“Something extraordinary”: Tesla Roadster impresses with compressed air thrusters for limited flight
After a two-week delay, the Tesla (TSLA) Roadster event went ahead with a huge bang – a flying event.
The wedge-shaped, cyberpunk-looking Roadster EV appeared in front of an inverted half-roller coaster ramp erected at SpaceX’s facility in Waco, Texas. The Roadster rolled halfway up – stuck to the ramp using a vacuum fan system – then took off from the ramp upside down and flipped in the air, using pneumatic thrusters to right itself and land on the tarmac.
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Then the Roadster performed a similar stunt, jumping over several Teslas (including a semi), inverted, then used its thrusters to land – an automaker first.
“Well, it worked,” CEO Elon Musk deadpanned.
The Roadster also went from 0 to 60 mph in less than a second (0.81 seconds) in a Tesla test conducted at the event. While Tesla claimed the car could reach a top speed of 230 mph, Musk boasted that the production version could aim for half the speed of sound, or Mach 0.5 (383 mph).
So when can you expect to get one? “We will go into production in 2028,” Musk said.
Tesla said the car was available in three configurations:
Performance: Road-ready, 2-seater, with multi-mode vacuum system for next-level performance on and off the track;
Thrust: Race ready, 2 seats, with multi-mode vacuum system and rear-mounted cold gas thrusters that deliver 0-60 in <1 second
Rocket: Air ready, 1 seats, with multi-mode vacuum system, plus perimeter-mounted cold gas thrusters for forward acceleration, upward acceleration and side-to-side rotational movement. So… yes, he can fly.
Tesla said all three versions have a range of more than 300 miles, with a top speed of up to 230 mph for the Rocket version.
Officially, in terms of performance, 0-60 mph across the full range is <1.6 seconds for Performance, <0.9 seconds for Thrust, and <0.59 seconds for Rocket.
We do not yet know how the Rocket version, with its thrusters allowing short flights, would be authorized on public roads.
The event took place two weeks after the original reveal date of October 1. Tesla said the reveal was pushed back due to weather conditions at the demonstration site, SpaceX’s Rocket Development and Test Facility (SPCX) in Waco, Texas.
Tesla asks potential buyers to pay a $5,000 deposit, followed by a $45,000 bank transfer due within 10 days of the initial deposit for the performance version and a $250,000 deposit for the push variant. The rocket version is by invitation only; no MSRP amount has been released.
““There were hints that the Tesla Roadster could do something extraordinary, but I think what happened in Texas on Thursday night far exceeded everyone’s expectations,” said Henry Catchpole, host of Hagerty’s “The Driver’s Seat,” who was at the event. “It remains to be seen how all of this will translate into a finished, usable, enthusiast-pleasing road car. For now, it appears to be an incredible engineering achievement“.
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