Who doesn’t like a surprise? That’s probably what Elon Musk was thinking when he was trying to figure out the best way to announce the return of the Tesla Roadster.
So after tonight’s reveal of the Tesla Semi, a truck with a claimed 500-mile range, 5-second 0-60mph performance, and a better drag coefficient than a Bugatti Chiron, he pulled one more announcement out of the hat. Or as it happened, out of the back of the Semi!
Imagine a sports car that accelerates from 0-60mph in 1.9-seconds, 0-100mph in 4.2 seconds, and smashes through the quarter-mile in 8.9-seconds. If I said this car had an internal combustion engine you’d reply with a big, ‘yeah right, total BS!’, and you’d be right for doing so. But in the realm of electric cars anything is seemingly possible, and numbers like these actually become believable. If you’ve been in either of the dual-motor Teslas you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.
These are the numbers Tesla is claiming its new convertible Roadster will be capable of. Here are a few more numbers: a 620-mile (1,000km) range; a top speed of over 250mph (402km/h); a US$200,000 base price plus another $50K to get your name on the waiting list.
While the Tesla design language is undeniable, the Roadster’s sleek profile makes it a rather pleasant thing to look at, something that can’t really be said for the Model X or Model 3. Packaged within its chassis is a 200kWh battery pack which will be the secret to the car’s claimed performance capabilities.
While Musk promises the car will arrive in 2020, that’s actually not important. Yes, it will likely be late like every other Tesla model has been, but in the end it will come, and its on-paper performance will pretty much bury every supercar and hypercar of today and the next couple of years. In doing so the Roadster will become the fastest production car ever made, and also the first production car with a sub-9-second quarter-mile ET.
What Tesla needs to get right is everything else. To play ball at this level a car must also handle and be able to reward its driver with a worthy experience; it’s not all about straight line acceleration. Porsche, for example, knows a thing or two about this and its Mission E will surely excel in all areas.
No matter which way you look at it, EVs are changing the performance car landscape at an exponential rate, and that future is coming faster than anyone could have imagined.
Dino Dalle Carbonare
Instagram: speedhunters_dino
dino@speedhunters.com
Photos: Tesla
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Both the new Roadster & The semi has shocking performance... alright, I'll go.
More on the truck!
Am I the only one that's a little concerned by the thought of a semi truck that can out accelerate atleast 90% of the other vehicles around it? I'm assuming that this would be limited for everyday use and that this would further extend it's range
truck drivers already take caution slamming their brakes and jerking their vehicles around in general. This will be no different. If they want to keep their cargo and job in tact they will drive accordingly. Nothing would need to be dampened.
It would probably destroy many types of cargoes as well, I'm thinking bottles or eggs.
The amount of safety features on this - to think that some lout could hop in a drive it like it's stolen is laughable. Just because the figures seem boggling it doesn't mean that it will be aggressive. Reality of it is more efficient driving - eg being able to over take a traditional truck on a hill without causing traffic to get stuck behind if there is only 2 lanes (as an obvious example).
Have you driven a Tesla before? It's smooth as butter power delivery. I would assume this would've been a fairly big consideration with the power delivery
My kidneys and eyes hurt already ....1.9 seconds!
Tesla has not made ANY profit so far, but they are the kings of press releases and revealings.
When you are shooting to win the entire future, a few years at a loss is NOTHING.
Dude is so ahead he's practically from a sci-fi novel.
Every playstation sold with blu-ray was sold at a lost. However it was the battle between HDD and Blu-ray and sony own blu-ray. Blu-ray one and now sony gets a cut of every single blu-ray that is made. The short coming of selling the playstations at a loss was a blip in comparison to the profits now being made with blu-rays.
Tesla is pioneering the electric transport game and is heavily invested in it's battery technology which is where it will be making a huge share of it's profits once its all hitting 100% production capacity. Cars like this are an awesome side project to where the real money will be made (and far more glamourous).
UBS reckons Tesla will run out of cash in 2018 with the aggressive burn rate they have now.
But only in a straight line if Tesla keeps the lame and not connected handling the current models have....
It's an American car. Is it supposed to do anything else?
(no Corvette references please, it will ruin my punchline)
4 wheel steering - 4 wheel drive - active aero - batteries at a super low centre of gravity... I think it will turn corns pretty damn well.
I do believe it could work. but currently most electric cars have had too much weight.
So far Tesla made ZERO profit as a company, but they are the kings of press releases and announcements. Nice balloon they got there.
Come on Dino, i'm sure you also know this is true
Tesla is purely here to shake up the market.
Oh great, another soulless car with acceleration you can't really use made to grab headlines.
I wonder when he'll make a fairly affordable car that's also fun to drive as well? And the point to a roadster when there's no engine noise?
