Tesla Model X: The electric SUV we’ve all been waiting for

With the announcement of the Tesla Model X Tuesday, the innovative company tacks with the prevailing winds of customer choice and finally offers an SUV electric vehicle. The majority of cars sold in the US now are SUVs or light trucks. While it’s built on the same chassis as the existing Tesla Model S, the Model X will be a bit longer, taller and heavier, and that means Tesla will be challenged to return 200 miles per charge. It will be a true seven-seat vehicle with a forward-facing third row of seats.

The Model X will be about $71,000 before state and federal credits (which Tesla bakes into the large type in ads, as do other EV makers), and the performance edition will be around $96,000, plus options, less those federal and state credits.

First deliveries in early 2016

For those tracking car tech, the Model X seems like an old friend — and for good reason. Tesla announced the Model X in February 2012 and said first units would ship by the end of 2013. There have been several several postponements since, and now it looks as if the first-in-line customers will get their Model Xs in February 2016.

Tesla says the Model X will offer 60-kWh and 85-kWh batteries. On the Model S, the EPA says they’re good for 208 and 255 miles, respectively. The Model X has more frontal area and heavier all-wheel-drive, with a motor in front as well as in back. Tesla estimates the Model X will come in about 10% less, meaning Tesla may or may not be able to claim its entry version goes 200 miles on a charge. That’s one number we’re hoping to hear described at Tuesday’s rollout.

Expect the Model X to have the most current safety technologies including driver assistance and rudimentary self-driving. Tesla is the leader in over-the-air software updates, so any Tesla with current hardware can be as up-to-date as brand-new Teslas. The benchmark among combustion engine vehicles would be the BMW X5 as well as Volvo’s dazzling new XC90.

The only premium SUV EV for a year

Assuming the Model X finally does ship, it will have the category — high-end SUVs with electric drive — all to itself for at least a year. That’s when Audi is reportedly shipping the Audi Q8 E-tron crossover. The idea of an electric-only crossover is intriguing. A big crossover or SUV is the preferred vehicle of suburbia for soccer momming as well as for two, sometimes three couples going for a night on the town when somebody else watches their kids. But it’s also the go-to vehicle for long vacation trips, and that will pose a challenge. Every time Tesla talks about how many Supercharger stations it has, those being the 440-volt devices that refill the tank in 45 minutes at no cost, it’s a reminder of how many places Superchargers aren’t.

Up next: $35,000 Tesla Model 3

Many are looking past the Model X to the Tesla Model 3. If Tesla can do a knockout sedan, it can do a knockout SUV. The Model 3 (formerly Model E) is the Volks-Tesla, a people’s car with a starting price of around $35,000, although that could well be the after-tax-credits price. But still, below $50,000 to start. It will be sized and priced to compete with the Audi A4, BMW 3 Series, and Mercedes-Benz C-Class. That is expected to launch in 2016 with deliveries in 2017 and full production in 2018.

The announcement is listed as Tuesday at 7 p.m. PDT. For an interesting read, check out Tesla fans trying to figure out what time it will be on the east coast.