The Jetsons Promised Us Jet-Propelled Cars of the Future. Here's Why That'll Never Happened

Steam can create tremendous power, but it doesn’t last long.

Photo by: Garage 54

By: Anthony Alaniz

Jun 15, 2025 at 11:00am ET

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Automakers are on a massive quest to find alternative fuel sources. Some believe batteries are the future, while other, more skeptical minds are exploring hydrogen, synthetics, and other alternatives in hopes of keeping the combustion engine alive. However, they might have overlooked a far more exciting alternative—jet propulsion.

A new Garage 54 video attempts to find out if you can propel a car entirely by high-pressure steam, and it turns out that yes, you can. However, it doesn’t appear to be an efficient, effective, or safe alternative to gasoline, electric vehicles, or walking. In fact, it's quite the opposite.

The crew outfitted an old Lada with external braces to hold the high-pressure tank that they filled with water. They then built a fire around the tank to create the necessary steam inside, but it took them several attempts to get it to work right.

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However, the system finally worked, propelling the little Lada across the field before running out of steam. The pressure was strong enough to deform the vehicle’s structure, revealing the tremendous power water and fire can create in specific conditions, but it’s a short-lived source of propulsion.

It took the Garage 54 team several hours to get it working, and in a world where our cars must be reliable, waiting around to create enough steam to make it all the way to work would take too much time. Sadly, jet-powered cars are not the future, no matter what the Jetsons promised. The massive jet of steam out the back isn’t practical or safe, even if it looks cool.