The website is called Speed Hunters. Acceleration and top speed are a pretty big deal around here. Personally I'd rather have a car that performs exceptionally well over a car that has "soul" whatever that means.
*when you essentially render everything that drifting stands for as stupid*, teslas are made for people who dont actually have a car for the sake of driving but rather to be faster than the guy who built/ purchased (either or) his car for his enjoyment. take matt powers s14 for example, back when it was ka-t everyone went nuts for it, it got people exited for drifting, now that his car has been turned to (as most a most of us can agree) a complete monster on the track no one even gives it a second look or even cares about it or would even give it a second look. besides a teslas power is all low speed, no different to a dodge demon with a short ratio box and truth be told a demon would corner better too.
this guy is the reason the manual transmission is dying.
probably the same type that calls nicki minaj a "musician" while wondering who nile rodgers is.
rip anything having a soul anymore, because people are too unintelligent to understand what it was.
OHhhhhh shit! That reply was a cannon ball. Good Nile Rogers reference too!
The title says it. I pretty much feel slapped in the face
Sub 2-seconds to 60! I cannot imagine what that feels like.
"This week on Top Gear, Tesla Roaster vs a Top Fuel dragster..."
I still remember about those Model 3 production numbers Musk was talking about, and what happened in reality. Tesla often makes big promises, bet when it comes to fulfilling them, their record isn’t great. So until they'll show production Roadster doing 0-60 in 1.9 seconds it'll be just claims and nothing more.
The model S already does 0-60 in just under 2.3 in "Ludicrous" mode so if going to 2 doors entails a significant weight saving then 1.9 doesn't seem to far fetched at all. Of course it will probably only do that in "Ludicrous" mode or something with regular acceleration set somewhere around 0-60 in 3 seconds.
Can't wait to see how this performs against other sports cars. Looks promising.
And as far as those semi trucks go, I'll wait to see how they go. Again, looks promising.
This is mad. I prefer a petrol engine and a manual but you cant deny how incredible Tesla's are. This just ups the ante even more.
The semi is such a great idea too. With auto pilot it'll be exactly like the one in the Simpsons hahaha
Even more incredible is amount of their outrageous promises that they failed to fulfill.
The number of comments against Telsa smell kinda fishy...all saying the same thing, but changing the wording ever so slightly..
But, that's a damn good looking car in my opinion..I don't care if it's electric. Whether you like it or not, we need to give these electric and hybrid cars a chance, for the sake of our environment.
I'm an "internal combustion guy" through and through, but I'd much rather out society do what's necessary to help save our environment. So, if that means that most or all of future cars are fully electric or hybrid, then I'm totally fine with that.
I don't want to get off topic, but geologically speaking we are not saving the earth by doing stuff like this. The earth doesn't need people to save it. If the human race dies off the planet will be completely fine. It will rebuild absolutely zero problem. Also on a long enough time the earth is will be consumed by the sun becoming a red giant. Earth is fucked.
The number of comments supporting Tesla smell kinda fishy...all saying the same thing, but changing the wording ever so slightly.
All of the them saying that they are internal combustion guys, and how amazing Tesla is for saving the environment. Good luck with that, considering that most power stations use coal or nuclear materials to produce electricity. And amount of electricity made by wind turbines, solar batteries etc. is ridiculously small.
Check european countries electric mix, (1/3 or superior isnt ridiculously small at all) Come back and reply.
Anyways, if you attach the emissions in the process of generating electricity to the ev's, attach to the ices the emissions in extracting and refining fuels. Now it's a balance comparison.
Tesla, why do u have to steal my car designs language in some senses ; - ;
Have they addressed the overheating issues which cased previous Tesla's to limp after a few spirited laps?
A few laps? A lot of times it won't even last one.
Yeah I don't think this will really be a hardcore track tool. Just an insanely fast street car.
US government money spent wisely
Yeah! I hate that they didn't use the money for more of those bargain F35s or another tax break for the .01% !!!
Those CEO bonuses don't grow on trees, ya know!
You do understand if North Korea had those F35s / nukes / a huge ass military and we didn't we would probably be speaking Korean right now, right? Car culture would be pretty interesting then!
What does this mean for the ICE? How many more years do we have with it?
Something tells me that our world will one day be one where the technologies of FTL and ICE exist side-by-side - Star Trek with V8s.
Don't know for how many years, but definetely more than delusional environmentalists think.
I thought he meant In Car Entertainment rather then polar bear mattresses.
Looks like an Rx8 meets F-type. Very good-looking...
And unaffordable. I can afford a car at sub-10 grand, so new cars are not attainable in reality for probably 10 years.. When they won't be wanted. I love the technology and the innovation behind these but the reality is I'll never own one.
