Tesla’s new prototype car might just have more acceleration than popular vehicles like the Bugatti Veyron or the Koenigsegg Agera RS. But that was back in 2019 when Elon Musk first promised that his 2020 Tesla Roadster would include a 200kwh battery pack. The roadster would have been able to have a top speed of 249mph and 620 miles of range. The prototype back in 2019 was able to do 0-62 mph in just 1.9 seconds.
Now, however, it seems Tesla plans to improve the Roadster in every way. Leaks have surfaced that the upcoming Tesla roadster would be able to do 0-60mph in 1.1 seconds with an optional SpaceX rocket thruster option. An improvement was suspected since Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla Chief Designer, made an announcement in October 2019 that the Roadster would be better than the prototype at that time in every way.
Still going from 0 to 60mph in just 1.1 seconds is almost impossible to believe, it would’ve been absurd if Elon Musk hadn’t confirmed it himself. In a reply to a tweet, the technoking confirmed himself that the SpaceX thruster package was real. You can view the tweet below.
As always you should always take Musk’s tweets with a grain of salt but it seems it is true this time as the Tesla Roadster is currently on display at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles. The display includes information on the car’s specifications as well which confirms the rumors.
The display reads that “Demonstrating the versatility of electric power and adding extra distinction to the car’s already high performance, an announced SpaceX package would outfit the Roadster with cold air rocket thrusters positioned at the rear, allowing for a 0-to-60-mph (96 km/h) acceleration time of 1.1 seconds – largely unprecedented among modern road cars”.
Going from 0 to 60 mph in 1.1 seconds would almost be instant. It would be hard to control the accelerator to make sure that the car doesn’t accelerate that fast accidentally. I guess there will be safety systems in place. This isn’t even the most absurd thing we’ve heard about the car. Musk wants to make it hover as well.
In an interview with Joe Rogan, back in February this year, Musk ambitiously claimed that “I want it to hover, and I was trying to figure out how to make this thing hover without, you know, killing people. Maybe it can hover like a meter above the ground or something like that. If you plummet it’ll blow out the suspension but you’re not gonna die. Maybe, I don’t know, six feet. If we put a height limit on it, it will probably be fine”.
It will probably be fine. Seems like that is Musk’s philosophy to life. No news confirms when the Tesla Roadster will be available for purchase but the company is targeting for a 2022 release but it could be delayed considering Musk’s ambitious plans for the car.