Every time California gas prices flirt with $5 a gallon, many motorheads dream of a car that can power itself. One perennial concept is an electric car covered in solar panels. And while the idea is nifty, experts predict that even a Cybertruck covered in our best solar panels would only get about 15 miles of range a day. What about something with a little more…juice? What about a nuclear-powered car?
I know what you’re thinking—Is that even possible?
Think about it this way: The United States Navy has dozens of nuclear-powered submarines. And while that’s a big vehicle, history shows that most technologies get more compact as we refine them. So is a nuclear reactor under your hood a matter of “when” and not “if?”
The Ford “Nucleon” nuclear car debuted 65 years ago
Ford imagined so in 1958. That’s when it debuted the Nucleon concept car, which had space for a nuclear reactor behind the passenger compartment. And no, it wasn’t truly nuclear-powered. It was a scale model with room for a compact reactor Ford hoped scientists would develop soon.
Here are the nuts and bolts: If the Nucleon used submarine technology, it would split uranium inside its reactor, releasing heat and turning water into steam. That steam would spin a turbine, generate electricity, and power electric motors.
Ford imagined you would drive for about 5,000 miles before “refueling” with fresh uranium. For safety’s sake, you might just take it into a dealership and have the entire reactor unit swapped out so professionals could recharge the old one.
“The Nucleon was styled on the assumption that the present bulkiness and weight of nuclear reactors and attendant shielding will some day be reduced. It seems reasonable to suppose that engineers eventually will discover a way to make this weight reduction possible.”
— George W. Walker, Vice President for Styling at Ford
Scaling down nuclear reactors is taking a minute
Scientists are still trying to shrink reactor technology. In 2018, NASA unveiled its Kilopower reactor project. That prototype is just six feet tall. With chrome stacks, it would look dope sticking out of the hood of a futuristic hot rod. But don’t start chopping up your Tesla just yet.
The first Kilopower reactor only produces 1 kW of electricity. That’s enough for deep-space probes but nowhere near the 50 kW a Tesla Model 3’s motor demands under acceleration. And that’s before you account for climate controls, lights, and other systems.
So why is Rolls-Royce’s engineering division researching small nuclear reactors? Private investors and the U.K. government are backing the company’s development of small modular reactors (SMRs) to power municipalities. These mini power plants occupy about one-tenth the size of a conventional nuclear plant and could power a million homes.
An SMR is defined by being assembled in a factory (like a car) and shipped to the final location, instead of being built on site. This reduces the cost and increases build quality–and thus safety.
But what about nuclear cars?
Even the most compact modular reactors still need around five feet of shielding, according to the AutoTrader YouTube channel. This shielding adds weight and bulk that would make cars impractical. Worse, shielding and containment structures in nuclear power stations are made from feet of lead and concrete.
Even if you could shrink shielding, imagine a highway pileup with every car carrying a nuclear reactor instead of an engine. That’s a recipe for a catastrophic meltdown. So even if we build smaller reactors, it makes more sense to keep them stationary—like a gas station—so they can charge up battery-powered cars instead.
To see a full breakdown of the nuclear car debate, check out AutoTrader’s video:
