Nikola Tesla electric car hoax

This article is about an automobile power source said to have been developed by Nikola Tesla. For the automobile company, see Tesla Motors.

The Nikola Tesla electric car hoax is an anecdote that refers to a supposed Nikola Tesla invention described by a Peter Savo (who claimed to be a nephew of Tesla) to one Derek Ahers, with the date September 16, 1967. Savo said that Tesla took him to Buffalo, New York in 1931 and showed him a modified Pierce-Arrow automobile.

Tesla, according to the story, had the stock gasoline engine removed and replaced with a brushless AC electric motor. The motor was said to have been run by a "cosmic energy power receiver" consisting of a box measuring about 25 inches long by 10 inches wide by 6 inches high, containing 12 radio vacuum tubes and connected to a 6-foot-long (1.8 m) antenna. The car was said to have been driven for about 50 miles at speeds of up to 90 mph during an eight-day period.[1][2]

This story has received some debate because the car's propulsion system is said to have been invented by Tesla. No physical evidence has ever been produced confirming that the car actually existed. Tesla did not have a nephew by the name of Peter Savo, and Tesla's grand-nephew William Terbo considers the Tesla electric car story to be a fabrication.[3]

A number of web pages exist that perpetuate the tale. Every account of this purported demonstration automobile is based upon the story plus literary embellishment.[4][5][6][7][8][9]

References

  1. ↑ Robert Nelson. ""Information about an Invention by Dr. Nikola Tesla, which is said to have harnessed Cosmic Energy" (Unidentified document circulated in the early 1980s)". Rexresearch.com. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  2. ↑ Ford, R.A., Space Energy Receivers : Power from the wheelwork of nature, Simplified Technology Service, Champaign, IL, 1993 "Information about an invention by Dr. Nikola Tesla, which is said to have harnessed cosmic energy" pp. 31–37.
  3. ↑ To all who have asked about the 1930/31 Pierce-Arrow! I've answered this crazy speculation many times over the past 40 years. It is an impossible fable meant to promote someone in Tesla's halo. My father, Nicholas J. Trbojevich, Tesla's nephew and a famous inventor in the automobile industry, was in regular touch with Tesla on both scientific and family matters. (Father brought advanced mathematics to gear design - doing for gears what Tesla did for electricity.) If Tesla ever had a Buffalo Pierce-Arrow with an electric motor replacement in his pocket, the first person Tesla would have consulted is my father! Thus ends this silly story - including supposed relatives to Tesla, my father and/or to me. You may quote me on this and the best direction to proceed is forward my comments to all perpetrators of this myth. Best regards, William H. Terbo (Trbojevich) (3/3/2012)
  4. ↑ "Tesla's Electric Car" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  5. ↑ "Tesla's Electric Car". Fuel-efficient-vehicles.org. 2000-01-01. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  6. ↑ Gary Lee Armijo says: (2010-03-04). "Tesla's Electric Car". Fuel-efficient-vehicles.org. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  7. ↑ "Tesla's Electric Car". Fevj.org. 2000-01-01. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  8. ↑ "Nikola Tesla's 'Black Magic' Touring Car". Evworld.com. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  9. ↑ "The Electric Auto that almost triumphed, Power Source of '31 car still a mystery, by A.C. Greene". Vangard Sciences. 1993-01-30. Retrieved 2014-10-12.

Further reading

External links

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