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New Rules Could Force Tesla to Redesign Its Door Handles. That’s Harder Than It Sounds (www.wired.com)
submitted 11 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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https://archive.ph/2GcBa

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[–] 24 points 11 months ago (12 children)

Unless you're planning to drive your car around at about 150 miles per hour I don't imagine that the aerodynamicism of door handles really comes into account. Especially since you've still got wing mirrors, wipers, and aerials on the car.

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  • [–] 6 points 11 months ago (10 children)

    It comes into play much sooner than that when you're designing for maximum range on an electric vehicle.

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  • [–] 14 points 11 months ago* (9 children)

    Source on that? Hobbiest aerodynamics nerd and big into F1 (and did a lot of liquid system design engineering in a previous job). Genuinely curious!

    My gut feel is that a half kilo of unsprung weight (those ridiculous wheels), tighter fenders, or a bit of tail teardropping would go so much further than anything door-handle-wise. It's certainly helping promote flow attachment, but you've got poor flow rates there because of the wing mirrors anyway

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  • [–] 6 points 11 months ago (8 children)

    I'm talking out of my ass. I'm big into (mostly sim) racing myself, but I have no formal training or experience. You probably know way more about it than me!

    If you're a racing nerd then you know how strong the suckage can be. My car uses premium fuel and I get about 7L/100km on the highway. That adds up on long trips, so I try to save fuel when I can. I've tried drafting behind transport trucks. Even at only 90 kmph, I was able to get that number down to 5L/100km.

    Electric vehicles have a lot of design features to cut down on aerodynamic and mechanical drag. Special hub caps, no grilles, low drag tires, etc. for the purpose of helping their main problem and selling point: the vehicle's range on a single charge. I assumed the flush door handles were just another design feature for reducing aerodynamic drag, where every little bit counts.

    Again, this is all out of my ass. I am well aware that aerodynamics are far far more complex than "smooth = better", and that most cars are probably already designed so the door handles aren't a problem. Maybe the door handles make no difference and having them flush is just optics for Tesla.

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  • [–] 3 points 11 months ago (3 children)

    Kudos for your humility, but you just said that you have no idea the magnitude.

    I didn't mean to discount your awareness of the margins of optimization. It's quite a thing moving the needle in an established market (not to mention the money and years of R&D). But this ain't it

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  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago (2 children)

    Do you know the magnitude? If not, we're both talking out of our asses. There must be some research or wind tunnel data out there about this, but I don't have the numbers and I don't know where to look.

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  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago (1 child)

    I was thinking about my comment today and that I was being a grouchy meanie. Sorry!

    No I don't know the numbers, but yeah vehicle aero tests, even at full scale are very doable. CFDs probably sufficient too. You said you're a formula fan iirc, so that's probably something you hear about plenty.

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  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago

    I thought you were very polite and respectful, no worries.

    I only know enough about aerodynamics to understand that I don't actually know shit. I think most racing fans are in the same boat as me.

    I'd love to learn more, and that's really all that I was asking for.

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  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago (3 children)

    Ah cool! After i raced irl for like a decade I sim raced for a while. It was super fun! I'd like to get back into it someday. It's a lot better on the wallet and body than IRL stuff (especially motorcycles).

    I think it helps, but it probably is more of a selling point and aesthetic than an actual help on the (agreed) biggest selling point number.

    It's one of those decisions that someone up top probably made and has these kinds of stupid consequences of moving fast and breaking shit. I wouldn't be upset if it had to go to a normal one

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  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago

    I saw a marketing blurb for the 2026 Nissan Leaf. They are also going with flush handles (hopefully a safer design) and claimed it for reduced drag to increase range. But, market, so could be just short of an outright lie.

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  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago* (1 child)

    I've been into sim racing for nearly a decade. There's never been a better time to get into it IMO.

    Sim racing games and equipment have gotten significantly better and cheaper over the last 5 years. Hydraulic pedals and direct drive wheelbases did exist, but they were in the $2k-$4k price range. Now you can get high quality gear with that technology for under $500.

    iRacing and Assetto Corsa are still the kings, but we are spoiled for choice when it comes to excellent sims.

    If you are any kind of gearhead you'll love it. There are even thriving sub-hobbies for things like bass shakers and motion platforms, which add back some of the seat feeling that you miss out on versus IRL.

    Did you do motorcycle racing IRL? I've seen crazy motorcycle sim builds with motion, lean, etc., but I don't think serious simulators exist yet. I'd love to see it.

    As for Tesla, I don't think we can know unless a Tesla engineer/aerodynamicist chimes in. There are other more serious examples of executive meddling in engineering, like the use of visual cameras instead of radar/lidar. Working for them must be a hair-pulling experience for their engineers.

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  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago

    Yeah, I actually frequented a sim center when I lived in the US. They ran Rfactor2 but it got me doing some iRacing too. It was great fun! I can't believe how real a lot of it felt. Honestly except for elevation not translating well it was an insane practice tool

    Yeah, only IRL for a bike. If they made a really legit sim rig I'd probably have to seriously consider it!

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  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago*

    I looked into this a long time ago, and it was likely they were getting around 2-3 miles of extra range from it.

    I'd say it's less important now than it was back then, when batteries weren't as good and a mile or two anywhere was important.

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