Tesla customers need to act fast to be eligible for federal tax credit after Oct 15 deadline imposed

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) sold its 200,000^th car earlier this year. While that was great news for the automaker, the clock is ticking for customers hoping to score the US$7,500 federal tax credit granted to those who buy new electric vehicles.

The company added an October 15 deadline for orders to its website on Thursday.

READ: Tesla and embattled CEO Elon Musk back court approval of SEC settlement

The tax credit phases out once a manufacturer has sold 200,000 qualifying vehicles in the US, as per a TechCrunch report. As per the credit guidelines, Tesla customers will have to have their cars delivered by December 31.

While the tax credit information was shared previously, the deadline is new.

Customers ordering a Model X or Model S by the deadline should receive their vehicles in November, depending on the options chosen. A Model 3 could take up to eight weeks, as per Tesla’s estimates.

The deadline may encourage new orders, but the pressure is on to meet the deadline.

Tesla announced earlier this month that it had delivered 83,500 vehicles during the third quarter, ahead of Wall Street expectations and about 80% higher than all of its deliveries for 2017.

Shares of Tesla were up 2.6% to US$258.95 in Friday pre-market trading.

Contact Lenore Fedow at [email protected]

Follow her on Twitter: @LenoreMariee

Story by ProactiveInvestors