Electric vehicle crashes happen, but this one is pretty unusual and might be the first electric car that “flew” over a river.
According to Mydrivers (via CnEVPost), a Tesla Model 3 crashed in Kaifeng, a city in central China’s Henan province.
The trajectory indicates that, for some reason, the car missed the bridge and crossed the 10+ meter wide river “over-the-air,” basically leaping to the other side.
The report points out that it was possible due to high speed and a slight slope, but the car is pretty much totaled, with significant damage to the front, rear, and all airbags deployed. The only good news is that no one was seriously hurt, according to the article.
“The driver was unfamiliar with the road conditions here, but drove fast, at more than 100 kilometers per hour, and leapt over the river, which is more than 10 meters wide, the report said”
Anyway, it’s probably the first “flying” Tesla – a thing that Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk would like to introduce at some point in the future, but right now is too busy with an already overwhelming number of other tasks. Even the ground-based Tesla vehicles (like the Cybertruck, Semi and Roadster) have to patiently wait for introductions.
It’s worth noting that while mainstream electrification now relates to cars, there are plenty of companies that are working on electric aircrafts and VLOT (vertical take-off and landing).
The biggest issue for electrification of the skies is the weight of the batteries, but let’s hope it will improve to a point of economic viability.
