The physics checks out. Engineering Explained ran Tesla's three Roadster stunts through back-of-envelope math and could not break any of them: a fan system needs only about an 11.5 percent vacuum under the car to hold it upside down, roughly 250 kg of nitrogen buys about seven seconds of hover, and the 0.81-second sprint fits the hardware on the thrust version. The one claim that failed belonged to a Tesla designer, who suggested the base car, with no fans, reaches 60 mph in just over a second. The host is kinder to the engineering than to the company. In his view, a Tesla promise is settled only once the product is delivered, and he lists the four-seat, 620-mile Roadster Tesla once described among several claims that did not come true.
Batteries are running into the same wall. Greater Bay Technology has started mass production of an all-solid-state cell, and the trade publication Gasgoo reports it was the first company to pass China's new GB/T 48093.1-2026 standard for the category. The achievement is in manufacturing: a converted lithium-ion line, in production six months after the first samples. The energy density has not jumped. The Electric Viking puts this first generation near the bottom of GBT's 260 to 480 Wh/kg range, which is about where today's best lithium-ion cells sit. The safety tests went GBT's way. The range gain is a later generation's job.
On the road, the hard part is everything around the car. WSJ News drove a 2027 Chevrolet Bolt from outside Nashville to New Orleans, and the hard part was less the car than the gaps between chargers, especially in Mississippi. The team rerouted through Hope and Shreveport, and the final day ran about two hours longer than a gas car would have, by the reporter's estimate. One thing that helped was the Bolt's built-in navigation choosing a stop to cut charging time. That is the feature Ever found missing from the Toyota bZ and Subaru Solterra, which beat their quoted charging time in testing but have no built-in EV route planner.
The pattern holds in the air. Jetson says the ONE at Florida Polytechnic University is delivered and its officers are trained to fly it. The extra step was regulatory: the company describes the aircraft as a Part 103 recreational platform, so police use needed a separate FAA Part 91 approval.
What to watch: whether Tesla builds a base Roadster at all, since Engineering Explained would not be surprised if it were dropped and expects a Model S Plaid to be quicker anyway; which car gets GBT's cells first, and when a lithium-metal generation reaches the top of that density range; how long GM keeps building a Bolt it has called a limited-run model, as InsideEVs reports, after the shrinking run covered in our September 30 edition; and the ONE's public appearance at UP.Summit at Kennedy Space Center on November 7 and 8.
Engineering Explained Checks Tesla's Roadster Stunts and Finds One Claim That Fails
Engineering Explained sorts each Roadster stunt into legit or nonsense, after crediting Tesla for skipping a ramp and for timing 0 to 60 without rollout. For the wall climb, the host estimates about 9 square meters of roof area, which sets a theoretical ceiling near 900 kN. The demo's 4,700 kg of downforce needs only about an 11.5 kPa drop across the roughly 4 square meters sealed by skirts. Tesla uses four 20 kW fans, against two 30 kW fans on the McMurtry Spéirling. Skirts and fans are wear items, the host warns, since even McMurtry's filters let the finest 8 percent of debris through. For flight, 400-litre and 200-litre tanks at 10,000 psi hold about 250 kg of nitrogen for 10 thrusters, which a Tesla executive has said peak above 80 kN. That is roughly seven seconds of hover. On launches, his math gives the fanless, rear-drive base car about 2.8 seconds to 60 mph and a theoretical floor of 2.1, so a Tesla designer's claim to Motor Trend of just over a second gets the nonsense label. He suspects the designer meant the performance car, which fans bring near 1.2 seconds by his estimate. The thrust car's 0.81 implies 3.37 g, and the rocket version's claimed 0.55 seconds fits about 5.5 g. Earlier coverage adds caveats: Tailosive EV found range and top speed below first promises in our October 16 edition, and Marques Brownlee found a no-guarantee clause in his reservation in our October 17 edition.
WSJ Drives the Cheapest New EV in America Through a Charging Desert
WSJ News took a 2027 Chevrolet Bolt, which it calls the cheapest new EV in America at about $29,000, from outside Nashville to New Orleans. The reporter gives the car's EPA highway estimate as 232 miles. Its EPA combined estimate is 262 miles, and the $28,995 starting price includes destination, according to AutoGuide and InsideEVs. The Bolt has a NACS port and charges at about 150 kW, slower than many rivals but fine, the reporter says. Early stops were easy: a Supercharger beside a railroad museum in Jackson, Tennessee, and a Target lot just inside Mississippi that the car's own navigation recommended. On day three in Little Rock, the planned leg to Jackson, Mississippi, would have meant arriving on 1 or 2 percent, so the team detoured through Hope and Shreveport. Mississippi ranks near the bottom for charging stations, the video says. The last day began at 100 percent, still needed 40 extra minutes of charging, dropped a planned stop at Whitney Plantation and used an adapter at the trip's first non-Tesla charger. It took 12 hours. The reporter's lessons: plan ahead, stay flexible, and expect a network that is about 80 percent of the way there.
