Presumably the same reason all Teslas have weird door handles: "Oooh, different!" Despite the fact that they're kind of miserable to use and less reliable than a standard handle.

The door handles probably shave a percent or two battery life due to aerodynamics; most EVs have recessed door handles of some sort now.

I've read this trope many times but honestly I don't buy it. At highway speeds conventional door handles, which are absolutely tiny in frontal area and have fairly low drag shape to begin with, are behind the side mirror turbulence anyway. I wish some high budget Youtuber would test this in a wind tunnel so we can put it to rest.

From what I've read, since door handles generally are placed in the path of turbulent air that has beed disturbed by the mirrors, it doesn't really make much of a difference.

Most door handles are considerably lower than the mirrors. Door handles are normally several inches down from the window line while mirrors are usually at or above that line.

The Mach E's front door handle things are practically at the window line to take advantage of being in the mirror turbulence area, a handle several inches down probably wouldn't be in it very much.

Do you have a source for this claim? Many EVs I see on the road, especially performance ones, do not have recessed doorhandles.

Approaching this from a US perspective:

Pretty much all Teslas have recessed doorhandles.

The Mach E has buttons to open the doors. The Lightning has regular door handles.

The Hyundai Ioniq 5/6 have recessed door handles.

The Mercedes EQS has recessed door handles.

The Polestar 1 and 3 have recessed, but the Polestar 2 does not.

The Volvo XC40 has recessed handles. The XC30 and XC90 have regular handles.

VW's EVs tend to have regular door handles.

Seeing as how Teslas make up the majority of EVs on the roads in the US, and they all have recessed handles, by definition in the US the majority of EVs have recessed handles. By number of models, its kind of mixed but it seems there are more models with recessed handles than regular handles.

The claim was for the aerodynamics, not what models have which.

Serial Chesterson's Fence violators due to arrogance and ego.

His all time favorite car (except teslas now i guess) was the MacLaren F1, which also has center-seating. Not saying this is the actual reason, but knowing him it doesn't seem far fetched.

Maybe. Though that had that layout to be like an F1 race car which is kind of a different use case, hence roughly zero other road cars copying that.

> Why did they decide to be different here?

Hubris.

a narrower aerodynamic entry was my reaction to seeing it

> Why did they decide to be different here?

A lack of anyone to stop them from doing otherwise.

And to think, people demonize standardization and regulation...

His all time favorite car (except teslas now i guess) was the MacLaren F1, which also has center-seating. Not saying this is the actual reason, but i thought i'd mention the coincidence.

Sounds like Musk thought it was cool and told the engineers to do it this way and practicality and commonality be darned

What sounds like that?

The decision to put the driver's seat in the center of the cab

Yeah, that's the topic, but where did you hear the story told that way?

"Sounds like" doesn't mean that.

I imagine it improves aerodynamics a fair bit. Also it means they don't need separate LHD/RHD designs.

techbros thinking they can solve all of the world's problems that they actually have zero experience dealing with?

Tech convinced itself that a disruption is something positive no matter what.

Form over function.

Model X doors would be my response.

coming from industry, ive really wondered the same thing. Eagle tugs (the little trucks that push your airplane at the airport) zamboni machines, you name it...anything industrial designed to move a load or require a professional driver just doesnt do this. the only stuff that seems content with center seating is some models of steam roller and front-end loaders. mining trucks are all offset seating, and garbage trucks have offset seating on both the left and right side (or as a slidable steering wheel pedal combo.) F1 racecars have a center seat, because its the only passenger.

center seat tesla trucks mean i cannot take an apprentice. Center seat tesla trucks also mean i cant test in a tesla truck for my license or any inspections. it means the entire truck has to be tested on a closed track to get your license, just like construction equipment.

Farm tractors are all center seating. John Deere sort of things.