…begins this Friday!
They have reservations for 373,000 cars. I wonder if the last 173,000 know that they will not get the Really Big Tax Break that the first 200,000 will get.
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The more options for the customer to chose from, the better. Many industries get tax breaks, not just electric cars.
I know this thread is a couple weeks old, but I thought it better to revive it than start a new one.
USA Today has an article about the Model 3, and I found something disturbing. Tesla is shortcutting quality and durability testing in favor of digital testing. It’s fine to test the electronic systems, but the mechanical and electromechanical systems need testing too. A comment like this in the article leads me to believe that envrironmental testing will be done at the expense of the customer. It seems to me that thinking like that is in part what led to Honda and Toyota besting the Detroit 3. Does this fall into the “the more things change, the more they stay the same” category? I think so. Only the names of the guilty have changed.
Hmmm…Has Mr. Musk hired some of GM’s old personnel?
I certainly hope not.
We used to joke that Chrysler owners were their Final Validation Testing Department. But then “we” worked at General Motors. 
I only have one comment about “digital testing”
Simulation is like masturbation, If you do it too long, you begin to think it’s the Real Thing!
Beware becoming part of Tesla’s Final Validation Testing Department!
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Is it possible that the mechanical part of the drive train has already been proven in other models?
There’s an old engineering maxim, “don’t re-invent the wheel”.
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It’s a lower-output motor on the Model 3, just to prevent it from out-performing the S. I believe they’re using the same battery packs (just fewer of them), and of course the wiring for the drivetrain is going to be virtually identical.
The problem with that assumption is the “law of unintended consequences” will invariably rear its ugly head. Famous last words- we didn’t change anything, it’s the same as over here on this one. Oh yes you did!
I’d assume this digital testing is for parts that did change, and I’d be worried, given Tesla’s problems with their prior designs.
Tesla has a poor record for reliability on the S model. Even if the mechanical parts are identical, it seems like additional testing would help all their models become more reliable. I suspect that significant duplication is unlikely because the S starts out twice as expensive as the 3. It seems likely that Tesla is saving money on most systems in the car.
The drive train of a Tesla is essentially a one speed gear reduction unit from the motor output shaft to the axle. No clutches, no torque converters, just a simple gear reducer with approximately a 8:1 reduction ratio. The last gear in the gear train also has the differential spider gears in it.
If they are having issues with such a simple drive train, it’s likely either the gears are undersized for the load or the bearings are and I don’t believe the drive train design is what makes a Tesla expensive.
It’s essentially a go-kart transmission without the centrifugal clutch and a gear train instead of sprockets and a chain.
Maybe Tesla underestimated the stress of accelerating a 5200 pound car from zero to 60 in just three or so seconds and how the smooth quiet and instantaneous torque of electric cars encourage drivers to do that… a lot.
What drives the expense in a Tesla is primarily the battery packs.
A lower output motor is one way to make the drive train more reliable. It could be they just reset the current limit on the variable frequency drive to a lower value.
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200,000 Model 3’s delivered ? Where are they ?? I have not yet seen a Tesla automobile on the road in Colorado…
Well, they can’t all be in NJ, but I do see 2 or 3 Model 3s each week on the road in my state, and that is a lot more than the number of newish Impalas that I see each week.
I’ve seen several model 3s, but nowhere near the numbers we were SUPPOSED to be seeing by now 
Bloomberg estimates that 131,804 have been produced as of 12/1/2018.