A new Tesla dealership is rising near Northeast Fourth Plain Boulevard and Northeast Andresen Road. (Will Campbell/The Columbian)Photo Gallery
Vancouver’s first Tesla dealership and service center is about halfway constructed at 6916 N.E. Fourth Plain Blvd. There’s no projected timeline for its opening, although progress shows it could open in about a year.
The single-story, 32,500-square-foot building is still under construction, unmarked and partly painted gray with no Tesla signage, but the project is visible from Northeast Andresen Boulevard near Fourth Plain Boulevard. It includes 156 parking stalls and 25 charging stations, according to the plans.
Denver-based Drake Motor Partners purchased the property in January for $3.4 million and is building the new dealership for Tesla. A representative did not comment on the project, and it’s unknown when the building will be finished.
The all-electric car company has two dealerships in the Portland area. Tesla’s number of “superchargers” that rapidly charge a car’s battery is also growing; there are two in Clark County and likely more on the way.
Electric car sales are on a major growth trajectory; by 2030, Bloomberg estimates that half of car sales will be electric. Washington is helping push the trend by offering a retail sales tax reduction on the purchase or lease of a new vehicle. Federally, there are no tax rebates for Teslas, but other car manufacturers’ electric vehicles will let buyers gain up to $7,500 in point-of-sale tax credit.
Tesla is among the car manufacturers that are still dealing with supply chain shortages.
Depending on the model, it might take between two months and a few years to receive a Tesla, but there are signs that the issue is easing.
According to InsideEVs.com, Tesla “produced almost 77,000 Model 3 and Model Y units in August 2022 in China alone. The company has been upgrading the lines at the factory to speed up production, and it’s already seeing a positive impact. Clearly, one of the primary reasons Tesla is beginning to catch up with the demand in China is it’s producing more cars. The same is beginning to prove true in the U.S., with Tesla’s new factory in Austin ramping up.”
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