Gigafactory

Are Australian Tesla’s about to get cheaper?

EV-HQLeave a comment
white tesla

Are Australian Tesla’s about to get cheaper? An encouraging report is suggesting that Australian deliveries for Model 3 and Model Y from Tesla, may be delivered from Giga Shanghai towards the end of 2020 beginning of 2021. 

It has been a major point of contention, that the prices in Australia are too high for the average person. 

The idea of Tesla’s being manufactured and delivered from Giga-shanghai is not a new idea but one that many have requested for a while, my self included.

Australian Prices

If the Model 3 and Y are to be sold as a family car, or as the car for the masses, then the price needs to be more affordable, around the $30,000 – $40,000 dollars mark.

This price would give price parity with the average ICE vehicle and allow for natural competition. Currently in Australia costs of Tesla’s are almost double these amounts.

Now of course, part of these cost are taxes both Luxury Car Tax (LCT) and Import tax and every other person who is involved with the delivery tax. 

breakdown of a tesla

Giga-Shanghai

GIGA Shanghai
Featured Image Credit: WuWa Vision/YouTube

There is a possible change for the delivery of Tesla’s from Giga-Shanghai to the Southern hemisphere, inclusive of Australia, this was reported by Bloomberg and shared by Sawyer Merritt on twitter.

This change in location of manufacturing and delivery increases the chance of a possible price change. That would make the Model 3 and hopefully Model Y see price drops and become more affordable and achievable by the average person in Australia. This would continue to help to support the Tesla Mission. 

The news that it may actually be occurring is exciting for Australians looking to make their next purchase an electric car. 

The Electric Vehicle Council released a report in August 2019 called the State of Electric Vehicles. This report highlights some of the details relating to the possibility that 53% of people either already own or are thinking about purchasing an electric car as their next vehicle.

Model Y ordering

Model Y not an order page
Courtesy of Tesla.com

In Australia the Model Y is yet to be able to be ordered. This is not in line with the Model 3, which was available to be reserved from almost day one of the announcement. 

This delay with ordering could be aligned with the decision to ship cars from Giga Shanghai. Giga Shanghai has a number of buildings being constructed currently which have been rumored to be for the Model Y.

These would need to be completed for deliveries of model Y to Australia to occur.

Based on reports the building are close to being finalised which would in turn align with the timeline suggested for Giga Shanghai deliveries to Australia. 

Prices in Australia

Are Australian Tesla’s about to get cheaper? EV-HQ in February of this year commented on the prices of Tesla’s in Australia on Twitter and Elon Musk responded with this tweet.

https://twitter.com/EVHQ2/status/1226856937188253696 .

This response was an indication that he also believed that prices for Tesla’s are too high, which he reinforced at the recent shareholders meeting held in July 2020, Tesla, Inc. Q2 2020 Financial Results and Q&A Webcast.

Tesla’s mission of transitioning the world to sustainable energy and transport must at its core be able to be flexible in the execution. The possible change to delivering and manufacturing vehicles for the Southern hemisphere and right-hand drive (RHD) countries is another step towards this achievement. 

Opportunities for Fremont

Fremont factory
Image courtesy of CleanTechnica.com

The knock-on effect of a change like this opens the way for reduced reliance on delivering all models of the Tesla fleet globally from Fremont and disperses the deliveries across the network of factories. Thus, building redundancy and stability in manufacturing and deliveries.

It also allows Fremont to start planning for the manufacturing of the Roadster which Elon has mentioned would come out of Fremont factory. 

Are Australian Tesla’s about to get cheaper? It is encouraging to see that possible changes may be coming to the way Tesla is progressing their vision and the positive impact it can have on the average person is a win for the individual, and also for the world as we try to fix the issues that we have caused over the last century. 

Dave 

DAVE’S Blog posts

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Side Lines 04 – Gigafactory 3

EV-HQLeave a comment

Many months ago there was speculation that the next Gigafactory would be in China. Many discredited this information as hearsay and rumours. Fast forward less than a year later and the Gigafactory is built and preparing for ramp up of production units rolling off the lines.

What an achievement. It is truly amazing that a building of this size and complexity could be built in that time frame. The people of china and Tesla should be commended for their work ethic and passion for an amazing company and vision.

As with all things Tesla i started to think about the possibilities. I wondered once again about the Australian EV market and the possible benefits that might be available to us with the production beginning in Gigafactory 3. If we in australia where to import Tesla Vehicles from China rather than USA we might have a greater chance of lower prices.

China is a big market for Tesla and I appreciate the possible benefits the company will get with the sales numbers. However we in Australia find the vehicles very enticing but the “average joe” has very little chance of being able to afford it.

Gigafactory 3 is an achievement that could benefit more than the Chinese mainland and could allow for greater proliferation of Tesla’s across the pacific. Increasing uptake and reducing possible cost to those customers.

Dave