Tesla has started selling budget Model 3. The first test drive delighted the observer

Tesla has begun sales of its first budget electric car, the Model 3. On Friday evening, the head of the company, Elon Musk, handed over the first 30 cars to customers at a plant in California, DW reports. Motortrend published the first test drive of the production version: the publication’s author is full of enthusiastic impressions and compares the car’s handling with “lighters” from Alfa Romeo.

According to Musk, Tesla has already received more than half a million pre-orders for the new model. The cost of the basic version of Model 3, the battery charge of which is designed for 345 kilometers, will be 35 thousand dollars. This is 2-4 times cheaper than the first two Tesla models - Model S and the Model X crossover. At the same time, for an additional payment of 9 thousand dollars you can get a more powerful battery that will last for 499 kilometers.

In the standard version, the electric car accelerates to 96.5 km/h in 5.6 seconds, and the top speed of the base model is 209 km/h. The version with a more powerful battery reaches hundreds in 5.1 seconds. At the same time, Tesla does not talk about engine power.

Musk has promised that eventually all Model 3 vehicles will also be equipped with the Autopilot feature available on the company's more expensive models.

So far production volumes are modest. Tesla intends to produce 100 Model 3 cars in August 2017, another 1,500 in September, and reach production of 20 thousand cars per month by December. Elon Musk's ambitious plan is to increase Tesla's annual production to 500 thousand by 2018.