When consumers order new cars, companies often offer a variety of color bodies, but in addition to the basic colors, other colors require an extra charge. Most car manufacturers use white, black and silver as the basic colors, except for Tesla. In the past, there were only two basic colors, black and white. All other charges were paid for extra, but since July 1, even black has been ticked. Out of the basic color.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk suddenly announced this arrangement via Twitter yesterday. Consumers will start offering the Simple White white body from the factory in July, ordering a new car and choosing a black body, and will need to pay an additional $1,000 (like silver, Hong Kong charges are HK$11,600). Musk did not explain the reasons further, but in the case of his decision to closely monitor the expenses, the car was sprayed into black to derive a higher cost, which is believed to be passed on to consumers.
However, the black body also has its shortcomings for electric vehicles. For example, it is more heat-absorbing and provides the temperature of the cabin, which requires more cooling and uses more power in disguise. In addition, white cars have become more popular around the world in recent years. In 2018, new cars sold in North America accounted for 26% of white and black only 19%; similar trends are also more pronounced in Europe, South America, and the Asia Pacific.
The good news is that the Model 3 Standard Range Plus with 383 kilometers of autonomy is now eligible for the federal ZEV incentive program. The program says that more expensive versions of a model will be eligible, as long as they cost less than $55,000 and the base model costs less than $45,000. The cheapest Tesla Model 3 will have only 150 kilometers of autonomy, the smallest autonomy among the 100% electric vehicles eligible for the $5,000 incentive for electric vehicles. It’s also a lot less than the 386 kilometers offered by the Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus.
