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The Nikola Tesla electric car anecdote refers to a supposed invention described by Peter Savo, who claimed to be a nephew of Nikola Tesla.

Description

According to the story, in 1931, Tesla modified a Pierce-Arrow car in Buffalo, New York by removing the gasoline engine and replacing it with a brushless AC electric motor. The motor was purportedly powered by a "cosmic energy power receiver" contained in a box measuring 25 inches by 10 inches by 6 inches, which contained 12 radio vacuum tubes and was connected to a 6-foot-long antenna. The car was claimed to have been driven for about 50 miles at speeds of up to 90 mph over an eight-day period.^[1]^[2]

The story has been subject to debate due to the lack of physical evidence to confirm both the existence of the car and the fact that Tesla did not have a nephew named Peter Savo. Tesla's grand-nephew, William Terbo, has also dismissed the Tesla electric car story as a fabrication.^{[citation needed]}

A number of web pages exist that perpetuate this anecdote.^[3]^[4] The continuous recycling of reactive power is a method by which the car could have been powered,^[5]^[6] though there is a lack of verifiable evidence contemporaneous to the story. If the car was powered (for the most part) by the reuse of reactive power, a thorough review of these anecdotes would be required to determine if an extremely high quality factor is responsible for significantly offsetting power losses.^[7]

With the exception of these points, every other account of this purported demonstration automobile is based solely on the Peter Savo story with additional embellishments added by subsequent retellings.^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11]^[12]^[13]

References

^ 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.
^ 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.
^ Mathews, Arthur (2013-01-29). "Tesla's Last Known Living Assistant's Recorded Statement". NU Energy. NU Energy Staff. Archived from the original on 16 November 2018. Retrieved 14 July 2019. A new, and improved, primary zinc battery capable of powering an electric vehicle for a range of 500 miles before easily and economically replacing its cathode (negative terminal) plates by the car's owner from a year's supply of fresh, new plates which could easily be stored within the trunk of the car.
^ Tesla, Nikola (2013-01-29). "Nicola Tesla's View of the Future in Motive Power". NU Energy. NU Energy Staff. Archived from the original on 16 November 2018. Retrieved 14 July 2019. Tesla states that he made numerous statements in publications in regards to using electricity to power a car. Tracking down these statements should dispel the myth that his car was powered by radiant energy.
^ "Recycling Energy". Powersoft. Retrieved 24 February 2022. Higher power efficiency values are reached also by converting the speaker's reactive energy (BACK-EMF) into usable power and storing it in the condensers. This technology not only increases the efficiency of the amplifier, it also protect the loudspeaker from overheating by removing the reactive energy.
^ "Switched energy resonant power supply system, US10122290B2, United States, James F. Murray". Google Patents. Retrieved 28 September 2023. Various embodiments may achieve one or more advantages. For example, some embodiments may improve a system efficiency and/or reduce the cost of energy consumption by returning some energy back to an input source, for example, in the form of an assisting torque that reduces the average torque load on a prime mover.
^ Hare, Alan V. (18 April 2019). "Free Energy". Makeshift Stories. Retrieved 24 February 2022. While tracking down a scam artist who disappeared with 200 million dollars, a freelance insurance investigator stumbles across an online video by the leader of a group called the Free Energy Coalition. She suspects the man in the video is her missing suspect and goes to a Free Energy conference to find out, but is quickly sucked into the murky world of conspiracy theories which claim the laws of thermodynamics have been faked to prevent the world from discovering perpetual motion machines which can generate free energy.
^ "Tesla's Electric Car" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-11-27.
^ "Tesla's Electric Car". Fuel-efficient-vehicles.org. 2000-01-01. Archived from the original on 2010-11-13. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
^ Gary Lee Armijo says (2010-03-04). "Tesla's Electric Car". Fuel-efficient-vehicles.org. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
^ "Tesla's Electric Car". Fevj.org. 2000-01-01. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
^ "Nikola Tesla's 'Black Magic' Touring Car". Evworld.com. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
^ "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.

