A Tesla's manual door releases can be tricky to find if you haven't read the owner's manual. Here's how to locate and activate them in the Tesla Model S, 3, X, and Y.

Numerous Tesla owners have said they’ve been stuck inside their EVs after the cars suddenly lost power.

YouTuber Tom Exton claimed that his Tesla Model Y ordered him to pull over before it suddenly lost power and left him unable to exit.

Exton followed the instructions for the manual release to open the door, but he said this “somehow broke the driver’s window.”

  • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
    157·
    1 year ago

    The wind drag on the handles is so negligible youd see a larger performance boost simply washing the bugs off the surface.

    Cars aren’t moving fast enough that such short protrusions really matter.

    It isn’t until cars start getting to race speeds that aerodynamic forces become … important.

    Does it reduce drag? Yes. Is it smart to do so? Not so much. This is like all the cars that pulled out spares to get under the Obama era mpg requirements. Does it increase mileage? Sure. Is it smart to do so?

    • JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works
      44·
      1 year ago

      Aerodynamics are a primary driver of range, which is a major ev selling point. A 12% drag decrease is huge, because you can carry less battery which means you can have a smaller motor, lighter frame, leading to even more range.

      The retractable door handle design allows radical aerodynamic designing for the side body panel. Retractable door handles are invisible handles that contribute by about 12% to reduce the drag coefficient of vehicles. Retractable door handles eliminate the issue of airflow bulge creation, air flow turbulence generation, and air flow pressure conservation. The decreased drag coefficient will also contribute to increasing the fuel efficiency of vehicles as there will be low drag generation resisting the movement of vehicles through the airflow. Amey Vikram, a lead analyst at Technavio for automotive components research

    • glue_snorter@lemmy.sdfeu.orgEnglish
      12·
      1 year ago

      No. Wind drag on handles is most certainly not negligible. Even small protrusions on an otherwise smooth surface can have a significant effect. That effect is hard to model - you can’t just eyeball it.

      Drag is proportional to windspeed squared.

      Aero matters to fucking cyclists. It absolutely 100% matters to motor vehicles, especially in the context of EV range anxiety.

      Just don’t fucking dunning-kruger, FFS. Surely you realise that automotive engineers have specific education that you don’t have. I don’t mind you being wrong, it’s the arrogance that pisses me off.