lon Musk, CEO and co-founder of Tesla, has unveiled the world’s cheapest fully electric car, Tesla Model 3.
The car, which was unveiled over the weekend cost $35,000 (N11,033,750 at official rate) for the standard version, while the long range version goes for $44,000.
The standard version can travel 354 kilometres on a single charge, and when charged for 30 minutes, it can travel for 209 kilometres.
Musk, who handed over 30 Tesla Model 3 to the first set of buyers, said the demand for the vehicle has surpassed supply till 2018. He added that the auto company had taken orders in excess of 500,000 reservations.
“It’s an amazing car, but we’re going to go through at least six months now of manufacturing hell… There’s 10,000 unique components in the car, and production moves as fast as the slowest one,” Musk told reporters.
“Demand is not a challenge for the Model 3… We do everything we can to unsell the car. Have you ever seen an ad for the Model 3?”
The Canadian-American said the car will not need servicing as often as other cars around the world, promising over a million miles before first servicing.
“We’re designing the Model 3 to ideally not require service. The next-generation powertrain is designed to be roughly a million miles between service, aspirationally.
“This is a great day for Tesla. it’s what we’ve been working for. The point of Tesla was to make a great, affordable car that was better than any gasoline car. It was never our goal to just make expensive cars.”
The car is in line with the world’s decision to move away from fossil fuel to electric cars before 2040.
