0-60 in less than a second? The Dreame electric rocket-powered car sounds like a sci-fi dream

There’s a fine line between ambitious and preposterous in Dreame’s latest film Eve The concept doesn’t so much walk this line as launch clearly above it.

Unveiled Monday at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, the Nebula Next 01 Jet Edition has arrived with a ridiculous claim that’s hard to ignore and even harder to take seriously: a sub-one-second speed to 62 mph, achieved not just with electric propulsion, but with the help of solid-state rocket boosters.

It’s the kind of presentation designed to make everyone stop and take notice — and to be fair, it does — but once the initial shock wears off, the questions begin to pile up quickly.

Dreame, a Chinese company that is famous in the United States for its products Excellent robot vacuumsis the force behind Nebula Auto Branch. This axis alone may raise eyebrows, but it is not without precedent. Dyson famously discovered Building an electric car before that effort was abandoned in 2019, and today’s scene is more tolerant of non-traditional entrants. Companies like Xiaomi It has already proven that consumer tech brands can make the leap, at least in China’s domestic market.

What is less proven is whether these companies are able to bend the laws of physics.

The Jet Edition is based on the already ambitious Next 01 concept that was shown off earlier this year at Consumer Electronics Show 2026a four-motor electric sedan with 1,876 hp (1,399 kW) and acceleration from 0 to 62 mph in approximately 1.8 seconds. That number alone would put it firmly in supercar territory. For context, Bugatti Chirona benchmark for extreme acceleration, runs the same sprint in about 2.4 seconds.

Nebula’s engineers were not satisfied. According to the company, it ran into a familiar constraint: traction. There is only so much acceleration all four tires can achieve before you lose control, no matter how much force you put on them. Instead of improving on this limitation, Nebula says it chose to bypass it entirely by adding thrust. Hence the missiles.

The company says the Jet Edition can reach 62 mph in 0.9 seconds using a pair of solid-state rocket boosters mounted on the chassis. It’s a number that, if accurate, would put it in a realm typically reserved for specialized drag racing machines, not road-going vehicles. Here doubt becomes inevitable.

Solid-state rockets are, by design, expendable. It burns its own fuel in a single use, which raises immediate questions about practicality. How often can this system be used? What does refueling look like, assuming it’s even possible outside of controlled environments? What is the cost? None of these details have been addressed.

Then there is the issue of safety and legality. A car capable of producing thousands of pounds of thrust — and presumably a visible exhaust flame — would face formidable regulatory hurdles in almost any market. Even putting aside the certification, it is difficult to imagine how this system could coexist with ordinary road users without incurring major risks.

Notably, none of this was shown live. The Jet Edition remained stationary throughout the presentation, and its rocket system was limited to promotional shots and on-stage claims.

Beyond the headline-grabbing propulsion system, Dreame has outlined a broader vision for the Next 01 platform, one that leans heavily toward electromechanical design and solid-state battery technology. The company described a “robotics-based” chassis that features dry electromechanical brakes instead of traditional hydraulics, along with an active suspension system that uses magnetic actuators.

These ideas are not completely out of the field. The industry has been gradually moving toward brake-by-wire systems and more software-defined vehicle dynamics. But as with rocket boosters, much of this is here as theory rather than as a proven capability.

The same applies to the car’s AI architecture. Dreame positions its SEWE AI Agent as a high-performance “brain” responsible for everything from autonomous driving to cybersecurity to what it calls “emotional intelligence” — a system designed to learn driver behavior and act as a companion of sorts. It’s an expansive, buzzword-filled offering, but at the event, the only visible manifestation of this intelligence was the AI-generated video reels of the Next 01 and 01 Jet Edition. I couldn’t look inside the booth, and the program wasn’t shown live.

If there was a truly compelling piece of technology in the room, it wasn’t the missiles. It was lidar. Dreame Technology’s DHX1 sensor is described as the world’s first full-color lidar system, capable of capturing RGB color data along with point-specific depth information. On paper, the specifications are strong: 4K resolution, 4320 channels, and a detection range of up to 600 metres, with the ability to detect low-reflection objects at a distance of 400 metres. More importantly, incorporating color into 3D point clouds can reduce reliance on separate camera systems, potentially simplifying vehicle perception of autonomous driving and assistance systems and reducing computational overhead.

This is a development that has clear, realistic implications and feels more in line with the actual direction of the industry and with the company’s proven strengths.

Dreame says production of the Next 01 lineup, including the 01X SUV and Jet Edition, could begin in China as early as late 2026, and reach customers in 2027. It remains to be seen if any of these vehicles will go beyond concept form. Bringing them to the United States will be more complicated, given increased regulatory scrutiny of Chinese automakers and broader geopolitical tensions around the auto industry.

Additionally, the startup automaker has said nothing about pricing. The 01 and 01X will reportedly be offered in two-, three- and four-motor configurations, but with such a high level of technology and performance claimed, they likely won’t come cheap.

For now, the Jet Edition feels less like a preview of the future and more like an exercise in science fiction and the economics of attention — a way to stand out in a crowded EV landscape by making claims big enough that they can’t be ignored. Mission accomplished on that front.