External links

Interesting Facts About Nikola Tesla

[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] Mathews, Arthur (2013-01-29). "Tesla's Last Known Living Assistant's Recorded Statement". NU Energy. NU Energy Staff. Archived from the original on 16 November 2018. Retrieved 14 July 2019. A new, and improved, primary zinc battery capable of powering an electric vehicle for a range of 500 miles before easily and economically replacing its cathode (negative terminal) plates by the car's owner from a year's supply of fresh, new plates which could easily be stored within the trunk of the car.

[4] Tesla, Nikola (2013-01-29). "Nicola Tesla's View of the Future in Motive Power". NU Energy. NU Energy Staff. Archived from the original on 16 November 2018. Retrieved 14 July 2019. Tesla states that he made numerous statements in publications in regards to using electricity to power a car. Tracking down these statements should dispel the myth that his car was powered by radiant energy.

[5] "Recycling Energy". Powersoft. Retrieved 24 February 2022. Higher power efficiency values are reached also by converting the speaker's reactive energy (BACK-EMF) into usable power and storing it in the condensers. This technology not only increases the efficiency of the amplifier, it also protect the loudspeaker from overheating by removing the reactive energy.

[6] "Switched energy resonant power supply system, US10122290B2, United States, James F. Murray". Google Patents. Retrieved 28 September 2023. Various embodiments may achieve one or more advantages. For example, some embodiments may improve a system efficiency and/or reduce the cost of energy consumption by returning some energy back to an input source, for example, in the form of an assisting torque that reduces the average torque load on a prime mover.

[7] Hare, Alan V. (18 April 2019). "Free Energy". Makeshift Stories. Retrieved 24 February 2022. While tracking down a scam artist who disappeared with 200 million dollars, a freelance insurance investigator stumbles across an online video by the leader of a group called the Free Energy Coalition. She suspects the man in the video is her missing suspect and goes to a Free Energy conference to find out, but is quickly sucked into the murky world of conspiracy theories which claim the laws of thermodynamics have been faked to prevent the world from discovering perpetual motion machines which can generate free energy.

[8] "Tesla's Electric Car" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-11-27.

[9] "Tesla's Electric Car". Fuel-efficient-vehicles.org. 2000-01-01. Archived from the original on 2010-11-13. Retrieved 2010-11-27.

[10] Gary Lee Armijo says (2010-03-04). "Tesla's Electric Car". Fuel-efficient-vehicles.org. Retrieved 2010-11-27.

[11] "Tesla's Electric Car". Fevj.org. 2000-01-01. Retrieved 2010-11-27.

[12] "Nikola Tesla's 'Black Magic' Touring Car". Evworld.com. Retrieved 2010-11-27.

[13] "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.

