Tesla Model 3 queue starts here

Andreas Stephens will not only be the first Australian, but the first in the world to put down money for Tesla's all-new Model 3.

The US EV-maker's third model line, a mid-size electric sedan to rival the BMW 3 Series, will be officially revealed in California at 2:30pm Australian time this Friday (April 1).

But because of our time zone, Australia will be the first in the world to open its order book, at 8:00am tomorrow (AEDT, March 31).

With less than 24 hours to go before Model 3 orders open, Stephens has already been camped out in his deck chair outside Tesla Motors’ Artarmon showroom since yesterday morning.

According to Tesla forums many others will follow, with queues expected to form at Tesla's Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane locations ahead of tomorrow morning's order book opening.

Stephens might be the first in the world to place a $1500 deposit to reserve a Model 3, but he certainly won't be the first to own one, with Australian deliveries not expected until 2018.

Full details won't be revealed until Friday afternoon, but Tesla has confirmed Model 3 production will begin in late 2017 at the Tesla Gigafactory, which the company says will be "one of the biggest buildings on earth" when completed.

"The Tesla Gigafactory was born of necessity and will supply enough batteries to support Tesla’s projected vehicle demand. By 2020, the Gigafactory will reach full capacity and produce more lithium-ion batteries annually than were produced worldwide in 2013," said Tesla yesterday.

"Tesla’s objective to produce 500,000 vehicles by 2020 means that production must increase to a factor of 10. It showed in the past that it was capable of overcoming such a challenge with the Tesla Factory in California, one of the most advanced automotive factories. In 2012, Tesla produced around 3100 cars. Last year, it manufactured 16 times more, over 50,000 cars."

The affordable mid-size sedan – which will be cost about $US35,000 in North America before incentives, or about $65,000 in Australia – will be rolled first in the US, followed by Europe, Asia-Pacific and right-hand drive markets.

According to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the Model 3 sedan will be about 20 to 25 per cent smaller than the Model S and based on an entirely new platform and battery architecture.

It's expected to offer a driving range of about 320km – down from the 400km-plus of the larger Model S, more than 100,000 of which have been sold globally – as well as advanced self-driving 'Autopilot' hardware built in like the Model S and upcoming Model X.