How the Tesla Model 3 compares to the Model S and Chevy Bolt

The Tesla Model 3 is finally (kind of) here. The first 30 Model 3s to roll off the production line were handed over to Tesla employees with reservations at an event this past weekend, and the company now begins the uphill climb of filling the 500,000 other preorders. The introduction of the production version of the Model 3 also meant we finally learned exactly what this car will be capable of. So how does it stack up against the competition?

There are certainly more electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids, and even hydrogen fuel cell cars available than there were when Tesla got started, but there are just four cars with more than 200 miles of range: the Tesla Model 3, the Model S, the Model X, and the Chevy Bolt. Let’s leave the extremely pricey Model X out of the equation here and focus on the other three to get the best sense of how the Model 3 measures up.

This chart tells a big part of the story here, but certainly not all of it. For one thing, Tesla’s not selling the $35,000 base model right away. The company claims that in order to quickly ramp up production, it needs to focus on the longer range (310-mile) battery first. It’s also requiring people who want those first deliveries to add on the premium trim package. So if you are one of the early Model 3 reservation holders and you want your car as soon as possible, you’re going to have to pay at least $49,000. And even when the base-level Model 3 becomes available, you’ll only be able to order it in black. Otherwise the price goes up at least $1,000 before you add on any other options.

The Chevy Bolt has a higher base price than the Model 3, and it’s also missing some desirable safety features like lane keep assist and collision avoidance, as well as the option for fast charging. In order to get those more advanced safety features, you have to buy the “Premier” trim version of the Bolt, which brings the price up to $42,760. Adding the option for DC fast charging will bump the price to $43,510.

Of course, all of these prices can change depending on whether you can get help from a federal or state tax credit. The US government has been partially subsidizing the cost of clean vehicles like EVs and plug-in hybrids in order to help grow the market, and they can take a significant chunk out of the price of these cars.

A $7,500 federal tax credit is available for each of these cars, but the state credit changes based on where you live. In California, for example, you could receive up to $2,500 in addition to the federal tax credit, bringing something like the Model 3’s base price down to $25,000. The state credits scale depending on which tax bracket you’re in, though, and there are other factors that could change the total amount. It’s worth investigating how your own state handles these clean vehicle rebates. (This post from Edmunds is a good place to start, as is this interactive map from Plug-in America.)

There’s a bigger catch here, though: the full $7,500 federal tax credit only applies for the first 200,000 eligible vehicles that a manufacturer sells. After that, the rebate decreases by 50 percent every six months until it’s retired. Tesla has sold over 100,000 vehicles and will likely hit the 200,000 mark sometime in early 2018. With such a vast backlog of preorders, it’s hard to say how much of the federal rebate will be available to new reservations, or whether it will be available at all by the time they complete their orders.

The Bolt might be in safer territory here. Chevrolet has much more manufacturing capacity than Tesla, but sales of the Bolt have been slow since the car became available at the very end of 2016. Chevy makes other rebate-eligible cars, like the Volt, which has sold fairly well and been around for longer. But its parent company GM isn’t expected to reach the 200,000-car mark until 2018 or 2019 at the earliest.

All this aside though, there are pluses and minuses to each of these three EVs. The Model S is the most capable, but the most expensive. The Model 3 is potentially the cheapest, but also the least available. The Bolt is a great middle ground, and is available now, though it doesn’t come with the same kind of luxury touch that Tesla is known for. What’s certain is that the competition is only going to increase. We’re likely to see a handful of EVs with 200 or more miles of range hit the market in the next year or so, with the 2018 Nissan Leaf leading the charge.