The mass-market Tesla
Model 3
2017 – presentIn production4-door compact electric sedan, 5 seats
The car that took electric mainstream.
Overview
Model 3 was the third step of Tesla's first Master Plan and the hardest: a car for everyone, built at volume. It became the best-selling electric car in history and, in 2020, the best-selling premium sedan in the world.
The story
Model 3 was the point of the whole exercise. Master Plan Part One said: build a sports car, use the money to build a more affordable car, use that money to build an even more affordable one. Model 3 was that third car, and it was unveiled on 31 March 2016 with a $35,000 price and a queue that broke Tesla's reservation system.
Building it nearly finished the company. The 2017–2018 ramp at Fremont was nicknamed production hell: Musk slept at the factory, a tent went up in the car park to assemble cars, and Tesla missed target after target before finally hitting 5,000 cars in a week in June 2018.
It worked. Model 3 became the best-selling EV in the world, then the best-selling premium sedan, then Tesla's most-exported car. The 2023 Highland update — quieter, more efficient, with a rear screen — turned it into the third-generation version of the car that made electric normal.
Full specifications
Powertrain
- Layout
- Rear-wheel drive or dual-motor all-wheel drive
- Motors
- Single rear motor, or one motor per axle
- Battery
- Structural pack with LFP chemistry in RWD cars, nickel chemistry in long-range cars
- Drive
- RWD or AWD
Performance
- 0–60 mph
- 5.8 s (RWD), 2.9 s (Performance)
- Top speed
- 125 mph (RWD), 163 mph (Performance)
- Drag coefficient
- 0.219 after the 2023 Highland update
- Torque split
- Fully variable front/rear in dual-motor cars
Charging
- DC fast charging
- Up to 250 kW on Superchargers
- Range added
- Up to 170 mi in 15 minutes
- Home charging
- Up to 11.5 kW onboard AC charger
- Connector
- NACS — adopted as the North American standard by most other makers
Interior & tech
- Displays
- 16-inch front touchscreen, 8-inch rear screen (2023 update onwards)
- Seating
- 5 seats, vegan leather and textile
- Roof
- Full glass roof as standard
- Assistance
- Autopilot standard; Full Self-Driving (Supervised) optional
Production
- Unveiled
- 31 March 2016; 325,000 reservations in the first week
- Deliveries
- From 28 July 2017 at Fremont
- Also built
- Gigafactory Shanghai and Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg
- Volume
- The best-selling electric car in the world, and the first to pass 1 million units
Records and firsts
- The best-selling electric car of all time, and the first EV to sell more than a million units
- World's best-selling premium sedan in 2020, outselling the German three on their home turf
- 5-star overall NHTSA rating, with the lowest probability of injury of any car ever tested by the agency at launch
- First mass-market car shipped with no dealership network, no key and no instrument cluster
- Its NACS connector was adopted as the North American charging standard by nearly every other automaker
Every version
| Version | Years | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Long Range RWD | 2017–2018 | $49,000 | The first customer cars, hand-built at high pace |
| Mid Range | 2018 | $45,000 | A stopgap battery size during the production ramp |
| Standard Range | 2019 | $35,000 | The car the Master Plan promised — off-menu only |
| Performance | 2018–present | ≈ $50,000+ | Track Mode, carbon spoiler, 2.9 s in the current car |
| Highland | 2023– | from $38,990 | Refreshed body, quieter cabin, ventilated seats, rear screen |