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+{{Short description|Scientific hoax}}
 {{Notability|date=February 2020}}
-{{About-distinguish|an automobile power source said to have been developed by Nikola Tesla|Tesla, Inc.{{!}}the American electric car manufacturer, Tesla, Inc.}}
+{{About-distinguish-text|an automobile power source said to have been developed by Nikola Tesla|the unrelated vehicle manufacturers [[Tesla, Inc.]] and [[Nikola Corporation]]}}
-The '''Nikola Tesla electric car hoax''' is an [[anecdote]] that refers to a supposed [[Nikola Tesla]] invention described by Peter Savo, who claimed to be a [[nephew]] of Tesla, to Derek Ahers in 1967. Savo said that Tesla took him to [[Buffalo, New York]] in 1931 and showed him a modified [[Pierce-Arrow]] car.
+The '''Nikola Tesla electric car anecdote''' refers to a supposed invention described by Peter Savo, who claimed to be a nephew of [[Nikola Tesla]].
+== Description ==
-Tesla, according to the story, had removed the gasoline engine from the car and replaced it with a [[Brushless electric motor|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&nbsp;inches long by 10&nbsp;inches wide by 6&nbsp;inches high, containing 12 [[vacuum tube|radio vacuum tubes]] and connected to a {{convert|6|ft|m|adj=mid|-long}} [[Antenna (radio)|antenna]]. The car was said to have been driven for about 50 miles at speeds of up to 90&nbsp;mph during an eight-day period.<ref>{{cite web|author=Robert Nelson |url=http://www.rexresearch.com/feg/feg2.htm#tesla|title="Information about an Invention by Dr. Nikola Tesla, which is said to have harnessed Cosmic Energy" (Unidentified document circulated in the early 1980s) |publisher=Rexresearch.com |date= |accessdate=2010-11-27}}</ref><ref>Ford, R.A., <u>Space Energy Receivers : Power from the wheelwork of nature</u>, 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.</ref>
+According to the story, in 1931, Tesla modified a [[Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company|Pierce-Arrow]] car in [[Buffalo, New York]] by removing the gasoline engine and replacing it with a [[AC motor|brushless AC electric motor]]. The motor was purportedly powered by a "cosmic energy power receiver" contained in a box measuring 25 inches by 10 inches by 6 inches, which contained 12 radio [[Vacuum tube|vacuum tubes]] and was connected to a 6-foot-long antenna. The car was claimed to have been driven for about 50 miles at speeds of up to 90 mph over an eight-day period.<ref>{{cite web |author=Robert Nelson |date= |title="Information about an Invention by Dr. Nikola Tesla, which is said to have harnessed Cosmic Energy" (Unidentified document circulated in the early 1980s) |url=http://www.rexresearch.com/feg/feg2.htm#tesla |accessdate=2010-11-27 |publisher=Rexresearch.com}}</ref><ref>Ford, R.A., <u>Space Energy Receivers : Power from the wheelwork of nature</u>, 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.</ref>
+The story has been subject to debate due to the lack of physical evidence to confirm both the existence of the car and the fact that Tesla did not have a nephew named Peter Savo. Tesla's grand-nephew, William Terbo, has also dismissed the Tesla electric car story as a fabrication.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}
-The 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.
-A number of web pages exist that perpetuate this tale.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mathews |first1=Arthur |title=Tesla's Last Known Living Assistant's Recorded Statement |url=https://www.nuenergy.org/arthur-mathews-about-tesla/ |website=NU Energy |publisher=NU Energy Staff |accessdate=14 July 2019 |ref=mathews |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116013246/https://www.nuenergy.org/arthur-mathews-about-tesla/ |archivedate=16 November 2018 |language=English |quote=A new, and improved, primary zinc battery capable of powering an electric vehicle for a range of 500 miles before easily and economically replacing its cathode (negative terminal) plates by the car's owner from a year's supply of fresh, new plates which could easily be stored within the trunk of the car.|date=2013-01-29 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Tesla |first1=Nikola |title=Nicola Tesla's View of the Future in Motive Power |url=https://www.nuenergy.org/teslas-letter-about-the-electric-car/ |website=NU Energy |publisher=NU Energy Staff |accessdate=14 July 2019 |ref=teslaletter |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116013117/https://www.nuenergy.org/teslas-letter-about-the-electric-car/ |archivedate=16 November 2018 |language=English |quote=Tesla states that he made numerous statements in publications in regards to using electricity to power a car. Tracking down these statements should dispel the myth that his car was powered by radiant energy.