On Friday, Tesla started delivering the first mass-market electric car. The Model 3 is the keystone in Elon Musk’s grand vision: to accelerate humanity toward more sustainable energy. According to Wired, the Model 3 may do for electric cars what the iPhone did for smartphones. Now, Tesla cars exist in a comprehensive ecosystem for electric cars capable of cross-country travel thanks to an expanded web of Supercharger stations combined with home storage batteries and solar roofs.
In 2005, the company took Musk’s first step when it released an expensive, two-seat sports car, the Roadster. Tesla used the profits to fund its Model S launch in 2012. It transitioned away from being a niche brand by selling a somewhat more practical four-door sedan—fueled by viral reaction videos of “insane mode.”
After rolling out its mid-size crossover Model X in 2015, the final step in the process is the new Model 3, an affordable, high-volume car Its goal is to bring electric cars to the mass market. Priced at $35,000, Musk expects to build half a million in 2018.
Tesla has basically made the Model 3 “future-proof,” according to Wired. Over-the-air firmware updates can upgrade the fleet of cars at anytime with the push of a button. It’s how the company released its highway-only version of autopilot and will eventually release its full, self-driving software—once it’s approved by lawmakers.
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