Following a nearly nine-month pause, Tesla has resumed taking orders for its Model 3 Long Range sedan in the U.S., according to Bloomberg. The car manufacturer is bringing the electric vehicle (EV) back at a more affordable price, making the switch to an EV – and the multitude of benefits that come with it – more accessible for the average consumer.
In the summer of 2022, Tesla announced that, due to an extreme backlog, it would stop taking new orders for the Model 3 Long Range, an electric sedan with a reported 325-mile range. Elon Musk's global automotive company has now resumed production of the EV and says customers can expect deliveries starting in June 2023, according to Reuters.
Reuters reported that the Model 3 returns to the market with a price tag that's about 18.5% less than the $57,990 it was priced at last August. The Model 3 Long Range was available to order at $47,240 as of August 2023.
Meanwhile, as of the same time, the standard rear-wheel drive Model 3 was just over $40,000 — roughly $8,000 less than the average cost of a new vehicle in the U.S. That's good news for consumers who have been hesitant to make the switch to an EV for financial reasons.
Even though the public health benefits of having more EVs on the road, such as reduced air pollution and improvement of upper respiratory conditions, have been well documented, EVs have simply been too expensive for many Americans. In fact, the cost is the biggest concern holding most U.S. consumers back from shopping in the EV market.
Almost 70% of consumers hope to pay less than $50,000 for an EV. The new price tag on the re-introduced Model 3 Long Range falls within that expectation, and the base model is even cheaper, which could encourage more drivers to make the switch from a gas-engine vehicle to an electric one.
Reports also show that the average EV driver spends 60% less on fuel costs annually compared to gas-engine vehicle drivers. Because total vehicle operating costs are another top reason consumers hesitate to drive an EV, eliminating the need for a gas budget is one more way the Model 3 could be appealing.
If the reduced cost of the Model 3 and the fuel savings aren't enough to convince drivers to depart from gas-engine vehicles, there's also this: the federal government provides a $7,500 tax credit to many EV buyers.
"A lot of people still think Teslas are super expensive because we did start out with an expensive sports car then a slightly less expensive sedan, and SUV but now we're at the point where the starting price of Tesla is actually below the average selling price of a car in the United States. So [Teslas] are actually much more affordable than people realize," Musk told CNBC in a recent interview.
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