Ferrari working on Tesla Roadster-like ‘rockets’

When Elon Musk said he would use some kind of rocket to power the Tesla Roadster, many thought it was an imaginative and unrealistic idea. Although the CEO of Tesla sometimes makes such statements, the booster technology does not seem to have gone unnoticed by other manufacturers. Ferrari is also working on it.

In fact, Ferrari has applied for a patent for a “Pulsejet” system. This technique is very similar to the thrusters that Elon Musk spoke of.

Ferrari with Tesla Roadster-like rockets

But what exactly are these Tesla and Ferrari “rockets”? If you equip a car with air thrusters, you can change direction, brake or accelerate a car super fast with the push of a button. For example, the Tesla Roadaster would go from 0 to 60 mph (96.9 kilometers per hour) in 1.9 seconds.

Ferrari had already registered a patent for “High-Performance Car with Gas Pushers” in 2019, which the Italian supercar manufacturer recently received. The system, which Ferrari has now patented, would only weigh 40 to 45 kilograms and would be significantly more advanced than the system that Elon Musk wants to use for the Tesla Roadster. The boosters do not have to work with compressed air, Ferrari speaks of “liquid fuel” in the patent. The brand can therefore also be called that impulse jets Use with gasoline.

The boosters are directed forwards, backwards and to the sides for steering, acceleration and braking. To keep the tanks full, Ferrari wants to recover energy when braking and add compressors to the car’s axles.

Both the ideas of Tesla and Ferrari are still unreal dreams of the future. However, no one can rule out the possibility that thrusters will ever be used to propel, steer and brake a car.

A lot of criticism

There has been a lot of criticism of the technology that Ferrari and Tesla are working on. For example, compressing air takes a lot of energy and the engines make a lot of noise. Whether the technology is safe remains to be seen. In September 2016, a pressure vessel exploded a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.