Tesla delivers its first 30 Model 3s in historic moment

Tesla handed over the keys to the first 30 Model 3 owners at the automaker's manufacturing plant in Fremont, California Friday night, the CNN reports.

The jubilant event marked the culmination of a long journey to deliver an affordable electric car. With its first three vehicles — the Roadster, Model S and Model X — Tesla (TSLA) made electric cars cool. But with prices approaching and exceeding $100,000, few could afford them.

Now with the Model 3, which starts at $35,000, Tesla is releasing a vehicle that could truly move the needle on electric car adoption. The sedan is a critical step in CEO Elon Musk's vision of accelerating the world's transition to sustainable energy.

"This is a great day for Tesla," Musk told reporters Friday. "It was never our goal just to make expensive cars. We wanted to make cars everyone could buy."

Musk said Friday that the net reservation number for Model 3s is over half a million. If all those reservations turn into actual orders, the Model 3 appears set to be among the best-selling vehicles in the United States.

Tesla's popularity with consumers has forced the rest of the auto industry to promise their own electric vehicles. Tesla's challenge isn't finding customers — but rather if it can serve them fast enough. A customer pre-ordering a Model 3 today would have to wait until late 2018 to receive the car.