translates to less time spent charging and higher throughput at the new V3 Superchargers. That’s a meaningful improvement that will help relieve the increasing tension and lines at Superchargers around the world.
Tesla shared news of the next-generation V3 Superchargers in a rare official blog post and the über quick video below. Tesla plans to expand beyond the first beta charger next month, when it will break ground on the first public V3 Supercharger. More stations will follow, with North American sites ramping up in Q2 and Q3 ahead of the launch in Europe and Asia-Pacific in Q4.

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The Tesla Model 3 I Bought 8 Months Ago Just Got Even Better (& Cheaper!)

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Autonomous Vehicles Published on March 1st, 2019 | by Kyle Field
The Tesla Model 3 I Bought 8 Months Ago Just Got Even Better (& Cheaper!)TwitterLinkedInFacebookMarch 1st, 2019 by Kyle Field

Tesla just announced that after several years of hard work, the Model 3 Standard Range is finally here. The news came in concert with a tsunami of smaller updates that will take some time to pick through.
Amidst the flood of updates that was pushed out was news that the Long Range, Rear Wheel Drive Model 3 will get an increase in range per charge from the current 310 miles (500 kilometers) to 325 miles (523 kilometers). The update also comes with a 5% boost in performance that results in a lower 0–60 mph time of just 5.0 seconds.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on the press call announcing the news that, “We do find ways over time, and we’ve done this many times in the past, where we’re able to improve the efficiency of the drive inverter or the motor or we get a bit more comfortable with how much energy you can extract safely from the battery pack without causing long-term damage.”
The updates will be pushed out to owners for free as part of the March 15th software update for the Model 3. The very same update is also slated to bring a host of other improvements, including the ability for the car to change lanes automatically on the freeway without confirmation when using “Navigate on Autopilot.”
The approach at Tesla to its vehicles represents a sharp detour from traditional automakers in that it does not focus on short-term profits, but on building, delivering, and maintaining the best vehicles they can make with the hardware they have. This mindset translates to Tesla pushing out as many features as it can to all of its vehicles, new, used, or otherwise.
“As we get more road validation and we’re able to find optimizations and people get more comfortable widening the margins, we just update the car and make it better for free,” Musk said. “That’s been our philosophy for years.”

At the same time, Tesla continues to slash prices on its new vehicles, passing savings from one area of the company directly on to the customer. When Tesla eliminated the referral program earlier this year, it passed the savings resulting from the elimination directly on to new customers in the form of lower prices. The company is doing the same today, by passing the savings coming from eliminating its sales stores and staff on to customers of all Tesla vehicles.
The price reductions are significant. In the 8 months since we purchased our Tesla Model 3, the price has come down from $49,000 to $43,000. It feels strange, but I was happy with the price I paid when I bought it and the car has not changed one bit — aside from the improvements Tesla keeps pushing out to it. In that sense, it is a better car than it was on the day that I bought it, which is nice.
On the press call announcing the Standard Range Model 3, Musk said that, “I think this is the lowest we can possibly sell this car at.” He went on to say that, “it’s excruciatingly difficult to make this car $35,000 and still be financially sustainable.”
That doesn’t mean that the prices and margins won’t improve over time, because they inevitably will. It just shows how much muscle Tesla had to put into the Model 3 to squeeze out every penny in order to get the price down to $35,000. Musk called it a “Game of Pennies,” as a play on the popular book and TV series Game of Thrones — and effort at Tesla to squeeze every last discretional penny out of every single part in the car.

Tesla has performed a minor miracle delivering the Model 3 at $35,000, but just because the prices have fallen in recent months, don’t expect the price to keep going down anytime soon. He said that he could envision a future where Tesla introduced lower cost models, but that it would be 2–3 years away at the earliest. Then again, would he really announce a lower priced Tesla on the horizon, knowing how it would force even more buyers to hold off? Time will tell, but for now, the Tesla team is likely taking a well deserved 5 or 10 minute break before getting back to achieving the impossible.
Tesla is on a mission to take down internal combustion automakers, but it’s not doing it for profit or out of a desire to gain more market share. Tesla’s desire to make the best EVs in the world, push them out of its factories by the tens of thousands per month, and get them into the hands of customers around the world is driven by a fierce desire to slash emissions stemming from transportation and help stop more catastrophic, society-threatening global heating and climate change.

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