Around the 2011 Detroit Auto Show, Tesla confirmed production of the Model S electric sedan is scheduled to begin in mid-2012 at the Tesla Factory in Fremont, CA. Tesla said it already has 3,500 reservations for the Model S. However, the electric automaker has no plans to stop there.
At the Cleantech Investor Summit in Palm Springs, California on Wednesday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk once again confirmed that Tesla will unveil the Model X SUV later this year followed by an affordable electric sedan that will cost around $30,000. It was previously reported the Model X SUV will arrive some time in 2014 and will share a similar powertrain that is found in the Model S. The affordable electric-sedan will be similar in size to the BMW 3-Series and will arrive sometime in 2015. Along with the Model X SUV and the 3-Series-sized electric sedan, total annual production output for Tesla is expected to rise between 30,000 and 40,000 units a year.
What’s interesting is that Musk has some pretty aggressive predictions for the future of electric-vehicles. Musk says that by 2020, it will be dirt cheap to have long range vehicle battery packs and that by 2030 the only cars sold in America will be electric-car. By mid-century, Musk says that the vast majority of cars on the roads will be electric.
We’ll see what happens but for now we think those are some far-fetched predictions.
