As we previously reported, Tesla will be prioritizing early Model 3 deliveries for their employees, which is a welcomed initiative for many of them since the Model 3 is, in some cases, the first Tesla vehicle that they can afford.

Tesla started informing their employees of the process to get a priority delivery, but they are also now informed that they cannot resell the vehicles for a profit.

The automaker opened up Model 3 reservations to both Tesla and SpaceX employees (and their families) a few weeks ahead of the general public. Data showed that the employees likely made over 10,000 reservations before the general public made that number blow up to an estimated 500,000 based on deposits as of last quarter.

Through our tip line, we received an email that Tesla has been sending to employees about Model 3 reservations:

All, Each employee reservation holder will receive an email the evening of July 28 with details regarding their Model 3 reservation. Deliveries of Model 3 will be generally prioritized by geography, starting with owners registered in California or those taking deliveries at Fremont. Because employees are receiving special priority, all Model 3 cars prioritized to employees must be registered to you or your family member and may not be resold for more than the original price. Reservation holders will agree to these terms when their order is placed. Please note the following to ensure that you can access your Model 3 reservation on your Tesla account and receive employee priority: If you placed your Model 3 reservation under your company email address, no action is needed. If you placed your Model 3 reservation under a personal email address, please log in to your Tesla account and update your “Account Email” to your work email address. If you have questions regarding your reservation, visit the Tesla Support site. Tesla will send more details on delivery plans, FAQs, and reservation updates after Friday. Thank you!

Electrek’s Take

Tesla is expected to only deliver a few thousand Model 3 units during the first few months of production and therefore, it makes sense to concentrate the deliveries to employees around the factory while they work through any potential issues with the production process.

It’s also a good perk for employees since priority on Model 3 deliveries is valuable considering the backlog is currently worth roughly a year of production. It also virtually guarantees access to the full $7,500 federal tax credit (for employees who have enough of a tax burden), which is expected to start phasing out at some point next year when Tesla reaches 200,000 total deliveries in the US.

It’s not too difficult to imagine that some employees would have thought about the possibility to get priority delivery with the tax credit and then look to resell the vehicle for a profit to someone who didn’t want to wait months to get the vehicle, but Tesla is apparently prohibiting that. Though it’s not clear how they would enforce that or even if they actually could.

We even know of regular early reservation holders who placed two deposits (the maximum) with the intention of buying two to use one and sell the other in anticipation for a spike in demand for the vehicle. If our estimate of 500,000 reservations is accurate, it could prove to have been a good idea.

We should know more after Friday’s event.

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