|date=2013-01-29 }}</ref> Aside from this one exception, every other account of this purported demonstration automobile is based upon the ''Peter Savo story'' plus literary embellishment.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.teslasociety.ch/info/doc/Teslacar.pdf |title=Tesla's Electric Car |date= |accessdate=2010-11-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://fuel-efficient-vehicles.org/tesla-flying-machine/Tesla-electric-car-1931.php |title=Tesla's Electric Car |publisher=Fuel-efficient-vehicles.org |date=2000-01-01 |accessdate=2010-11-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Gary Lee Armijo says |url=http://fuel-efficient-vehicles.org/energy-news/?page_id=952 |title=Tesla's Electric Car |publisher=Fuel-efficient-vehicles.org |date=2010-03-04 |accessdate=2010-11-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fevj.org/tesla-flying-machine/Tesla-electric-car-1931.php |title=Tesla's Electric Car |publisher=Fevj.org |date=2000-01-01 |accessdate=2010-11-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.evworld.com/article.cfm?storyid=1062 |title=Nikola Tesla's 'Black Magic' Touring Car |publisher=Evworld.com |date= |accessdate=2010-11-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uncletaz.com/library/scimath/tesla/teslacar.html |title=The Electric Auto that almost triumphed, Power Source of '31 car still a mystery, by A.C. Greene |publisher=Vangard Sciences |date=1993-01-30 |accessdate=2014-10-12}}</ref><!--<ref>{{cite web|author=Jim Glenn, Hans A. Nieper |url=http://www.luminet.net/~wenonah/new/tesla.htm |title=Nikola Tesla's Automobile |publisher=Luminet.net |date= |accessdate=2010-11-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.2012.com.au/Tesla_auto.html |title=Tesla's automobile |publisher=2012.com.au |date= |accessdate=2010-11-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gesundohnepillen.de/teslcar.htm |title=More Insight into the Tesla Car |publisher=Gesundohnepillen.de |date=1997-04-07 |accessdate=2010-11-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://abeiez-tachyon.com/en/tach1.htm |title=Tachyonen Technologie - Tachyons |publisher=Abeiez Tachyon |date=2002-03-26 |accessdate=2010-11-27}}</ref>-->
+A number of web pages exist that perpetuate this anecdote.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mathews |first1=Arthur |date=2013-01-29 |title=Tesla's Last Known Living Assistant's Recorded Statement |url=https://www.nuenergy.org/arthur-mathews-about-tesla/ |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116013246/https://www.nuenergy.org/arthur-mathews-about-tesla/ |archivedate=16 November 2018 |accessdate=14 July 2019 |website=NU Energy |publisher=NU Energy Staff |language=English |quote=A new, and improved, primary zinc battery capable of powering an electric vehicle for a range of 500 miles before easily and economically replacing its cathode (negative terminal) plates by the car's owner from a year's supply of fresh, new plates which could easily be stored within the trunk of the car. |ref=mathews}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Tesla |first1=Nikola |date=2013-01-29 |title=Nicola Tesla's View of the Future in Motive Power |url=https://www.nuenergy.org/teslas-letter-about-the-electric-car/ |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116013117/https://www.nuenergy.org/teslas-letter-about-the-electric-car/ |archivedate=16 November 2018 |accessdate=14 July 2019 |website=NU Energy |publisher=NU Energy Staff |language=English |quote=Tesla states that he made numerous statements in publications in regards to using electricity to power a car. Tracking down these statements should dispel the myth that his car was powered by radiant energy. |ref=teslaletter}}</ref> The [[Closed-loop_recycling|continuous recycling]] of [[Electrical_reactance#Comparison_to_resistance|reactive power]] is a method by which the car could have been powered,<ref>{{cite web |title=Recycling Energy |url=https://www.powersoft.com/en/about/technologies/recycling-energy/ |access-date=24 February 2022 |website=Powersoft |language=English |quote=Higher power efficiency values are reached also by converting the speaker’s reactive energy (BACK-EMF) into usable power and storing it in the condensers. This technology not only increases the efficiency of the amplifier, it also protect the loudspeaker from overheating by removing the reactive energy.