Tesla just made a lot of Model 3 reservation holders happy, probably over 400,000 of them, by confirming an official launch date for the production of the vehicle.
CEO Elon Musk said that Tesla Model 3 “passed all regulatory requirements” and they now expect to produce the first few Model 3 vehicles on Friday.
It would mean that the highly anticipated vehicle is on time since Tesla had been guiding a start of production in July since last year when it updated its production plans after receiving a lot more reservations than anticipated.
Musk took to Twitter to confirm the news late Sunday night:
Model 3 passed all regulatory requirements for production two weeks ahead of schedule. Expecting to complete SN1 on Friday
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 3, 2017
‘SN1’ likely refers to “serial number 1”, which would be the first vehicle to be produced on the production line.
Musk had previously disclosed a deadline of July 1st for parts from internal teams and external suppliers in order to start Model 3 production. The part orders were planned to be enough for 1,000 units per week for the month and ramp up to 5,000 units per week by the end of the year.
The company had given recent hints that production was about to start. The Model 3 is assembled at Tesla’s Fremont factory, but the battery cells, packs, and drive units are made at Tesla’s Gigafactory 1 in Nevada, and CTO JB Straubel disclosed last month that they started to produce batteries for the vehicle.
As we previously reported, Tesla is expected to deliver the early production of Model 3 vehicles to employees and then to current Tesla owners in California. As the production rate increases, Tesla will start moving east and deliver more vehicles to early reservation holders.
We should have a much better idea of the plans at the launch event, which will be held on the 28th, according to Musk.
For past vehicle launches, with Model S and Model X, Tesla held delivery events at its Fremont factory to unveil the production version of its vehicles and hand over the keys to the first few customers, generally investors or board members.
Here’s the Model X event for example:
https://vimeo.com/140889963
It sounds like Tesla is planning a similar party for Model 3 on the 28th of July, 2017. Mark the date. We will be there.
Featured Image: Two Tesla Model 3 prototypes spotted at a CCS/CHAdeMO charging station – Picture by Addison Conzet
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