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Model 3 Mule Sightings

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That could be done much more efficiently on the Fremont factory test track, a controlled environment with no risk of getting hit by other vehicles and no exposure to the public.

Yes but it's been a while so they need to generate some more publicity. We were all hoping to have the next reveal on the one year anniversary but given it will be delayed by some months tesla needs to do a bit of advertising :}
 
Yeah it's worrisome for me that we don't see any real Beta cars by now. I think Tesla ran into some problems and trying to cover it up by driving the original prototypes around.
Even the stock price reflects some uncertainty. Hopefully I am wrong and everything is on track.

This is a decoy. Beta cars will be out soon and people will see them as old alpha and will not pay as much attention.

Also, I doubt it is a publicity stunt because there are no scantly clad women getting in and out of the car but some guys riding who obviously do not keep public facing positions.
 
This is a decoy. Beta cars will be out soon and people will see them as old alpha and will not pay as much attention.

Man, this is starting to sound a lot like the old Model X sighting thread... Soon everyone will be claiming they're driving around cars with fake body panels etc...

Patience folks, we'll see them soon enough.
 
Looks like @UnpluggedP has posted some additional footage on their YouTube channel:


Gotta say, simply watching this car drive around -- doing all sorts of typical, boring maneuvers -- brings me a great amount of joy.

Is it just the blacked out lower rear of the Red Model 3 video that makes it look different from the silver one or is there a new scooped out section down there?

M3RedBack.jpg
 
Turning Radius?

At second 37 of the video (
), are there any competent observers who can make any conclusions about the turning radius of the vehicle shown (versus any other production car - of similar size / wheelbase)?

I drive a Honda Fit, and the vehicle shown seems like it has a much better turning radius.

There wouldn't be any reason that this vehicle would have 4WS?

Cheers
 
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If that was simply to drum up publicity, they sure were subtle about it.

Subtle as a sledge hammer. They drove it near a tesla modding shop that has a large forum and web presence. Tesla knows how to use the web to get it's message out without appearing to get it's message out. They knew full well this car would be spotted and hit the inter webs big time. The cynic in me would even think they gave the unplugged guys a heads up. If they were trying to keep it low profile would they be driving up and down a major road until someone spotted them?!

Update: 24,000 views of unplugged's video in 24 hours.
 
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Subtle as a sledge hammer. They drove it near a tesla modding shop that has a large forum and web presence. Tesla knows how to use the web to get it's message out without appearing to get it's message out. They knew full well this car would be spotted and hit the inter webs big time. The cynic in me would even think they gave the unplugged guys a heads up. If they were trying to keep it low profile would they be driving up and down a major road until someone spotted them?!

Update: 24,000 views of unplugged's video in 24 hours.

They could have just driven it thorough town, that would have given them far more exposure. The passenger having his hand out the window relaxed as he can be is more evidence that this wasn't some orchestrated event.

It's the same prototype that has been reported on numerous times. Just doesn't seem particularly likely that Tesla was doing this to garner attention.
 
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Right. I think they needed to do that to maximize battery and the passenger compartment, right? The battery sits between the back & front wheels (i.e., the wheelbase), so the shorter the hood, the more batteries they can fit (within a fixed car length).
Not sure I follow. What effect would it have to take the same wheelbase and simply extend the nose further forward and up? At that point it's just aesthetics since it would be dead space. Yes, it would make the car longer, but they're not working under any length requirements.

We would get a sleeker design and more frunk room, but at what cost? Likely aerodynamics.
 
Not sure I follow. What effect would it have to take the same wheelbase and simply extend the nose further forward and up? At that point it's just aesthetics since it would be dead space. Yes, it would make the car longer, but they're not working under any length requirements.

We would get a sleeker design and more frunk room, but at what cost? Likely aerodynamics.

We are working under some length requirements: the smaller the car, the cheaper it is produce, and the car needs to start at $35k. Then range requirements: the aerodynamics need to be sufficient to allow for 215 miles of EPA range. I'm not a materials nor aerodynamics expert and especially not one in the automotive space, but there are requirements for this car--who knows where the trade-off is at?

Having the most aerodynamic efficiency seems to be a big play: redesigning a body to be more streamlined means fewer batteries needed to hit a set range (i.e., lower cost & lower weight). I think sleeker design and more frunk space are good, but I'm unsure if Tesla has made promises (i.e., requirements) on those.
 
Not sure I understand the issue. Looks like plenty of room to me. (So yeah, I think it can roll a lot further down.)

View attachment 217950

Actually it appears to be the limit.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mZa4XJY0e5g/maxresdefault.jpg
Here we can see that there is not enough of room to draw the window like you did.


There wouldn't be any reason that this vehicle would have 4WS?
No. This vehicle is small enough that it doesn't require 4WS. Also Elon promised not to overkill it.

I'm extremely glad that they dropped the center lock wheel thingy.
And went with beautiful bolt cap, something similar like Audi uses.
Audi-Wheel-Center-Hub-Cap-A3-A4-A5-A6-A8-S4-S5-S6-S8-Q5-Q7.jpg


Can anyone extract the rim diameter from the spyshot pics?
 
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Yeah it's worrisome for me that we don't see any real Beta cars by now. I think Tesla ran into some problems and trying to cover it up by driving the original prototypes around.
Even the stock price reflects some uncertainty. Hopefully I am wrong and everything is on track.
Did Tesla just show a Beta Model 3? Cuz the stock price went up almost 12 points today.
 
We are working under some length requirements: the smaller the car, the cheaper it is produce, and the car needs to start at $35k. Then range requirements: the aerodynamics need to be sufficient to allow for 215 miles of EPA range. I'm not a materials nor aerodynamics expert and especially not one in the automotive space, but there are requirements for this car--who knows where the trade-off is at?

Having the most aerodynamic efficiency seems to be a big play: redesigning a body to be more streamlined means fewer batteries needed to hit a set range (i.e., lower cost & lower weight). I think sleeker design and more frunk space are good, but I'm unsure if Tesla has made promises (i.e., requirements) on those.
I understand your line of thinking, but the design right now is far from "aerodynamic". The unusual design choices you see are compromises between form and function. A truly aerodynamic shape would be a hideous abomination of a car that nobody would be caught dead driving.

Tesla has made some promises regarding function, but people expect their cars to look beautiful too. I think Tesla has take a slight step in the wrong direction toward weirdmobile territory. This isn't all about making the most aerodynamic car possible. If it was, the front would be rounded, not duck-billed. That in itself is far more detrimental to drag than making it a tiny bit longer or adding an inch to the hood height. Everything known about aerodynamics says that is a bad idea. Even industry professionals are grasping at straws to justify the design.

Point is, Tesla is making a very aerodynamic car, but has allocated wiggle room for form. I'm just a little bummed that some of their design choices to reduce drag aren't as comely as other options. Tesla could have made a better-looking car with the same drag coefficient. They could have made a better looking car with a lower drag coefficient. They could also have made a much better looking car with a slightly worse drag coefficient.

I'd rather go with the latter because we're talking a 5 mile range hit, if that. Remember, aerodynamics are really only important at high speeds. People will still spend a lot of time driving around town at low speeds where drag is a non-factor. I would totally sacrifice a few miles at highway speeds for more broken necks around town. Well, I guess I'll still be breaking necks, but for the wrong reason.
 
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