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> and the entire passenger seat is replaced with a pressure tank.

That sounds extremely explosive and not something any random person should be irresponsibly driving around.

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You can make a brick fly if you strap enough thrust ($$$$) to it. That doesn't mean a human without suicidal thoughts would ever want to be strapped to the same brick.

This is hot wheels. It's pretty clear Musk finally had enough of the culture wars at X and decided to go interfere with Tesla some more. Instead of producing a car people might actually want, he made them do this. This is the worst waste of a company you're likely to see in your life.

TSLA is probably not a good stock to be holding right now.

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Not at a PE of ~336 in a world where BYD will eventually arrive in the US.

But TBF if they offered the SpaceX thrusters as an option, the SF effective altruists would slurp them right up to be their daily drivers even if they have to be strapped in next to a tank of toxic boom boom to use them. And Sam Altman would cry into his protein-supplemented energy drink because his Koenigsegg doesn't have them and I'd happily hand over 50 Quatloos to watch that.

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> Instead of producing a car people might actually want, he made them do this.

Looks like the base version would be the one for that.

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There are a few problems with this approach.

1. The kind of person who buys a sports-car often doesn't want the "base version". They want luxury. They want status. They don't want to face the choice of being upsold to an impractical deathtrap or driving around in the "base version" like someone who could barely just afford it.

2. This demo does absolutely nothing to demonstrate the abilities of the base version. I reiterate, a brick could have been made to fly in this way. The base version will no doubt have good paper stats because Musk understands that numbers must be big, but that doesn't mean the base model will be pleasant to drive.

3. The styling of this car is "wankpanzer with a few extra polygons". Given how well the wankpanzer sold, demand for this thing, even if the base model is a competent auto, will be limp.

4. Musk is currently trying to buy another election. With Musk visibly taking an interest in Tesla again, that's likely to backfire on Tesla. They need to cut ties with Musk, not keep doing the sort of puerile things he's known and frequently lambasted for.

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Yup. SpaceX lost four spacecraft to issues with these.

CRS-7, Amos-6, Starship 36, and Super Heavy 18.

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How is that different than having my wife there?
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If you go on the website that version is listed as "Invite only"
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You should look into hydrogen fuel tanks found in Toyotas! Much more terrifying.
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Where I live aftermarket modified LPG cars are extremely common. We don't have explosions often.
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https://www.motortrend.com/news/tesla-roadster-thrust-system...

> You can think of the COPV like the fuel tank in a compressed natural gas (CNG)- or liquid propane gas (LPG)-powered vehicle, except the nitrogen mixture in the COPV is stored at a much higher pressure, up to 10,000 psi, similar to the pressures in modern hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.

LPG cars have somewhere between 100 and 300 psi.

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LPG explosions are real combustion due to tank rupture (often due to installation damage or rust). A nitrogen COPV can not rupture (that's why the CO in COPV is there) but it can leak. And that COPV, when it leaks, will be a rocket. But not an explosion.

10,000 PSI? That is beyond absurd. I can not imagine what alloy and how wrapped that pressure vessel is... Or what type of crazy pump is recharging it!

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> A nitrogen COPV can not rupture (that's why the CO in COPV is there) but it can leak.

They'll happily burst (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ-__PlU4gM) and blow up your vehicle (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71AwkBt3_ts).

https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/...

"'Initial analysis indicates the potential failure of a pressurized tank known as a COPV, or composite overwrapped pressure vessel, containing gaseous nitrogen in Starship's nosecone area, but the full data review is ongoing,' the company wrote in an update on Thursday (June 19)."

> LPG explosions are real combustion due to tank rupture…

They're mostly designed to vent (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupture_disc) to prevent a BLEVE. Big fire, big mess, but without oxidizer in the tank and much lower pressures, relatively safe by comparison. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQDyNjCNxVY

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How do gas pressures in the COPV in the Roadster compare to pressures in lost rockets?
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I'm not able to find solid numbers on that, but given the shared heritage (I presume those gas thrusters come straight from SpaceX) and premium in a space vehicle for payload space, and the fact that SpaceX lost four vehicles to the things, I suspect similarly quite high.
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And the P in LPG stands for Probably not flammable.
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Tank pressures are of different magnitudes. With LPG it's only for storage, here it's for thrust.
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Big Elon fan boy here but you are 100% right. It’s basically the “Titan” submersible in reverse.
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May he drive this toy everyday and face the same fate.
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I know you are a kind person irl and don’t really wish that!
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Why would you call yourself a fanboy? I can't get past his meddling in governments worldwide and clear self-seving in DOGE.
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Purely because the tech he (or the companies he funds) build is otherworldly ..
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I hate to be the one to tell you, but you probably pass at least one very explosive tank of something very volatile each and every day on your commute.
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Perhaps, but not at quite this level of pressure.

This thing is literally a fucking bomb if it fails, through accident or degradation.

The down-force negative pressure aspect they gleaned from McMurtry though? Really cool. Genuinely useful. I just hope they don't claim it as their own invention.

Which they will, because Musk is all ego.

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