Wheel covers do not increase range, they are purely decorative.

[johnberrymillard]

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[Hunky Dory]

8 mile verdict. Seriously?

 

[johnberrymillard]

8 mile verdict. Seriously?

Sounds like you are incredulous but look at the granular differences in ride height. There are subtle increases in resistance. Maybe you should drive 100 miles with an 100 miles without? Then you will see wheel covers are someone’s wet dream.

 

[Outdoors]

How about a thousand miles on and off. Then come back to me. I like big round numbers.

 

[CyberZephyr]

Why did you think they would? I thought, if anything, they would decrease.

 

[Pops]

Why did you think they would? I thought, if anything, they would decrease.

Maybe because Tesla has spent a good amount of effort educating people that the wheels and "areo-covers" (as in aerodynamics) increase range in their vehicles. It would be reasonable to assume the same was true for their 6th consumer vehicle.

 

[Jager]

Very short travel distances; and rounding energy use to whole kWh, are going to make any difference in aero wheel cover use very difficult to discern. That's not to mention the difficulty in obtaining the exact same set of environmentals (temp, wind, etc.) over each test.

There's pretty clear evidence that the aero covers provide a tiny bit of improved efficiency. Emphasis on tiny. Very tiny.

Which is good news for those of us who think those aero covers are ugly!

 

[johnberrymillard]

Very short travel distances; and rounding energy use to whole kWh, are going to make any difference in aero wheel cover use very difficult to discern. That's not to mention the difficulty in obtaining the exact same set of environmentals (temp, wind, etc.) over each test.

There's pretty clear evidence that the aero covers provide a tiny bit of improved efficiency. Emphasis on tiny. Very tiny.

Which is good news for those of us who think those aero covers are ugly!

my theory is that this cyber wheel was determined to be a profit center after a vendor bid low… the cover was a pre-existing cyberpunk feature that Elon promoted. When they realized that they could hide their ugly, cheap wheel with the cover and save cost, the thing was born. They will add new wheels for CyberTruck after they have pocketed the profits from the FS early adopters. New Tires are coming too, per Franz.

btw, the eight mile test is measured in Watt hours, not KWhs. A watt hour is exactly 1000 times less than a KWh. The energy expended per mile is measured in “whole” Watt hours which is one thousand times more granular than KWh. Hence, the 8 mile test, which shows subtle increased differences in energy consumed by ride height is a perfectly adequate sampling since route, weather, etc. are all consistent. A quick view of the vid will verify that.

 

[cofree]

When I first saw the take I was worried about granularity error, but given that the wh/m differs I'm no longer too worried about that.

However I do still have 2 concerns.
* The first test was done at 80F by the look of it, and the high test at 73 or 71. I'm guessing that between low and low with caps there was a temperature difference of at least 10F, which if my math is right is a 2% difference in air resistance, or 7wh/m.
* With a short test like that things like warmed battery or tires or a small amount of traffic can make a big difference.

My best guess from this test, given the temperatures, is that the caps makes a 2% difference, but I would like to see alternating back to back tests repeated to get an accurate number.

 

[sefar]

Not convinced. The only way I get under 400wh/m is driving in town. Highway driving is at least 415. I'm not a physicist, but doesn't drag effect efficiency more at higher speeds? The aerodynamics air drag simulation on this forum shows a lot of air disturbance by the wheels. Wheel covers should help, but how much?

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