vfx

"Tesla Destroyer"

ha ha.

Once again Tesla is the one one to beat.

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The world loves to be deceived.

Finkenbusch

Rays are used and work for good currently on earth on every corner already. This just goes unnoticed. Starting in every hotel room or public building place where nuclear material is incorporated in every fire-alarm system, up to hospital not only in the x-ray section but at many other places in the laboratories, further up the ladder to many nuclear power plants worldwide and the use (US used only) of atomic bombs.
Until the latter - Hiroshima & Nagasaki - not many folks where proven killed by radiation.

Many died in car, airplane accidents where petrol burned them or blow them up.

Think you would ask the regulator today to allow a cars on the streets and airplanes carrying huge totally unprotected tanks with highly flammable and extremely explosive substances (petrol & kerosine), not less then 50 Liter up to a few thousand - becoming more dangerous as more empty they get, you think you will get the signature? today?

Never.

So to use nuclear fission material in cars may be unfeasible to many greens today - but it is not impossible - when the gallon petrol hits the 10$ mark.

Finkenbusch

Not so fast.
SSC has proven already once that they keep their promises (most folks by then thought they are mad) and its highly probable they will astonish folks in the car industry again. They enjoy a nice reputation as being honest, hard working folks knowing their job.

Mr. Musk has, if you look closely a mixed reputation & unusual (to say the least) business practices, not proven anything to anybody - besides by remaining as winner hanging as leader at the cliffs edge while the Lemmings march on.
He got accidently very rich by pure clean luck (no problem with that), but most he touched so far went south or went the not so shiny way of Eberhard- given Musk profiteered always personally.

We shall find out soon, very soon, if that luck is here to stay.
With a company he has openly ousted, kicked out the
founder at a late stage of product development

Finally we shall see who stays in the market when the really big bears & elephants with very deep pockets (forget the GM Volt) and very experienced Japanese, Germans & Frenchmen will march in a massive wave the EV ring / market with attractive, elegant and shiny products. - within 12 months from now.

All producing 100 % in (existing) US plants and not adding like Tesla 5% to the car value by stacking in a backdoor garage imported japanese batteries in a box and fitting them to a otherwise 100% pre-produced european car, (shipped by container to the US for refitting only to obtain US production status)

Read the prove here: Roadster Owner Ken Jacobs Tours UK Assembly Plant and Test Track

dpeilow

Umm, not quite. Many deep-space probes and some spy satellites have RTGs but the vast majority use solar cells. As GSP says, they wouldn't be much use without the cold of space and even then the biggest flown only produces 390W, even with the large temperature difference.

Those terrestrial units that have been built typically weigh more than an entire car: Radioisotope thermoelectric generator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Perhaps they have bought the patents for the Ford Nucleon .

dpeilow

Definitely agree with the sentiment - the more performance EVs the better. There will be a perception that if it is now possible to build a performance EV, a "normal" one must be easy. It should really embarrass the regular manufacturers into action.

However if it is widely reported that this car has some "magic" power source that can last 6 years and it turns out that is the useful lifetime of some regular Li ion or similar battery, it will not be the journalists that hold their hands up and admit the mistake. They will make the company - and by implication the technology - into a laughing stock.

graham

This was probably already known by everyone else here, but I am just discovering it. I assumed the "Shelby" of SSC (Shelby SuperCars) had something to do Carroll Shelby or his Shelby-American car company. That doesn't seem to be the case. It was founded by "Jarod Shelby" instead.

Is Jarod related somehow to Carroll, does anyone know?

doug

That's a good question. As pointed out in beginning of that Jay Leno video there is no relation what so ever. But I'm sure SSC benefits from that confusion.

doug

This is another good example of how a little bit of knowledge without any real understanding is a dangerous thing.

SteveF

Now now. Let's not bait the trolls.

vfx

Is'nt he the Subway guy who lot all the weight?

__________________
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.
.
.
.
.
The world loves to be deceived.