The raucous crowd had dwindled to a few dozen hangers-on. The international reporters had returned to their hotels, and Tesla’s billionaire chief executive, Elon Musk, had disappeared into his sprawling Fremont, Calif., factory about an hour earlier.

Tesla’s Model 3 rollout was essentially over, but in a nearby parking lot where the first test rides of the electric car were being offered, the night’s enthusiasm had yet to wane.

In almost any other circumstances, a silent, three-minute ride around a poorly lit factory parking lot that barely cracked school-zone speed limits would’ve been a laughably underwhelming experience. But for many riders, myself included, this time was different.

One spin in the Model 3 just wasn’t enough. Journalists, factory workers and their family members, and random revelers on hand to celebrate returned to the back of the line over and over again as if the understated electric sedan were a futuristic carnival ride.

“That was fantastic,” one man said as he got out of the car. “Can we take pictures?”

“Can we do it again?”a woman asked.

It’s quite likely that the effusive reactions were at least partly influenced by Tesla’s sustained PR campaign. Company handlers had been force-feeding attendees a diet of Model 3 exuberance for several hours in the form of mesmerizing videos, splashy lights, upbeat dance tracks and free drinks – giving people the feel of having an exclusive backstage pass to the automotive future.

“This is the world’s first mass-market electric vehicle,” we were told. “You, my friend, are experiencing history!”

Read more: The Washington Post