Pizzuto to Musk: The future of electric vehicles is on the roads, not on walls

With 20 years of experience in electric vehicles, friend Gianfranco Pizzuto criticizes Elon Musk and his latest creation, the Tesla Roadster. “Even a hypercar must make sense when its wheels touch the asphalt,” writes the co-founder of Fisker Automotive — which produced the plug-in hybrid sports car Fisker Karma — and founder of Automobili Estrema, the startup that developed the Fulminea electric hypercar project, on LinkedIn.

Given that “Elon Musk has accustomed us to thinking outside the box. And this is undoubtedly one of his greatest merits,” and acknowledging that the Roadster’s presentation was “an extraordinary media spectacle,” Pizzuto wonders, “What’s the use of all this in real life? What’s the point of a car that can climb walls? Or accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in less than a second? Certainly to amaze. To get people talking. To show how far technology can go. But is this really the direction automotive innovation should take?”

As early as 1928 in Bolzano…

Pizzuto also takes a brief historical digression to remind us that “Nearly a hundred years ago, in 1928, a fellow South Tyrolean from my region, Max Valier, born in Bolzano, was already experimenting with rocket-powered cars in collaboration with Opel. One of these, the Opel RAK.2, even reached 238 km/h! It was 1928—almost a century ago. In short, Elon, we were already experimenting with rockets on cars here a hundred years ago!”

The real challenge? Lighter, safer, more efficient cars

Pizzuto believes “the real challenge is another one.” It’s to build “cars that are lighter, more efficient, and safer, capable of delivering outstanding performance without sacrificing range, comfort, or the pleasure of driving.”

"Don’t get me wrong — he concludes — I adore technological challenges and I’m convinced hypercars must keep pushing the limits of what’s possible. But innovation shouldn’t be measured only by what a car can do during a show, but rather by what it can offer once the show is over. Because in the end, no matter how spectacular a rocket on four wheels might be, I still think the future of cars is built primarily on roads — not on walls." How can you disagree?

READ ALSO: “Pizzuto has another idea: retrokits for 500, Panda, and Lancia Y at almost zero cost” and watch the VIDEO

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