Last night, Tesla Motors' CEO Elon Musk unveiled their newest electric car — the Model 3. And the world went wild.
As of this writing, Tesla's already taken nearly 200,000 preorders in just 24 hours.
That's ridiculous, and they've even had to limit it to two cars per person. But why have so many people signed up for this awesome, emissions-free, world-saving car?
Well, for one, it's incredibly sexy.
From an ecological viewpoint, electric cars are really cool. The use batteries and electric motors instead of fossil fuels, which means they don't create carbon dioxide or airborne pollutants. But for a long time, they weren't the coolest-looking things on the road.
However, if your idea of green technology is something that looks like a glorified golf cart, this will blow your mind.
Image courtesy of Tesla Motors.
The car just looks awesome. And it comes with a lot of cool features too: the center console is a 15" computer screen that sounds like something out of a science fiction movie, the whole roof and rear windshield are a single sheet of glass, and it's got autopilot.
Autopilot!
But the big thing isn't just the look — it's the price tag too.
One of the huge drivers of Tesla's ridiculous first-day sales is definitely the price.
The base version of the Model 3 will sell for about $35,000, and Musk estimates that the average Model 3 will run about $42,000. Subtract from that the tax credit (up to $7,500) you might be eligible for from the government for buying an electric car and the total's really not bad, especially for a car this cool.
Image courtesy of Tesla Motors.
One of the big hurdles that a lot of green technology, like electric cars, has had to overcome is getting the price down to where regular people can actually afford it. Unfortunately, a lot of these earth-saving technologies have kind of been just for the 1%. Tesla's previous dream car, the Model S, started closer to $60-70,000, for example.
But this ... man — $35,000. I'm not rich, but I could afford that.
And Tesla's not the only company making a push for affordable green technology. The Chevy Bolt, another electric car due to debut next year, will also be in the I-don't-own-a-private-jet price range.
These preorder sales numbers prove something awesome — people really, reeeeally want green technology. You just have to give it to them.
Image courtesy of Tesla Motors.
This isn't a niche market. This isn't a trend. This is something people want and are passionate about. And it feels awesome to see companies dedicated to making Earth-saving, fossil-fuel-addiction-breaking technology really accessible to everyone.
Tesla's sales figures show that a green future isn't just possible, it's undeniable.
Watch Tesla's Model 3 unveiling: