Ghanapolitics: The Driven/ Sophie Vorrath: New data shows surge in right hand drive Model 3s, including Australia

Wednesday 25 September 2019

The Driven/ Sophie Vorrath: New data shows surge in right hand drive Model 3s, including Australia

The number of Tesla Model 3s electric sedans being shipped to right hand drive markets such as Australia has jumped significantly, new data shows, and the already stunning numbers for Australia reported by The Driven on Monday may already be surpassed.
Tesla does not reveal sales numbers for any of its models in specific markets, and because of the lack of transparency in Australia industry sales, the mooted number of Model 3 deliveries and its potential impact on the local auto industry has caused huge debate on social media forums.
On Monday we reported that three ships have so far docked in Australia delivering a total of 2,414 vehicles – a number which when compared to FCAI sales figures blows the Model 3s direct fossil fuel competition out of the water.
And there are more on the way. Another three cargo ships have arrived in the last two weeks, adding to the first 2,414 vehicles indicating that orders for the Model 3 in Australia are even higher than previously thought.
According to Twitter handle @Vedaprime who has been tracking cargo ships bound for Australia laden with Model 3s, there have been 6 ships docked to date.

Starting from August 16, 2019 ships began arriving laden with Model 3s, with the last three arriving in the past two weeks (see screenshot of AU/NZ carrier tracking sheet below).
Another 5 have left Pier 80 at the Port of San Francisco (SFO), which potentially also could be carrying Model 3s.

Given the average number of vehicles on each of the first three ships is 800, this could mean that there still thousands of Model 3s bound for Australia and New Zealand.
Additionally, we can reveal that Tesla has registered approximately 24,000 right-hand drive Model 3 VINs to date indicating the volume of orders that Tesla expects for these markets, as gathered by @VedaPrime and also vin tracker @Model3VINs.

Australia is one of only 6 right-hand drive markets that Tesla is currently selling Model 3 along with the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Macau.
It’s not an easy thing to estimate what percentage of these are bound for Australia/New Zealand – as @VedaPrime notes, there are gaps in VINs and multiple production dates which cloud any decent guesses.
Neither does the number of VINs registered give any real indication of Model 3s actually produced – but it is food for thought particularly as we reach the end of another quarter, a time in which Tesla is often known to ramp up deliveries in order to record the maximum number of sales.

In New Zealand, transparency of vehicle registrations means that we can be sure its electric vehicle fleets now includes around 300 Model 3s.
Australia’s uptake of electric vehicles is significantly lagging behind the transition to zero emissions transport that is pretty much a done deal overseas thanks to fuel emissions and financial incentives aimed at accelerating that uptake.
But the introduction of the Model 3 – which it must be noted has also blown all other EV competitors in Australia (of which there have only been 1,839 sold including plug-in hybrids in 2019 up until the end of August) – looks to be changing that significantly.

Bridie Schmidt

Bridie Schmidt is lead reporter for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She specialises in writing about new technology, as well as using her technical skills in managing our websites.