Jet Engine Cars Have Always Sounded Cool But Been An Incredibly Bad Idea

GM

The conception of putting pitchy engines successful cars successful 1 that won't spell away. For virtually decades, awesome automakers person played astir pinch nan concept. Most recently, Elon Musk teased that nan long-awaited update to nan Tesla Roadster mightiness characteristic immoderate rocket tech borrowed from SpaceX. Infatuated pinch aeronautical advancements, automakers designed pitchy cars from nan 1940s done nan statesmanlike management of Ronald Reagan. But contempt their evident enthusiasm for nan technology, they consistently abandoned nan dream.

And for bully reason, arsenic General Motors noted successful a rundown of nan company's galore attempts to commercialize turbine engines, bringing them retired of nan skies and onto nan roads. We've been present before, scoping retired supercool photos of nan Firebird I, II, and III concepts, developed nether nan supervision of GM creation fable Harley Earl. The concepts ended up successful museums, not driveways. These days, pinch nan imaginable objection of diehard Aptera fans, location isn't overmuch enthusiasm for 1950s-style cars that look for illustration combatant planes. There's besides nan non-trivial facet that, from an engineering constituent of view, turbine engines person ever been a beautiful bad idea. And don't moreover deliberation astir nan pollution.

GM

As GM News pointed out, turbine engines tin tally connected a wide scope of fuels: "propane, kerosene, aviation fuel, landfill gas, ammonia, fundamentally thing combustible." The article besides acknowledges that competitor and chap turbine-experimenter Chrysler developed a conception that "ran connected tequila." Turbines besides had immoderate different positives for GM. The powerfulness nan engines nutrient is turned into rotational energy, conscionable for illustration a accepted piston-driven motor. But turbine drivetrains are overmuch simpler than their combustion counterparts. They were benignant of for illustration nan electrical cars of nan Eisenhower years.

Unlike electrical cars, what they turbines aren't awesome astatine is emissions. That's astir apt not a immense shock. GM's overarching information for pursuing turbine exertion was to hedge against collapsing lipid reserves, backmost successful nan years earlier emissions were a ascendant concern. A bigger interest was pumping each nan petroleum retired of nan crushed and being near pinch thing to capable up state tanks. The institution moreover looked astatine powering vehicles pinch ember dust because it was truthful plentiful successful America. But successful nan end, manufacturing turbines proved excessively difficult, and arsenic "peak oil" worries retreated, turbines mislaid relevance. They weren't precisely a sideline, though: GM created nan fanciful, futuristic Firebirds, but nan institution besides rolled retired turbine concepts for buses and dense trucks.

GM

You can't study nan history of GM's turbine vehicles without noticing really extroverted their designs are. Because nan Firebirds were efficaciously powered by pitchy engines, they were designed to look for illustration jets. Even nan Turbocruiser buses and Bison trucks featured slick, aerodynamic lines and exotic silhouettes. The styling telegraphed nan intends of propulsion. Little kids were expected to beryllium utterly wowed and filled pinch optimism for nan early erstwhile these things drove by.

The existent early meant EVs, astir of which don't depart from accepted car design. Consumers are much concerned astir software, infotainment, connectedness, and astatine nan extremes, whether nan cars tin thrust themselves. The tech is acold much introverted. So ultimately, nan history of turbine vehicles from nan 1950s to 1980s is an artifact of nan post-war world. Automakers took nan exertion earnestly and, pinch design, tried to waste it. But nan exceptional cool facet could ne'er flooded nan applicable limitations.

We're astatine nan constituent now wherever this different automotive preoccupation has been consigned to nan past. Hybrids and EVs are nan sanction of nan game, powertrain-wise, pinch hydrogen benignant of hanging successful location arsenic nan exotic option complete nan horizon. The photos of GM's pitchy cars are ever going to nosy to look at, however. And who knows? Maybe they'll animate young designers to deliberation extracurricular nan container pinch 21st-century car concepts. And immoderate of that old-school extroversion will shape a comeback.