I am blown away by how the doors open. I've never seen someone tackle the "oops. I'll be bumping/almost scratching into the 7-series next to me when I open my door" problem so elegantly.
The falcon wings - rather the gull wings - have been around forever. The problem is that you need a significant roof height in order for them to open.
Ever tried parking in a cramped multi-storey car park? You'll be crawling out of your car via the foot well. It's the main reason they've never taken off, but I'm guessing only the rear doors are like this.
FWIW, the SLS gets around this by having explosive bolts in the hinges that blow when the car is past something like 90˚ in orientation and has a velocity of 0 for more than N seconds. However, the SLS is a $300k car, so no expense is spared. That solution might be a little less feasible for a car that costs what the Model X will.
I dunno, given the other story today[1] about the Tesla S blowing away everyone else in safety tests, I wouldn't put it past them to have considered escapability after a roll-over in the X.
I've always been slightly enamored with the rotary drop doors that slide under the car [1]. I would never buy a car with them, but they are interesting none the less.
The problem with these doors is the complexity and the fact that a simple tree branch stuck in it would completely fuck it up. The complexity means that it will break much more often than a regular door - it has motors and multiple pieces.
Also imagine a child sticking a finger in it while it's closing, turning it into a meat grinder.
The Gull-wing [1] doors have been around for a while, you probably noticed them on the DeLorean from Back to the Future series. The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG [2] is a modern car which also has them.
Note that the "Falcon Wings" are not exactly the same as regular gull-wings. The Falcon Wings have an additional joint where the roof part meets the window (see picture: http://i.imgur.com/htiMVlP.png). This reduces the overall height requirement when the door is opened.
personally, I think the sliding doors on minivans are a more elegant solution to that problem. less stylish, but simpler design for the same utility and without compromising your roof.
Agreed! I've come to really appreciate their utility. One of our vehicles has them and they are fantastic. Nice piece of mechanical engineering as well.
And, BTW, not much wrong with conventional doors either. Judging by the tens of millions of cars sold every year wold wide I'd say conventional doors work pretty well.
depends what you mean by elegance. an "elegant solution" in engineering has very little to do with fashion, it's about solving a problem in a non-obvious but very clean and efficient way.
Tesla's Falcon doors are not the same as Gull-wing doors.
They have an additional joint which minimizes the horizontal space required, so you won't hit the car next to yours while getting in and out.
I actually think the opposite. I would imagine that a driving rain will come in under the wings and into the top of the large cabin. Conventional doors are not perfect and the inside of the doors get wet, however these wings appear to allow the person sitting and seats to get wet.
> I've never seen someone tackle the "oops. I'll be bumping/almost scratching into the 7-series next to me when I open my door" problem so elegantly.
In lower price ranges and in the supermini category, Peugeot made an attempt with 1007 [1]. The electric door design (by Delphi) was sound but the car was otherwise, with numerous other flaws, a failure in every sense.
I am right now wondering why my commodity car doesn't have this feature - have the engineers even thought of it? It's ridiculous how the latest 2013 models have made incremental improvements compared to 1970s models. Sure they have better HP/torque curves and mileage/safety ratings, but automatic transmissions were invented LONG ago.
Is there been ANY significantly new feature in the latest models?
Edit: typo.