GBT's Solid-State Line Is Running. The Range Gain Is Still to Come.
The Electric Viking reports that Greater Bay Technology, the battery arm of Chinese carmaker GAC, switched on an all-solid-state cell line in Guangzhou on October 13. The host says the cells were independently certified under China's new national solid-state standard. Gasgoo identifies it as GB/T 48093.1-2026, issued in late August. Rather than build the sealed, dry, oxygen-free plant the host says sulfide electrolytes require, GBT converted an existing lithium-ion line. Its electrolyte goes in as a liquid and sets solid inside the cell, so standard equipment handles the rest, and the line can switch back. That is how samples in April became production in October, the host says. A fully charged cell survived a nail test without fire, and another lost almost no weight after six hours at 120°C in a vacuum. GBT quotes 260 to 480 Wh/kg, but the top figure belongs to a future lithium-metal design. The host places this generation near the bottom of the range, roughly level with the 250 to 300 Wh/kg of the best current cells, and the host notes GBT gives no cycle-life figure beyond calling it on par with current cells. Electrive reports the first generation uses pouch cells and established electrode materials. The line's 1 GWh is enough for about 15,000 cars a year, with room to reach 4 GWh. No car has been named.
Toyota bZ or Subaru Solterra: Same Car, Different Price Ladder
Ever's host, Andrew, compares two crossovers Toyota and Subaru developed together on the e-TNGA platform. They share a 184.6-inch length, more than 8 inches of ground clearance, a NACS port and a 150 kW charging peak. Prices, including destination, are where they split. The bZ starts at $36,575 as a front-drive XLE with a 57.7 kWh battery, 168 hp and 236 miles of EPA range. The $39,575 XLE Plus moves to 74.7 kWh, 221 hp and 314 miles, the longest range of either car. Every Solterra gets the larger battery and two motors, starting at $39,970 for the 233 hp Premium with 288 miles. The 338 hp versions start at $41,575 as the bZ XLE AWD and $44,375 as the Solterra Limited XT. Toyota and Subaru quote about 30 minutes from 10 to 80 percent; Ever measured 26 to 27. Neither car has a built-in EV route planner, though bZ owners get one through Apple Maps on CarPlay. The Solterra's flat-topped steering wheel makes the oddly placed gauges easier to read, and its suspension is slightly firmer. The host gives the Solterra a slight edge and suggests buyers let lease deals decide. Toyota's quicker bZ Woodland, which MotorWeek ran to 60 in 3.9 seconds in our October 18 edition, is the quicker option in the family. Both share the 150 kW ceiling of the Bolt in story 2, which undercuts the cheapest bZ by $7,580.
A Florida Campus Police Force Adds a One-Seat Electric Aircraft
Jetson says Florida Polytechnic University has chosen the Jetson ONE as what the university describes as the world's first electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft intended for law-enforcement work. Jetson's video title calls it a flying car; it is a single-seat eVTOL. The aircraft, registered N911FP and nicknamed Astro after the dog in The Jetsons, was delivered to the university's police department earlier this summer, and its officers, including Police Chief Aaron Murray, are trained to fly it, according to the company. Jetson describes the ONE as a Part 103 recreational platform and says the university needed Part 91 approval from the FAA to bring it into operations. Part 103, the FAA's ultralight rule, covers single-occupant vehicles used for recreation or sport only, and caps powered ones at under 254 pounds empty and 55 knots, so police work falls outside it. The university lists campus monitoring, reaching places conventional vehicles cannot and delivering emergency supplies as possible uses. Jetson says the ONE now flies on four continents, more than 120 pilots have completed its training, its order book is full for three years and it plans to deliver up to 50 aircraft this year. Astro will be on show at UP.Summit at Kennedy Space Center on November 7 and 8.
Bottom line: The demonstrations in today's edition are more trustworthy than any timeline attached to them. Tesla's stunts, GBT's cells and Jetson's aircraft all hold up as demonstrations, and none of that tells you when you can buy one or what it will be like to live with. The EVs worth spending on right now are the unglamorous ones that already work: a $28,995 Bolt for a driver willing to plan around thin networks, or a bZ XLE Plus if 314 miles matters more than all-wheel drive. Put down a Roadster deposit only with money you can leave alone.
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