- It has taken 9 years, but Tesla has finally revealed the new Roadster.
- Car features suction fan and ten rocket thrusters.
- Flying version 'definitely buyable' says Musk.
It's taken nine years, but Tesla has finally revealed the production version of its Roadster. Which isn't a roadster at all, but rather a low-slung super-coupe that looks like a cross between a Cybertruck and a classic Lotus Esprit. Maybe a Lamborghini Countach.
Let's cut to the chase... or the flight. The design and engineering team has delivered on Elon Musk's original promise that the Roadster would have rocket thrusters.
A live demonstration in Texas during the live-stream event in Texas showed the Roadster hanging upside down, flipping off the top of a loop and returning to earth using its own rockets, and jumping a lineup of the current Tesla fleet of models (including the Tesla Semi).
The Roadster uses a fan-suction system (like the McMurtry Speirling), but also boasts compressed air thrusters and 10 individual outlets controlled by electric actuators, to manoeuvre itself in the air. What look like exhaust tips are four of those rocket nozzles. During the presentation Musk said the car could recharge its own 600-litre tank.
Tesla also demonstrated an acceleration run where the Roadster hit 60mph (96km/h) in 0.81 seconds.
Musk suggested there might be more demonstrations to come, including a jump over Snake River Canyon in Idaho - a feat attempted by Evel Knievel in 1974 on a rocket-powered motorcycle. He failed.
The Roadster is scheduled to go into production in 2028. Tesla has not released the more car-adjacent specification of the Roadster, such as battery and motor size. While the demonstration car was remotely driven ("so we don't kill anyone, said Musk"), the company says it's definitely a machine designed to be manually driven.
Nor has the company defined exactly how legal all this stuff is. A member of the crowd asked if it was street legal, and Musk replied: "It depends on your street".
But he assured the Roadster as revealed will definitely be "buyable".
It's online now for order via the Tesla US website in three versions.
The Performance has seating for two, with active aero and the "multi-mode suction system". No rockets then.
The Thrust version is "race ready" and adds the "acceleration thrusters" at the rear. Both require an immediate US$5000 deposit, and another $45k within 10 days.
The Roadster Rocket only seats one but has the full flight system. It's an invitation only order, and you'll need to stump up $5k straight away... then another $245k.
