Update: Media totally ignored what CEO says Model 3 will mean for environment

Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiling his $35,000 Model 3 in California on Thursday night.

Editor's note: On April 7, Tesla announced more than 325,000 reservations for the Model 3 had been received in the week after the car was unveiled.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

At the unveiling of the Model 3, the first words out of Tesla CEO Elon Musk's mouth were to alert the media to the dire state of the environment.

But his strong environmental message -- that this affordable all-electric car will "accelerate sustainable transport" -- was virtually ignored by reporters and financial analysts.

Noting record high carbon-dioxide levels, Musk said 53,000 deaths a year are caused by auto emissions.

200,000+ reservations

CNBC.com quoted Musk as saying 232,000 Model 3 reservations at $1,000 each were placed in the first 24 hours after Tesla stores opened on Thursday morning.

No other single vehicle in the history of the automobile has generated this kind of excitement.

This is a watershed moment, and if Tesla achieves volume sales of the Model 3, it could mark the beginning of the end for the antiquated internal combustion engine.

Glass roof

Model 3 won't just be a smaller, three-quarter version of Model S.

Notable differences from Model S include:

• The roof of the Model 3 will be glass to give the driver and four passengers a feeling of openness.

• The central touchscreen will be mounted horizontally, and include the speedometer and other instruments.

For $35,000, the new all-electric car will come standard with Autopilot, Autosteer and Autopark, autonomous functions that were extra on the Model S 60 I bought a year ago.

Free charging

And Model 3 owners also will be able to use Tesla's nationwide network of Superchargers for free as long as they own their cars, just like Model S owners.

Free charging for life is an exclusive Tesla feature no other automaker has matched.

Chevrolet hasn't said whether it will build a network of fast chargers for owners of the all-electric Bolt, due out late this year.

Musk also said Model 3 will be the safest car in its class, with 5-star ratings in every category.

Model 3 battery

Model 3 will have a range of 215 miles on a full charge, compared to the 208-mile range of the Model S 60 I own, so the battery in the new car likely will be about 65 kilowatt-hours.

The Model 3, like the Model S 60, does 0-60 in under 6 second.

The current base Model S is the 70D with dual motors, a 70 kilowatt-hour battery and a range of 250 miles at 65 mph.

Battery, car factories

Musk said on Thursday night Tesla's battery factory in Nevada is "operational," and batteries from there will cost 30% less than those in Model S, allowing him to sell Model 3 for $35,000.

And he noted the Tesla Factory in Fremont, Calif. -- a former GM-Toyota joint venture -- has the capacity to build 500,000 cars a year.

The plant was building an average of 6,000 cars a week when it closed in May 2010.

Tesla Motors reopened the factory in October 2010.

EVs go mainstream

On April 7, the Tesla blog announced more than 325,000 reservations had been received in the week since the March 31 unveiling of Model 3:

Tesla declared that was "the week when electric vehicles went mainstream." 

See: Biggest one-week launch of any product ever

Model S has no CD player, no wheel locks and hidden cruise-control stalk from hell

At the gym, I complete for spaces with a large number of other members who drive smelly, gas-guzzling SUVs, below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Tesla's Model S is an all-electric car worthy of superlatives.

Acceleration is effortless, even in the base model I've owned since mid-April, leaving most other cars, whether gasoline-powered or hybrid, fading in my rear-view mirror.

When I approach the car in my garage, with the Model S-shaped key in my pocket, the lighted chrome door handles extend, locks are released and the radio goes on.

A Tesla app on my smart phone allows me to turn on the climate-control system a few minutes before I'm ready to go.

Stop to start

You don't have to push a button or turn a key to start the Model S. 

Just press on the brake pedal, a move drivers are accustomed to since the unintended-acceleration controversy involving Audis. 

California-based Tesla Motors says the Model S has the highest safety rating in America. Take that, Volvo.

The smart key for my Model S atop its leather holder. Even when in the holder, pressing the key's "roof" opens and closes the four doors, pressing the "hood" opens the front storage compartment and pressing the "trunk" opens the hatchback.

No CD player

The luxurious Model S, a four-door hatchback, has a 17-inch touchscreen in the middle of the dashboard, and lots of controls on the steering wheel -- fan speed, radio volume and so forth.

You don't need a CD player, because you have a subscription to Slacker Radio, and you can simply ask for whatever you want to hear, such as Miles Davis or other favorites.

No wheel locks

Nor did my Model S 60 have wheel locks. So, I ordered them through the parts department in Paramus, N.J.. They cost $60.

There's no spare tire, either, but I'm told Tesla's 24-hour road service trucks carry replacement wheels and tires to swap with yours.

Starbucks Coffee

I stopped at the Paramus Showroom and Service Center on Tuesday afternoon for help with the touch-screen controls and to see if my wheel locks had come in.

