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IPFS News Link • Transportation

Can Elon Musk Actually Make A Flying Tesla Car?

• Forbes - Jonathan O'Callaghan

The SpaceX and Tesla CEO certainly hasn't left us wanting with his somewhat outlandish schemes before. We've seen everything from a flamethrower to plans to start a Mars colony. Now it appears he's going to add thrusters to a new version of the Tesla Roadster car, claiming it will give it the ability to fly.

"The new Roadster will actually do something like this," Musk said in response to a tweet showing a picture of the flying DeLorean from Back to the Future. He added: "I'm not [joking]. Will use SpaceX cold gas thruster system with ultra high pressure air in a composite over-wrapped pressure vessel in place of the 2 rear seats."

This isn't the first time Musk has alluded to a flying Tesla. Back in June 2018, he said that an option package for the new Tesla Roadster would include "10 small rocket thrusters arranged seamlessly around the car." These would apparently improve its acceleration, speed, and handling. "Maybe they will even allow a Tesla to fly…" he added.

Musk said the next version of the Tesla Roadster could come equipped with ten thrusters.ASSOCIATED PRESS

So, is it really possible? To find out, I spoke to a couple of automotive engineers. And while they didn't doubt Musk's ability to surprise us, they were a little skeptical.

"Of course you can install that in a car and make some fancy things," Dr. Markus Lienkamp from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in Germany. "If he recharges the system with air pressure and some liquid fuel it might be able to work permanently."


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