Tesla Model 3

I’ve just spent a couple of days with Tesla’s long-awaited Model 3 and can report that’s its an instant classic. That’s because its one of the most significant cars of the last 100 years. Not only did I get a game-changing 320 miles from a single charge, my upgraded Performance version could hit sixty in 3.2 seconds, whoosh quietly to 163mph and with fourwheel drive handled crisply and securely. This is the first EV of the dozens I’ve driven where you don’t have to spend your life in the losers’ lane, sweating with the deadly fear of range anxiety. My time was spent gunning down the outside lane at motorway speeds (and more) savouring its incredible heave, silence and poise. The Model 3 is the first EV that you don’t have to suffer to own and comes with an established network of 400 Tesla Supercharger charging stations already built.

But the really important thing about this Tesla is that you don’t need another car. Most EV drivers, if they’re honest, keep a second car for long journeys or when they get bored, but the Model 3 is the only motor you need in your life – it’s that good. And that’s why its going to be so historically significant, as the first electric car that genuinely outguns internal combustion cars and ushers in a new and interesting future of personal mobility.

The Model 3 successfully takes us from friction-based mechanical technology into a new lightweight digitally connected world without compromise. It even fixes faults itself by Wi-fi downloads while you sleep, so no more scary garage bills.

I know you don’t want to hear this, and I know you’re still old-school sceptical, but if you get the chance just drive one I guarantee you’ll be blown away, just like I was. And try out the £50,000 upgraded Performance version. If we have to live in a zero-emission, zero carbon world, at least we’ll still have the power to drive faster than we should.