Tesla fans line up to put deposits on Model 3

It will be delivered more than a year from now, if ever, but that didn’t stop fans of Tesla’s new economy car from camping out for a day or two in front of the company’s Robson Street showroom in downtown Vancouver.

The new Model 3 will be unveiled Thursday night and Tesla was to begin taking $1,000 US deposits in Vancouver at 10 a.m. when B.C.’s only Tesla storefront showroom opens.

“Where to start?” said Joseph Preece, when asked why he left his home in Comox to camp out, along with his 65-year-old mom, Francine, on Tuesday morning at 929 Robson St., Tesla’s B.C. showroom.

The dairy delivery man fell in love with electric cars in 1996, when he was 13. He’s been waiting ever since for electric cars to become affordable for him. The Model 3, with a base price of $35,000 US, fits that bill.

The hitch is, while $1,000 deposits are being accepted at Tesla stores as of Thursday morning (and Thursday night online once the Model 3 is unveiled at 8:30 p.m.) the earliest the company has promised delivery is late next year.

“I am impatient, that’s why I’m first in line,” Preece said. “I’ve waited a long time and I don’t want to wait any longer. But I realize delivery is at least a year away.”

The $35,000 US sticker price doesn’t really make the Model 3 an economy car. According to the Kelly Blue Book, the average price of all new cars sold in the U.S. last year was $34,000 US.

But compared with the Model S’s base price of $101,900 C, plus $1,300 C in fees, it’s a bargain at about $50,000 C.

Grant Van Dyk, next to Preece and his mom in the camp-out lineup, was there for his wife. He already owns a Model S.

“What’s not to like?” the Point Grey resident said. “It’s a phenomenal car, the performance is incredible, it handles any road condition, there’s no cost to charge it.”

The Model 3 has been kept tightly under wraps, with only a silhouetted image to tease visitors to Tesla’s website. That hasn’t stopped the media from speculating about it.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said 320 kilometres is the minimum drivers should expect from the battery’s charge. The Model 3 will be about the size of an Audi A4, Musk said.