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Speculation: Model 3 as a three-wheeled car?

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It's basically an evolution of the Corbin Sparrow and will eschew motorcycle license requirements by way of its 0-cc engine rating (all municipalities specify that 49cc or less require no motorcycle certification). It will also not require a standard vehicle registration due to it's 3-wheeled design. Range from it's 32 kWh battery pack is expected to be 245 miles with an EPA rating of 215, and a 0-60 time of 8.7 seconds from it's front-mounted 188-hp motor. Trunk space is expected to be immense as there is no rear drivetrain to fight for storage space.

- August, 2017 article in Road and Track.


(Edit: Speculation title added by MOD without attribution or comment, not by me)
 
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It's basically an evolution of the Corbin Sparrow and will eschew motorcycle license requirements by way of its 0-cc engine rating (all municipalities specify that 49cc or less require no motorcycle certification). It will also not require a standard vehicle registration due to it's 3-wheeled design. Range from it's 32 kWh battery pack is expected to be 245 miles with an EPA rating of 215, and a 0-60 time of 8.7 seconds from it's front-mounted 188-hp motor. Trunk space is expected to be immense as there is no rear drivetrain to fight for storage space.

- August, 2017 article in Road and Track.

That is rich. But I wouldn't mind Tesla buying the molds for the Aptera and offer the most efficient means of two passenger transport. With its very low drag, weight and rolling resistance I would expect your range guess but a 0~60 closer to 3 seconds.
aptera-8-doors-up.jpg

A nice feature of the Aptera body shape for us in California and in fact was mentioned in Aptera's advertising was a surfboard would fit in the tapered trunk.
news-aptera-2e-004_gallery_image_large.jpg
 
It's basically an evolution of the Corbin Sparrow and will eschew motorcycle license requirements by way of its 0-cc engine rating (all municipalities specify that 49cc or less require no motorcycle certification). It will also not require a standard vehicle registration due to it's 3-wheeled design. Range from it's 32 kWh battery pack is expected to be 245 miles with an EPA rating of 215, and a 0-60 time of 8.7 seconds from it's front-mounted 188-hp motor. Trunk space is expected to be immense as there is no rear drivetrain to fight for storage space.

- August, 2017 article in Road and Track.

They should put early Arpil Fools on the cover of that. I'm not believing it. Tesla is already on record saying Model 3 will be a conservative design at release. I see that as a 4 wheel design.
 
Keep in mind: Tesla wants this to be their mass market car. I don't think a 3-wheeler is going to do that for them.

We all know that, the OP was a spoof based on a "August, 2017 article in Road and Track."

But why not play with the idea that a recently bankrupt company did in fact build a car that could slip through the wind at 55 mph on 80 whr. The design has been done, the molds and other assets would be sold by the court. Not much cost for a new line.

Besides, for the hypermiler set, what a perfect car for getting 500 mile range out of a 40 kWhr battery.

Its looks might grow on you.
aptera_back.jpg
 
Oh, Aptera. We hardly knew ye. Personally I always thought it looked amazing and I had a $500 deposit on one. When they went under I was seriously bummed out. Would love to see their beautiful aerodynamic design used for something tangible again. Doesn't need to be Tesla necessarily.

(Don't think they did well in crash tests tho, if I recall).
 
Model 3 is a three-wheeled car

I know it's a spoof... but...
R. Buckminster Fuller's "Dymaxion" 3-wheeler DID have some amazing specs and abilities. (Elon's way of thinking reminds me of him in several ways...)
 
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Oh, Aptera. We hardly knew ye. Personally I always thought it looked amazing and I had a $500 deposit on one. When they went under I was seriously bummed out. Would love to see their beautiful aerodynamic design used for something tangible again. Doesn't need to be Tesla necessarily.

(Don't think they did well in crash tests tho, if I recall).

As being registered as a motorcycle, I don't think they were required to crash test.

I lived 20 miles from their Vista facility, a really efficient car either diesel, hybrid, or electric. But then the economy tanked in 2008, and in a couple of years so went Aptera.

Hope you were one of the customers that got your deposit back.
 
It's basically an evolution of the Corbin Sparrow and will eschew motorcycle license requirements by way of its 0-cc engine rating (all municipalities specify that 49cc or less require no motorcycle certification). It will also not require a standard vehicle registration due to it's 3-wheeled design.

Unfortunately that isn't true everywhere. In Washington state at least, it would be defined as a motorcycle. See RCW 46.04.330. It isn't a car because it's got less than four wheels, but it would go over 30mph (RCW 46.04.304) so it can't be an electric moped. Thus it would be classed as an electric motorcycle.
 
The car could be 2-wheeled or 6-wheeled. It could be made of glass or made of lead. (Probably not lead). It could be a double-decker car with seats on the roof. There's an entire forum section with dozens and dozens of threads - but we all know there's absolutely no information out there about the car. They've said nothing about the car except that there's a car, it will have a reasonable range, and won't be super expensive. Beyond that it's all conjecture, pie in the sky, vaporware, how-many-fingers-am-I-holding-up-behind-my-back guessing. But note I will be first in line to buy whatever the hell the brain trust comes up with. They've earned my trust. Shut up and take my money already.
 
I would have no issues driving a 3-wheeled vehicle. I really liked the idea of the Aptera, but that obviously isn't going to happen. I'm lucky to live in a state with no helmet laws...so if it were designated a motorcycle I wouldn't have to wear one. For the record...I wore a helmet when I owned motorcycles.

I don't know the numbers off-hand...but I'd think there were enough states with helmet/motorcycle laws that it wouldn't make sense for Tesla to put out a 3-wheeled vehicle for mass-production, unless they could get the legislation changed. Which I'm sure they could, eventually, but I don't think they need any unnecessary delays to the Model 3.

The Model 3 is going to need to be very practical, and have decent styling, to gain wide adoption at the $35,000 price point. You're paying for the extended mileage over other EVs, but by that time the Leaf and others will be within 50-60 miles of the 3's range...and I think you'd have to have "something" that would overcome peoples' ability to make 150 miles work for them, to warrant spending a few extra grand.
 
As being registered as a motorcycle, I don't think they were required to crash test.

I lived 20 miles from their Vista facility, a really efficient car either diesel, hybrid, or electric. But then the economy tanked in 2008, and in a couple of years so went Aptera.

Hope you were one of the customers that got your deposit back.

I think it was internal sabotage that killed Aptera

they were ready to start production until the new man from Detroit wanted changes to the design

pity there is a market for an aptera type car
 
I think Aptera was doomed the first time someone got in a fender bender and the "car" was destroyed or at least deemed not airworthy ever again. Or worse took off and crashed because a minor car accident made it dangerous in the air.
 
Elon Musk: "I Want The Model 3 To Be Different, Not Just A Smaller Model S"
That was before the recent earnings call, where they stated that they will produce a more conventional Model 3 first.
Elon Musk said:
Now with respect to Model 3, we definitely don't want the delays that affected the X to affect the Model 3, and we're really – we are being quite contentious about this, and I mean there are things that we could do with the Model 3 platform that are really adventurous but with the schedule risk. So what we're going to do is we're going to have something that is going to be an amazing car, but it won't be the most adventurous version of the Model 3 to begin with, but we will then have the more sort of different version of the Model 3 on the Model 3 platform following the initial version, so that we can stay on track for Model 3.

We got a quite adventurous with the X, and we don't want - we don't want to be – that would be too risky given the Gigafactory and everything sort of has to happen on time. We're not going to go super crazy with the design of the initial version of the 3. So, I do feel confident that we can make that happen in the second half of 2017.