New Tesla X won’t make electric cars affordable

As much as Tesla has crafted some amazing cars over the years, with many reviewers claiming the recent Model S P85D is the best car in the world at the moment, none of them come close to being affordable for the average consumer. While Elon Musk has promised that its Model 3 car will finally offer that, the new Model X 4×4 certainly won't.

The new vehicle is now in the final stages of creation, with the configurator being sent out to those that reserved one of the first. It's letting people customise various aspects of the car, like paint job, interior, which extra features they want etc. However whether they opt for the barebones model, or one that is decked out with all of the possible extras available, the model X is a $130,000+ car. That's £85,000 or more, let alone factoring in VAT and other British taxes.

Although more affordable in the U.S., the new Tesla is still not the car that is going to make electric vehicles mainstream. Indeed, while the technology is continuing to be developed and more hybrid and fully electric cars are being purchased, until a more solid infrastructure is in place, they won't become big touring vehicles, especially in giant countries like America.

In the UK perhaps they have more potential, since a few hundred mile charge would allow you to go almost anywhere in the country, but again, there's that cost barrier. As expensive as traditional cars are to run, they are still going to be cheaper than buying a Tesla in the long run.

No, for Tesla vehicles to really catch on in a way that sees more than just the super-rich buying one, we're going to need that Model 3. Tesla's expected RRP for that car, set to release sometime in 2016, is around $35,000 or £22,000. While still expensive, that's when it's brand new. In a few years as it depreciates – though not as much as other brands – those cars will start to filter out into the used market where the price becomes something mere mortals can afford.

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KitGuru Says: I would drive a Tesla tomorrow if I was given one, but it would be entirely wasted. My commute is about as strenuous as putting on some trousers and walking into my office.

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