Transport & space · 2017

Tesla Model 3

A mid-priced EV built at scale becomes the best-selling electric car of its time.

Deliveries began in July 2017 at a base price of $35,000 announced for the car. Over 400,000 reservations came in within weeks of its reveal. It became the first EV to exceed one million sales and pushed rivals to accelerate electric programs.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 1

Tesla Model S 2012

What it led to 2

Tesla Optimus 2022
EV tops global car sales 2023

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

Electric share of new car sales Latest: Battery electric: 16.5 % of new cars (2025) Source: Our World in Data

Lithium-ion battery cell price Latest: 78 $/kWh (2024 USD) (2024) Source: Our World in Data

Cost of memory and storage Latest: Memory: 1.09k $/TB (2023) Source: Our World in Data