TESLA MODEL 3

Excitingly electric

As an electric car company, Tesla had the lofty goal of building an affordable electric car for the masses. After years of breaking ground with the original Roadster, the Model S and Model X, the Model 3 is the car that achieves that goal. Starting at just $35,000 USD, it brings all the learnings from the earlier Tesla models together.

Visiting Melbourne, we had an overnight loan of the Standard Range Plus, Australia’s entry-level model priced from $67,900. From the very beginning, the Model 3 is unlike any other car you’ll come across today. It throws almost everything you know about how to use and operate a car out the window, and it’s a brave move to make. However, after the Tesla staff member shows you through the in’s and out’s it all makes sense.

There are car makers which have been building cars for over 100 years, and Tesla is still an extremely young brand. This allows Tesla to depart from the typical way of building and designing a vehicle. A lot of the choices seem like common sense, and it’s hard to believe it hasn’t been done before or we aren’t seeing a lot of copycat implementations.

To start with, there’s no traditional key – you either use a sleek matte black – hotel key card style – key which you tap the B-Pillar to unlock or you use your smartphone. Not only do you unlock or lock your car with your phone, but it will show you in real-time where your car is, how fast it’s moving, and whether the air-conditioning is on.

Speaking of air-conditioning, the ability to have it turned on while you’re away from the car is the single most useful and brilliant feature of the Model 3. Sure, the Model 3 has autopilot capability, a super silent ride, and an impressive amount of storage space, but this cooling feature is a must-have in Australia. The beauty of being an electric car means there’s no engine needing to be run to run the compressor when delivering food items across the city, I never had to worry about anything melting during in the 42-degree heat.

To give you a full run-down on the economics and driving experience, we’ll have to wait for a full-review but so far – we like what we see.