It seems just about every automaker is gathering ideas for upcoming electric cars, even Ferrari. According to Teslarati, the Italian supercar maker applied for a patent for a “pulsejet” system to boost acceleration, which sounds much like Elon Musk’s next-gen Tesla Roadster rocket thrusters.
Elon Musk has actually gone so far as to suggest that the upcoming Tesla Roadster may be able to “fly” a bit. Keep in mind that this is the same CEO who has said on a number of occasions that Tesla’s vehicles can function as boats for a short time. While they may float temporarily, and they’re not going to get “hydrolocked” since there’s no engine, driving any car into open water is a bad idea.
Similarly, if the next-gen Roadster really comes to market soon, it’s certainly not going to be a flying car, but it could have a compressed air system at the back that boosts performance. Hypothetically, one could perhaps boost performance in such a way as to try to ensure the Tesla supercar can sort of hover or “get more air” than a typical car when doing “jumps,” which would also prove quite unsafe.
At any rate, back in 2019, Ferrari filed for a patent for a “High-Performance Car with Gas Pushers.” That patent was just added to the US Patent database recently. The Drive reported that Ferrari’s patent describes a working concept that’s very similar to what Musk has described in the past for the next-gen Tesla Roadster’s SpaceX package. Musk aims to use some sort of cold gas or compressed air thrusters to speed up off-the-line acceleration and possibly even allow the car to hover somehow.
According to the recently published patent details, Ferrari’s pulsejet system may use compressed air thrusters for quicker acceleration. It would also be able to use the technology to aid in braking and handling. Ferrari would put compressed air tanks or liquid fuel technology at the front, rear, and sides of the car to make this all possible. A portion of the official patent language reads as follows:
“… at least one compressed air tank’ and at least one gas pusher, which is connected to the compressed air tank, is integral to the frame and has a plurality of nozzles, which face outwards, can be activated in order to generate respective air jets, are arranged parallel to and beside one another, have the same orientation and are sized so as to generate different pneumatic thrusts give the same pressure of the compressed air flowing in …”
The description goes on to say that the system will be able to refill the compressors via technology attached to the car’s brakes. For many more specific details, follow the link to The Drive below.
What do you think? Will Tesla really offer the next-gen Roadster with the SpaceX package, and if so, will it work or just be a novelty? Will Ferrari follow through with such a concept? Start a conversation about this topic in our comment section below.
