This, as you may have noticed, is a Tesla Model 3 with an aero package. What you may not have noticed is just how easy it was to accept that – almost like we’ve entered the era of tuned electric cars without even noticing.
But as much as these aero bits are quite literally bolted on, this isn’t the usual story of bolt-on bits. When the company name is, no joke, Aerodynamic Development Race Optimization, you know the products are going to be as focused and scientific as that name suggests.
And also as dry, as it turns out. See, one of the big selling points of ADRO’s Model 3 aero kit is that its parts are made of ‘dry’ carbon-fibre as opposed to ‘wet’. This is the level of nerdiness we’re dealing with here. Just to be clear, we’re all for it.
But what’s the hoopla about ‘dry’ carbon fibre, anyway? Well, if you thought regular carbon fibre was strong and lightweight, it’s actually a bit wet by comparison. And yes, we’ll see ourselves out, but would appreciate it if you held the door all the same.
So-called ‘wet carbon fibre’ is when a carbon-fibre weave is placed in a mould and coated in resin. Dry carbon fibre, on the other hand, means the carbon fibres in the weave are pre-implanted with resin. The benefit of dry carbon is much less resin and a much lighter part – somewhere in the order of half the weight of wet CF. The drawback is that it’s much more labour-intensive and requires an autoclave – basically a high-pressure science oven – to finish. Which, as you’d expect, makes it more expensive.
So to find out the whole package you see here – front lip, side skirts, rear diffuser and rear spoiler – costs a combined $5,500 USD is one of those rare moments these days where something actually seems like good value.
Especially when ADRO claims the kit improves the Model 3’s aero efficiency by 3.25 per cent over the standard car (no word on whether that number’s due to the test car having the ground clearance of a turtle) while generating another 846N of downforce. And yes, they’re measuring in Newtons. Because science.
Newtons are a measure of force, while kilograms – what most manufacturers quote downforce figures in – are actually a measure of mass. So if we assume, then, that car manufacturers are talking about kilogram-force instead, a quick bit of maths means the ADRO aero package adds 86.27kg F of downforce.
Not exactly on par with an F1 car, but then it... well, isn’t one. It’s a tuned EV. Marvellous how normal that sounds, isn’t it?
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