Ever since Elon Musk first announced that Tesla will be making a relatively affordable electric sedan in 2016, people have been waiting with bated breath to get their hands on the steering wheel.
Even multiple manufacturing delays couldn’t diminish that anticipation.
Cheddar’s Hope King got a first-hand look at the mass market vehicle Monday with Josh Ong, an eager customer on Tesla’s months-long waitlist.
“For me the first reason I wanted it was the technology,” said the communications director at Cheetah Mobile. “This is really the ultimate gadget.”
More than a half million people have preordered the Model 3. But after multiple delays -- Tesla delivered just 1,500 of the vehicles in the fourth quarter -- many have given up and canceled their requests.
Threatened by possible shortages of lithium for electric car batteries, automakers are racing to lock in supplies of the once-obscure “white gold” in a politically and environmentally fraught competition from China to Nevada to Chile.
U.S. states could face some hurdles as they experiment with road usage charging programs aimed at one day replacing motor fuel taxes, which are generating less each year, in part due to fuel efficiency and the rise of electric cars.
