How will Model 3 deliveries take place?

[Marsnaut]

Over the next year's time, Tesla will be delivering over 100k cars. Without a formal dealer network, how will Tesla start delivering these cars? I would imagine the Service Centers can only handle so much in regards to distribution. Delivering 200k+ cars will start becoming a major issue in my opinion.

Has Tesla done anything proactively to address this? I know they've been building new Service Centers but the question remains if it is enough.

 

[Runt8]

I wouldn’t be surprised if they offer an option to deliver it to your home.

 

[tsla007]

@Runt8 - not unless you're over 240 miles from a tesla store.
I happen to be well over that so they deliver to my home.

 

[Derek Kessler]

They've been testing out large delivery centers in warehouses (Colorado, I think?). They've got a while until they're going to have to worry about mass deliveries.

 

[JeffK]

Over the next year's time, Tesla will be delivering over 100k cars. Without a formal dealer network, how will Tesla start delivering these cars? I would imagine the Service Centers can only handle so much in regards to distribution. Delivering 200k+ cars will start becoming a major issue in my opinion.

Has Tesla done anything proactively to address this? I know they've been building new Service Centers but the question remains if it is enough.

Probably enough... Consider this there are like 73-ish service centers in the US lets say 50% of 500,000 total Teslas went to US customers. Now there's not going to be an even distribution but let's pretend there was, that's about 10 deliveries per day they'd have to handle. If they streamline the delivery process to only a few minutes then they can do one at a time in the same amount of time or less.

 

[Runt8]

@Runt8 - not unless you're over 240 miles from a tesla store.
I happen to be well over that so they deliver to my home.

That’s how it is now, but I could see that policy changing if there was a problem with distribution centers being overwhelmed. Maybe for a small delivery fee.

 

[KarenRei]

I'm really wondering this about my case. I assume I'm going to have to go to Denmark to fetch mine, and take it back on the ferry? I just wonder how that will work with taxes and fees - will I get hit twice? I assume not, tax laws should be prepared for this sort of situation, it's not like I'm buying the car twice. But I really don't know how it's supposed to work.

 

[Marsnaut]

Probably enough... Consider this there are like 73-ish service centers in the US lets say 50% of 500,000 total Teslas went to US customers. Now there's not going to be an even distribution but let's pretend there was, that's about 10 deliveries per day they'd have to handle. If they streamline the delivery process to only a few minutes then they can do one at a time in the same amount of time or less.

Fair point. 500k was a massive number in my head (even though still relatively small compared to other automakers). When it's broken down by region by service center, it seems very manageable.

The distribution by city/state could eventually play a factor in the larger metro areas (like Supercharger congestion) but for at least the foreseeable future it appears that the actual distribution shouldn't be an issue. By the time it does come around, there will be more Service Centers.

I'm really wondering this about my case. I assume I'm going to have to go to Denmark to fetch mine, and take it back on the ferry? I just wonder how that will work with taxes and fees - will I get hit twice? I assume not, tax laws should be prepared for this sort of situation, it's not like I'm buying the car twice. But I really don't know how it's supposed to work.

I was actually in Denmark and Iceland last summer. There were a solid number Teslas in Denmark but I didn't see any in Iceland. When I was going to Tivoli Gardens, there were whispers about the Queen of Denmark arriving at the Copenhagen City Hall. When the red carpet rolled out, I knew there must've been some merit. I was super excited when a Tesla rolled up in front of the carpet but it wasn't the Queen. She eventually did appear but in a Rolls Royce.

But back on topic, I would assume you pay taxes and fees when you get to Iceland? In the US you pay taxes wherever you register the car. Either that or you get a tax credit in Iceland for any taxes paid in Denmark.

 

[KarenRei]

I was actually in Denmark and Iceland last summer. There were a solid number Teslas in Denmark but I didn't see any in Iceland.

There's under a hundred. Even though we have the second highest rate of EV sales (as a share of total vehicle sales) in Europe, Teslas are a relatively small fraction because all vehicles over a certain price have to pay VAT, which hits the Model S and X but not most cheapo EVs. The Model 3 will come under the limit... assuming that the VAT deduction remains intact by the time of my delivery (it has to be renewed annually :Þ) There's also no Tesla stores or service centres here; if you want service, you're shipping it to Denmark. No superchargers either, obviously, despite our real need for them on the Ring Road. At least there's a CHAdeMO network under construction.

But back on topic, I would assume you pay taxes and fees when you get to Iceland? In the US you pay taxes wherever you register the car. Either that or you get a tax credit in Iceland for any taxes paid in Denmark.

I hope that's how it works. I'm sure Tesla knows how best to deal with it. If not, I'll be making a lot of calls when it comes closer to the delivery date Of course, my real hope is that since they're scaling up so much with the Model 3, they'll start establishing a footprint locally. If the VAT deduction holds and they set up operations here, they could take over Iceland like they did Norway. Not as big of a market, of course, but they don't need as much infrastructure either.