Here’s A Refresher On Everything Elon Said The Tesla Roadster Is Supposed To Be Before Its Big Reveal Tonight

Ah, the Tesla Roadster! It was a Tesla Roadster that brought Tesla into this world, before even Elon was involved, and its rebirth has been discussed at least since 2017 when the new Roadster was first announced. The specs quoted for the roadster way back then, in a time when nobody knew what COVID was and Craftsman was still owned by Sears, were deliriously optimistic: a 0-60 time of 1.9 seconds and a range of 620 miles, and a top speed of 250 mph. Those are wild numbers, and later speculative specs of the Roadster would just get wilder over time.

Some things, however, have remained the same since 2017: the price seems to still be expected to be about $200-$250,000, and if you’re very eager to have one, you can plop down $50,000 right now to reserve one. Well, more specifically, you can plop down $5,000 right now, and then you have ten days to wire the remaining $45,000. The five grand is refundable should you reluctantly change your mind or wise up, depending on what mood you’re in.

Getting back that $5,000 deposit has proven tricky for some well-known reservation holders as we have reported about here last year, but it does seem to be possible, or that’s at least what the agreement states. It also may be worth mentioning that the Roadster was supposed to be available for sale six years ago, in 2020.

250+mph top speed, 200kWh battery pack, 620 miles range, 1.9 0-60mph time, 8.9 second 1/4 mile. "These numbers sound unreal but they're not" says Musk.

— David Undercoffler (@autolist_dave) November 17, 2017

There’s a nicely barrel-aged tweet talking about the Roadster’s specs from 2017, just to give some period-correct confirmation, and to note that it quotes Musk saying “we are building it now” of the Roadster.

This wasn’t nearly enough, though; the next year Elon Musk, Tesla’s reclusive and humble CEO, announced that there would be some cross-pollination with technology from the rocket company he also owns, SpaceX:

The idea of using reaction-control rockets on a car isn’t exactly a new one; back in 2012, I wrote about such an idea for The Old Site, mostly in the context of improving handling:

…and auto parts supplier Bosch also demonstrated a rocket-based system for motorcycles designed to help bikes maintain stability even when faced with sudden changes in road surface friction:

I mention these mostly to note that while the concept of rocket-assisted cars sounds like wild science fiction, it’s not entirely unheard of or untested, and could be a thing. Maybe. Elon’s claims about what the system could do, though, seemed to be less about stability and handling and more about raw speed and, if not flying, hopping.

In 2024, he referenced a “Tesla/SpaceX collab” again:

…and also claimed that production design was complete, it would be unveiled at the end of 2024, and shipping in 2025. The estimates for 0-60 times started to get more and more surprising as well, dropping from early estimates of 1.9 seconds, then to 1.1 seconds, and then to less than a second:

Less than a second is absurdly fast. Fast to the point where I think it’s likely unusable. When Musk had claimed a 0-60 time of 1.1 seconds, I reached out to our feral physicist, Dr.Stephen Granade, and asked him to help break down the physics and explain what would be the sort of forces required for such rates of acceleration:

“Another word for “thrust” is “force,” and force is equal to mass times acceleration. I’ll assume the Roadster speeds up at a constant acceleration, which probably isn’t true but is close enough for my purposes. To get to 60 MPH in 1.1 seconds, the car needs an acceleration of a touch over 24 meters per second squared, or nearly 2.5 g. Going back to high school physics, we know the force required will be that acceleration times the car’s mass. The battery pack may be around 800 kg, so I’ll assume that the car will be around 1600 kg. That means the car needs nearly 39,000 newtons of thrust to reach that speed.”

Now, in short bursts, 2.5g isn’t particularly dangerous, and less than one second to 60 would be about 2.75g (still pretty safe) and 43,000 newtons of thrust. So, it could do that without killing you, which is a nice perk in any car, but that doesn’t mean it makes any sense. As Elon himself noted, the gas used for the thrusters would need to be contained in a rocket-like COPV (Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel) bottle, which would be replenished with some kind of onboard compressors and pumps. Such a pressure vessel would likely take up a considerable amount of room in the car.

Note, gas contained would be ultra high pressure air in a SpaceX rocket COPV bottle. The air exiting the thrusters would immediately be replenished whenever vehicle pack power draw allowed operation of the air pump, which is most of the time.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 10, 2018

I think the teaser image is referencing these cold-gas thrusters. The teaser image shows what seems to be the rear of the roadster, with its full-width taillight, what seems to be a large wing, and four rear-facing thrusters:

So, based on this, I would guess we can expect at least four thrusters, which would provide a burst of acceleration. Will there be other thrusters situated around the body for handling/stopping/hopping use? Maybe? How loud will these things be? Will the force of the ejected gas behind the car be an issue for any cars behind the Roadster? Is such a system even street legal? How long would a burst be, and how long will it take to recharge the system for the next one? I have many questions.

The teaser image of the Roadster also seems to contain at least one hidden message, which you can see if you screw with the exposure and curves enough in Photoshop:

That text seems to be a partial quote from Back To The Future, where, at the end of the movie, Doc Brown, in his time-traveling DeLorean, tells Marty that “where we’re going, we don’t need roads,” and then the car proceeds to take off into the air, clarifying the reason for his statement. You remember:

I mean, I guess that could also mean they’re headed to the ocean, but I think the implication here is a flying car. So is the Tesla Roadster going to actually fly? I doubt that. Hop? Maybe? Why you’d want to isn’t really clear, but I suppose it could be fun; lowriders have been doing that for decades, and they seem to have a pretty good time.

If we tally up all of the promises and hints and speculation, and just take everything at Tesla’s word – which hasn’t exactly been a recipe for success in the past – then we may be looking at a Tesla Roadster that can go 0-60 in less than a second, thanks to additional thrust from at least four cold-gas thrusters, a range of over 600 miles because, sure, why not, and a top speed of 250 mph or so. All for $250,000. Is that an impressive set of features? Hell yeah it is. Staggering, even.

Will it make for a fun Roadster? That I don’t know. The traditional idea of a roadster is a small, light, open-topped, fun car that’s engaging to drive. It’s not about the tech or raw speed or numbers; it’s about driving something that’s fun. Think MGs and Miatas and Triumphs and Austin-Healeys and Datsun Fairladys and Honda Beats and that sort of thing. Simple, easy, visceral automotive fun.

Will this new Tesla Roadster be fun? Like, genuinely enjoyable to drive? I hope so. My fear is that this will end up being a tech marvel that misses the point of what a roadster should be in favor of being able to hit a button and lurch forward, propelled by jets of gas shooting out back. That’s a fun stunt, sure, but if you owned the car, how often are you really going to be using that? Is the sensation going to be that much different than getting kicked down some stairs?

Maybe it’ll be great! Maybe this thing will be an absolute blast to drive and you’ll feel like it was $250,000 well spent. I hope so! I guess we’ll find out tonight!

Top graphic images: Tesla; DepositPhotos.com