Tesla Model 3 Reservation Holders Think They've Found a Way to Track Their Spot in Line
Then brag to (or hide from) your friends.
Tesla Model 3 reservation holders think they may have found a way to see how quickly they will get their car. Today, more than 400 people put their reservation number in a public Google Docs page to get a sense of where they stand.
The lowest reservation number starts around 352,000. Most people blocked out the last three digits for safety reasons, although theres no clear threat from showing off how early you ordered a Tesla.
If the reservations are shipped out sequentially by reservation number, though, there are some winners and some losers.
On May 5, Elon Musk advised people to order their Tesla Model 3 soon if they “want 2018 delivery.” And while earlier is always better than later, there’s another reason why someone would want to be high on the reservation list: the $7,500 federal tax credit ends after Tesla sells 200,000 total vehicles.
There are more than 370,000 people who put their name and $1,000 down for the Model 3. Part of the draw is affordability, and the federal tax credit is big chunk off the final price. Obviously, not everyone who made a reservation will get the tax credit.
The Google Docs reservation list is seemingly endless.
Those people probably hope this is bogus — which, judging from how the reservation number was first found, it might be.
A user going by the name smythey on the Tesla Motors Club forum first spotted the possible number in the source code of the My Tesla page. He didn’t provide a reason for why he was checking out the HTML of the My Tesla page – but he is clearly deep in Tesla fandom.
Regardless of why, smythey found two unique identifiers next to the reservation number. A six-digit number called “Reservation Id” is the number smythey believes reveals his place in the Model 3 queue.
“I’m quite aware that this could be utter nonsense, smythey writes, “but thought it was intriguing nonetheless.”
Smythey wasn’t alone. Frederic Lambert, the Tesla writer at Electrek, picked up smythey’s tip and tried it for himself. He compared his reservation number to his boss, who reserved hours before Lambert, and the reservation number theory held up.
If you’re sitting on a Model 3 reservation and want to check it out for yourself, open the source code on the My Tesla” page by right-clicking and selecting “view page source.” Then find where it says “common_reservation_id”.
If you’re in the 700,000s, you should probably just stay off the Google Docs page. But if you’re in the mid-300,000s, go ahead and brag to your Tesla-fan friends that you might be getting your Model 3 sooner.
