Canadian Firm Pays $1,000 Tesla Model 3 Preorder Deposit for Employees
Traction on Demand is all aboard the Model 3 hype train.
Some offices spring for company t-shirts, windbreakers, or even laptops, but Traction on Demand is going all-in on Tesla Model 3s as the unofficial company car. The Burnaby, British Columbia-based cloud consulting and software company offered to pay the full $1,000 down payment for a Tesla Model 3 reservation for any of its employees that planned to buy the car. According to TeslaMondo, Traction on Demand’s employees are all about it — over 65% of the 200 employees say they’re going to take advantage of the program.
At least 10 employees had already jumped on the Model 3 bandwagon early on in its wildfire rush of preorders, but will be reimbursed for their $1,000 down payment. The Model 3 has sold over $10 billion worth of cars, which will retail for around $35,000 depending on government subsidies and car gadgets. All told, Traction says it expects more than 100 Teslas in its parking lot. It has committed to putting in at least 3 Tesla charging stations, and hopes to install even more before the Model 3s start rolling off the assembly line in 2017.
Greg Malpass, the founder and CEO of Traction on Demand (who bought a Model S in 2014), said he wants to see other companies going the same way.
“This program is a proactive move to put our dollars into action and to invest in the single most important thing there is, our planet,” Malpass said in a news release. “We hope to inspire others to do the same.”
They can all drive to work in some kind of eco-friendly Canadian nerd-gang.
Malpass also said the company would support and encourage employees purchasing any other electric vehicle — they may be Tesla fanboys, but if someone wants a Nissan Leaf the Traction team isn’t opposed to it (though there’s no word as to whether they’ll make fun of you in the lunchroom).
Company programs like Traction’s could be integral to helping electric cars make an impact on the roads of the future. Companies that need to provide employees with cars could be the perfect set of circumstances for mass-buying Teslas — they have a set location to install charging ports, and it would save them expenses on gas. The Model 3’s base model will have a range of about 215 miles, which means longer trips will be a bit tricky but that it works perfectly as a commuter car for most white-collar workers, especially if there are charging stations in company parking lots.
Elon Musk’s other companies, like SpaceX, also have plenty of Teslas in the parking lot, which he humble-bragged about on Twitter yesterday.
Musk didn’t say the total number of SpaceX employees driving Tesla cars, so if Traction really does put 100 new Model 3s in the parking lot in a few years, they might give Musk himself a run for his money.
