Tesla wait times for 2023: How long will Australians have to wait?

It’s no secret that the Tesla wait times for a new electric care are quite grim in Australia. With wait times varying from as little as a week to over 12 months across 2021 and 2022, there seems to be no stability or order to how long you’ll have to wait after ordering your Tesla.

Thankfully, Tesla seem to finally have a better understanding of how long you will have to wait in 2023 for your new car, as long as you didn’t want a Model S or X.

The increase in Tesla Model 3 and Model Y production is finally starting to be seen in Australia, with more and more cars available and wait times dropping from the nine months they used to be.

All Tesla Model wait times

Please note that prices and wait times have been updated as of the 1st of June, 2023 to reflect that Tesla no longer sell the Model S or Model X in Australia.

Tesla Model	Price	Estimated Delivery
Model S	N/A	No longer available
Model S Plaid	N/A	No longer available
Model 3	$61,300	One to three months after ordering
Model 3 Long Range	$74,300	One to three months after ordering
Model 3 Performance	$87,300	One to three months after ordering
Model X	N/A	No longer available
Model X Plaid	N/A	No longer available
Model Y	$69,300	One to three months after ordering
Model Y Long Range	$82,300	Two to four months after ordering
Model Y Performance	$95,300	Less than a month after odering

Unfortunately, Australia are still yet to get solid confirmation on when we can expect the new Model S or X to land on our shores.

While it might be a bit longer before we see many Plaid-spec or Model Y’s on Australian roads, there are still quite a few Model 3’s available for immediate delivery.

These Tesla Model 3’s available on https://www.tesla.com/en_AU/inventory/ are available now, and all have less than 50kms driven. For those looking to take delivery of their new Tesla within days rather than weeks, and don’t mind getting the 2022 model year, this may be a good option for you.

An industry wide issue in Australia

Tesla wait times aren’t the only problem with getting your hands on an electric car in Australia. Other manufacturers are all facing issues whether it be supply chain, under allocation or unexpected demand.

We’ve recently had our order for a full electric Volvo XC40 delayed from taking delivery in January 2023 to “Probably not even this financial year” as Volvo “did not allocate any to Australia”. Whether that’s accurate or just what our Volvo dealer has told us, it still means no XC40 review for quite some time.

Hyundai are also facing issues getting their cars to customers, with their Ioniq 5 selling out and the backlog of preorders reaching months long.

Why are Tesla wait times so long?

The demand of electric cars has been speeding up in recent years, but it can take time for the industry to ramp up production to meet this new demand.

Tesla wait times could also be impacted by their significant growth in the Australian market, as well as world wide. Even after moving their production to China, Tesla are still behind or orders and not keeping up with growing demand. These Gigafactories have implemented new technology and processes to improve their output, but the challenge of scaling it to demand still remains.

As infrastructure such as charging stations or Superchargers expands, we can also expect more and more demand for Teslas by those who may have been waiting out for a local supercharger or better tax benefits.

Are you waiting on your Tesla you’ve already ordered, or perhaps you’ve had trouble with the wait time of another car? Feel free to discuss below in the comments!