An employee called in from a nearby Starbucks to take an order from other workers, and the invitation was extended to me, so I ordered a tall latte with skim milk.

Later, as I was waiting for my car to charge at one of the free Superchargers, a Tesla owner came in asked where he could find a car wash.

He said he had left Minnesota on Sunday and was headed to his final destination, Kingston, N.Y. His car was a Model S Signature edition, one of the first thousand made in 2012.

Roger, one of the employees, said they would wash his car for free. 

The cruise-control stalk in the 2010 Toyota Prius my wife now drives is visible through the steering wheel spokes. Japan's No. 1 automaker has used the same easy to see and use cruise-control  system for decades, and it can be found across the entire Toyota and Lexus lines, as well as in some Subarus.

Cruise control

I became a big fan of cruise control during a July 4, 2004, trip to Lorain, Ohio, in my first Toyota Prius, a 2004 in burgundy.

I used it the entire way, averaging 57.1 miles per gallon in the gas-electric hybrid. I made the 497-miles trip from Englewood, N.J., on less than a tank of gas. 

You can still find the same easy to see and use cruise control across the entire Toyota line, as well as in Lexus luxury models.

Despite all of the great foward-looking features in the Model S, Tesla Motors dropped the ball on the cruise-control stalk, which is hidden behind one of the steering wheel spokes.

I suppose once I memorize how it works, it won't be a problem, but for now it's a rare design flaw.

Still, from the way the Model S looks and drives, and from my independence from the oil companies, responsible for so much of the misery in the world, I can argue that I bought the best car in the world.

Sign on the wall at Tesla Showroom on Route 17 in Paramus, N.J. Or you could pay well over twice as much for a Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG Sedan with a twin-turbo V-12, but still get left in the dust by the fastest production sedan ever made. The Mercedes, with an MSRP of $222,000, is a full second slower to 60 mph than the Model S P85D. LOL.

This soon-to-be Tesla owner wouldn't be caught dead in a luxury car from Germany

An all-electric Tesla Model S on display at the Time Warner Center in Manhattan.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Does any American really need a 155-mph luxury car?

More than 15 years after the introduction of gas-electric hybrids to the U.S., German car makers offer only a handful of green cars.

Their luxury car lines still are filled with gas-guzzling sedans and SUVs that merely aggravate air pollution and hasten climate change. 

Some, like the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, score low on reliability surveys.

Mindless media 

The automotive media are responsible for portraying German cars with hundreds of horsepower from dirty internal combustion engines as viable alternatives to Tesla Motors' revolutionary Model S and other all-electric vehicles.

For example, Car and Driver's blog interviewed Diamler Chairman Dieter Zetsche, who sports a walrus mustache (Diamler A.G. is the parent company of Mercedes-Benz).

One of the loaded questions was posed this way:

"And electric vehicles? Buyers seem unconvinced."

No one said you had to have brains to get a job at a car magazine or a blog like Gas2, which ran the interview recently.

Of course, "buyers" of electric vehicles must have been convinced or why would they have spent $30,000 to $70,000 and more for an all-electric car? 

Tesla Motors is selling about 50,000 Model S luxury hatchbacks annually from a single factory in California.

No ad revenue

The media's hostility toward Tesla might have something to do with the company's no-advertising policy. 

No ads mean no advertising revenue for struggling print and electronic media.

Elon Musk, the genius behind Tesla, didn't even bother showing his new model this week at the New York International Auto Show in Manhattan.

Model S 70D

This week, Tesla announced a new base model, the 70D, which costs $75,000 and has all-wheel drive and slightly more range, 240 miles v. 208 miles for the discontinued Model S 60.

The Associated Press story I saw in my morning paper reported the electric car maker "is going after mainstream luxury car buyers" with the new model.

The story didn't explain why the $70,000 Model S 60 -- which has a 380-horsepower electric motor and can go from zero to 60 mph in 5.9 seconds -- didn't compete against "mainstream" luxury cars.

The new 70D trims only .7 seconds off that 0-60 time, even though it has a motor with 124 more horsepower.

My Model S

I am scheduled to pick up my new Model S 60 next week.

I am sure it will be the best car I have ever owned, and with free updates from Tesla will remain fresh and more advanced than just about anything else on the road.

The only cars we've had for more than a decade are Toyota Prius hybrids, and we have more than 60 solar panels on the roof of our home.

The Model S 60 will be a perfect fit, especially in view of the limited driving I do as a senior.

German cars

In the last few years, I've worked part time for fleet-management companies in New Jersey that supply new cars to the media and VIPs.

I've driven just about every Mercedes, BMW, Audi and Porsche, occasionally as a chauffeur during Fashion Week or other special event.

Some of them have switches and controls that are so hopelessly complicated I had to consult the owner's manual to figure them out.

I couldn't wait to jump back into my 2010 Prius.