Tesla true believers volunteer to help with deliveries

When Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, needed help getting hundreds of Model 3 cars to customers in the Pacific Northwest, he turned to a person he had never met: Matt Moreno .

Moreno, a 45-year-old Microsoft engineer and Tesla fan, is one of about 12 Tesla owners who volunteered to help employees deliver cars to clients at the Bellevue Service and Delivery Center. , in the society. delivery over three quarters late last month.

Over the course of several intense days, Moreno and his fellow volunteers spent hours helping new buyers get acquainted with a car that, with its screen-based control system that receives regular updates, may look more like a smartphone or a spaceship. car.

This unusual effort, replicated in Tesla distribution centers in other parts of the county, was part of last-minute efforts by beleaguered Musk to meet the ambitious targets of the third delivery model for the third model, despite months of of production. delays, regulatory problems and flagrant and often self-inflicted damage to public relations.

For Musk's many detractors, the problems with Model 3 are simply further evidence that Musk and his controversial, unconventional society are about to fail.

But for a true Tesla believer like Moreno (his wife Laura and himself lead them), such difficulties are an inevitable part of Musk's plan to disrupt and completely redo personal transport. So when luck came to join the fight, said Moreno, it seemed like responding to the call of duty.

"We are about to make a revolution right now," said Moreno, with an audible passion, about Musk's ambition. "I have no problem sacrificing a weekend for that."

For fans and critics of Tesla, this is a decisive moment for society. The long-awaited model 3 is Tesla's most affordable offering. The price, currently at $ 49,000 and expected to fall to $ 35,000, according to Musk, is designed to make high-end electric cars attractive to large middle-class buyers. This would give Tesla the volume needed to become a low-cost producer – and gain the much-needed financial stability.

But from the beginning, skeptics have questioned Musk's ability to execute such a bold strategy. Critics have particularly despised what Musk himself has described as "hell of delivery logistics", namely the problems resulting from the attempt to route tens of thousands of cars to endowed customers. from a minimalist distribution system that often seems to be developed on the fly. Indeed, when Tesla's end-of-quarter shipments began this summer, staging thousands of cars in car parks, garages and other open areas across the country, skeptics vehemently asserted that the model Unconventional distribution of Musk was in trouble.

Musk has long argued that such criticisms were aimed primarily at lowering Tesla's share price for the benefit of short sellers.

Worse still, in the middle of the end-of-quarter campaign, the Securities and Exchange Commission sued Musk for making reckless tweets about private donors and Tesla's future financial strategy. He was forced to resign as chairman of Tesla's board of directors, although he remains the CEO – and as a result of this battle, the company's shares have lost 14%.

On September 21, in the midst of the delivery crisis, a glimmer of hope appeared: a tweet from industry reporter, Ryan McCaffrey, an unscrupulous fan of Tesla, who offers to help Musk to achieve his goals. McCaffrey's idea: free work.

"A lot of Tesla owners, including myself, would love to volunteer for free to help deliver at times like this," tweeted McCaffrey. "We can not do their papers but we CAN do some guidance. It's fun to educate the new owners and see their joy and excitement! "

Musk himself responded with gratitude, "Wow, thank you for proposing help! The coming week is incredibly intense. If current Tesla owners wanting to educate new owners can go to the Tesla delivery centers at noon on Saturday / Sunday and morning / evening on weekdays, that would be great! "

In less than 24 hours, many Tesla distribution centers began to reach the company's fans through Tesla's national network of local homeowner clubs.

Among them was the 200-member Tesla Owners Club from the Pacific Northwest, based in Bellevue. Jay Turney, vice-president of the club, said he immediately began coordinating the volunteers' efforts, which began on the morning of September 26 and continued until September 30.

At the Bellevue Delivery and Service Center, a routine was quickly established: Tesla employees would handle the payments and paperwork, while the volunteers would allow buyers to become familiar with the situation with their new car.

"Some people never got into an electric vehicle, let alone a Tesla," said Turney, 56, who is responsible for engineering retirement. "These people, we spent all the time they needed to become familiar with driving.

The Tesla Volunteer Army is a perfect example of Tesla's willingness to ignore established business practices. Where most automakers rely on dealer networks and multi-million dollar advertising campaigns, Tesla turned to word-of-mouth and media coverage to promote the product and stimulate demand, while preserving its limited financial resources.

This is a risky approach, in part because it depends on an unprecedented level of loyalty in the auto sector – which is a reflection of Apple's dedication, but a much more expensive product.

Tesla's customer zeal has paid off so far. It is a tribute, some would say, to the strangely intense chemistry that exists between cars and technology enthusiasts who have attracted them. Many are early adopters – people like Moreno who want to not only endure the frustrations of early models, but also become evangelicals to non-converts. Or, at the very least, participate in a beautiful autumn weekend and help to convert them.

"No other car company could bring in customers and give them time," said Moreno proudly. "It would never have happened for Dodge, GM, Chrysler or VW."

Turney estimated that he had spent about 45 hours over five days. Others went up to 60 hours. Some have actually taken time off from their real work to come in and volunteer.

The effectiveness of Tesla's volunteer army is difficult to assess accurately. In total, according to analysts, Tesla delivered 83,500 vehicles in the third quarter. That was four times more than in the first two quarters and well above Wall Street expectations, according to CNBC.

It's hard to know how many volunteers like Turney and Moreno are responsible. Tesla delivery center officials declined to comment and an email sent to Tesla's head office remained unanswered. Volunteers were reluctant to estimate, at least publicly, the number of cars they had moved – lest skeptics use these numbers as proof of Tesla's delivery problems.

But anecdotally, the effort led by volunteers seems to have been a success. One volunteer said privately that the Bellevue delivery center had delivered cars to almost every customer on its current customer list.

The volunteers have even been able to recruit on their own. A Tesla customer who was spending Saturday picking up his car was so impressed by the volunteers that he came on Sunday and helped with the deliveries.

"This shows somehow the level of enthusiasm of the Tesla owners," said Lori Howe, president of the Tesla owners club in the area, and a Tesla fan since 2010. "We know that this is the only way to do that. is the future and we want to be part of it. "