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title= Switched energy resonant power supply system, US10122290B2, United States, James F. Murray |url= https://patents.google.com/patent/US10122290B2/en?oq=Us10122290 |access-date=28 September 2023 |website=Google Patents |language=English |quote=Various embodiments may achieve one or more advantages. For example, some embodiments may improve a system efficiency and/or reduce the cost of energy consumption by returning some energy back to an input source, for example, in the form of an assisting torque that reduces the average torque load on a prime mover.}}</ref> though there is a lack of verifiable evidence contemporaneous to the story. If the car was powered (for the most part) by the reuse of reactive power, a thorough review of these anecdotes would be required to determine if an extremely high [[Q_factor#Stored_energy_definition|quality factor]] is responsible for significantly [[Extremal_principles_in_non-equilibrium_thermodynamics#Linear_and_non-linear_processes|offsetting]] power [[Damping|losses]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hare |first1=Alan V. |title=Free Energy |url=https://makeshiftstories.com/science-fiction-short-stories/free-energy/ |access-date=24 February 2022 |website=Makeshift Stories |date=18 April 2019 |language=English |quote=While tracking down a scam artist who disappeared with 200 million dollars, a freelance insurance investigator stumbles across an online video by the leader of a group called the Free Energy Coalition. She suspects the man in the video is her missing suspect and goes to a Free Energy conference to find out, but is quickly sucked into the murky world of conspiracy theories which claim the laws of thermodynamics have been faked to prevent the world from discovering perpetual motion machines which can generate free energy.}}</ref>
+With the exception of these points, every other account of this purported demonstration automobile is based solely on the Peter Savo story with additional embellishments added by subsequent retellings.<ref>{{cite web |date= |title=Tesla's Electric Car |url=http://www.teslasociety.ch/info/doc/Teslacar.pdf |accessdate=2010-11-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=2000-01-01 |title=Tesla's Electric Car |url=http://fuel-efficient-vehicles.org/tesla-flying-machine/Tesla-electric-car-1931.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101113034000/http://fuel-efficient-vehicles.org/tesla-flying-machine/Tesla-electric-car-1931.php |archive-date=2010-11-13 |accessdate=2010-11-27 |publisher=Fuel-efficient-vehicles.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Gary Lee Armijo says |date=2010-03-04 |title=Tesla's Electric Car |url=http://fuel-efficient-vehicles.org/energy-news/?page_id=952 |accessdate=2010-11-27 |publisher=Fuel-efficient-vehicles.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=2000-01-01 |title=Tesla's Electric Car |url=http://www.fevj.org/tesla-flying-machine/Tesla-electric-car-1931.php |accessdate=2010-11-27 |publisher=Fevj.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date= |title=Nikola Tesla's 'Black Magic' Touring Car |url=http://www.evworld.com/article.cfm?storyid=1062 |accessdate=2010-11-27 |publisher=Evworld.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=1993-01-30 |title=The Electric Auto that almost triumphed, Power Source of '31 car still a mystery, by A.C. Greene |url=http://www.uncletaz.com/library/scimath/tesla/teslacar.html |accessdate=2014-10-12 |publisher=Vangard Sciences}}</ref>
 ==References==
@@ Line 21: / Line 23: @@
 *[http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~panopus/essentia/essentiaii4.htm Essentia Volume 2 Winter 1981: Exemplar - Nikola Tesla] {{Unreliable source?|date=March 2012}}
 *[http://www.frankgermano.net/blackbox.htm Nikola Tesla's amazing "black box"] {{Unreliable source?|date=March 2012}}
-*[http://www.remnantsaints.com.net/AlternativeUtilities/TeslaTech/cold_electricity.htm Cold Electricity or Cosmic Rays of Tesla's 1931 Pierce Arrow Top Secret Project] {{Unreliable source?|date=August 2009}}
+*[https://shopforurauto.com//AlternativeUtilities/TeslaTech/cold_electricity.htm Cold Electricity or Cosmic Rays of Tesla's 1931 Pierce Arrow Top Secret Project]{{Dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} {{Unreliable source?|date=August 2009}}
 *[http://www.teslatech.info/ttmagazine/v1n2/v1n2toc.htm ExtraOrdinary Technology: Volume 1 Number 2] {{Unreliable source?|date=August 2009}}
 *[https://web.archive.org/web/20181210012332/https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Motor_transformer Simulating Tesla's Pierce Arrow EV Demonstration of 1931]

Latest revision as of 14:24, 31 March 2024

Description

References

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External links