Most of the public are in the same boat. Very interesting, very impressive, would love to drive one, however now back to Autotrader to look at 2.0 petrols.
It'll be interesting to see what the state of Tesla will be in 2020.
There is currently talk of ending the program of government subsidies and incentives. Which is the only reason Tesla even exists in the first place, along with most of Musk's enterprises.
If they can't sell their products at artificially low prices with taxpayers footing the bill, they're going to be in some heavy weather, financially.
None of the Tesla models have excited up until now, but I think the Roadster looks absolutely stunning and those performance figures are incredible: just needs the handling to match it now!
The exterior styling looks amazing! The one shot of the interior concerns me, the f1 esqe shape steering wheel? i hope that doesn't make it into production as that type of steering wheel implies that there will be only 360 degrees from lock to lock. That is extremely unlikely in a road car given the tight turning radius required for on the road driving. I am concerned that they will try some electronic wizardry that will leave a numb feeling in the handling.
I guess the main competition will be against the mission E, If porsche gets the handling and road feel down then this really wont stand a chance
lol aw man this guy's nuts. I was wondering when the next roadster would come out. Was this a car we knew was coming, or a total surprise?
Lol wow looks like some people are really butthurt about tesla, and people who like tesla. XD
Speedhunters comments section lit up with trolls!!!
Comments are also filled with Tesla fanboys who believe that everyone who's sceptical about Tesla is butthurt.
Turbo, that seems pretty specific to just me. I wouldn't call me a fanboy of anything. I think I might have trolled the trolls. It happens.
I dunno, it seems like the Tesla haters are butthurt.
Look like the designer has been chasing down Cayman GT4's. Gorgeous looking car and the arse of a Porsche certainly isn't a bad thing!
This thing better come with an integrated NHRA certified roll cage (like the Ford GT), and I also suggested it come with an integrated chute mount. The chute would be a great spot for a Tesla logo.... if it can hit those numbers and not actually make a pass down the strip, this would be an epic fail. (like the dodge demon....)
Right....
*goes off to find liberty walks bolt on body kit*
Still will never convince me to buy a Tesla, because they are actively trying to kill the internal combustion engine. Sorry, but it's still a no from me.
Same here! But I will very extremely picky if I will eventually buy one in the future, when the ICE will be banned on the streets.
Would be nice if they could throw in an ICE at least for sound. All the speed in the world still wouldn't make me actually pick this $250k car over a slower Ferrari, Lamborghini or McLaren. And compared to those cars, this car looks boring as fuck especially on the inside. This car is great until you place it next to it's competition, then it looses in all aspects save straight line performance. Not that I could afford any cars at that price point, if I could, a Tesla wouldn't even be a consideration.
Hold on here. While very exciting the language used is wrong.
Quickest production car was and still is the Porsche 918 with a 0-100kph time of 2.2 seconds.
Fastest production car is the Koenigsegg Agera RS at a speed of 457 kph.
So if/when this car ever sees the production light of day it will claim the throne of quickest car around.
Until then lets not forget its just a prototype and the two aforementioned cars above are beats in their own right.
Dino you forgot one number...
10,000 nm of torque
Is it weird this aroused me?
Yes.
Good numbers. The ultimate test on how fast the car is would be to be reliable enough to lap the Nuerburgring. And how much does that battery pack weigh if the 85 kWh on the Model S already weighs 540 kg?
Let's just hope it doesn't start to overheat and limit power on track within 2 minutes like all existing Teslas. And also let's hope it isn't too heavy. I just wish an EV like the Renault ZOE e Sport would be put into production, then maybe I would consider an EV.
I don't wanna have to say this but, I'm a little worried for the demon.
No information on the design team for the Tesla Roadster. Then one can assume that it is the same one as the other Tesla cars with Franz von Holzhausen who designed the Model S as lead with the Tesla design team. There is a family of design within all the Tesla models. Holzhausen came to Tesla in 2008 from Mazda. At Mazda Holzhausen was involved with the "Kabura" design theme. I saw the Mazda influence with the Models S debut. In this newest model I see this Mazda holdover in design and flow, in my mind that is a very good thing. I think Mazda design currently is as good as it gets. Their products now are pretty and the new concepts are gorgeous, Vision Concept and Kai Concept. The Roadster is a nice looking car.
Why do this car not excite me one bit, but the Nissan Skyline RS-X DR30 or Datsun 620 article cars does? I will get excited for EV cars when we get something cheap, reliable and accessible like the Omead Moinee AE86. The new manga from Initial D creator Shuichi Shigeno called MF Ghost have an interesting premise of the future with autonomous cars and car enthusiasts.
By its 2020 release will the roadster be as amazing as it is now? Competition?
As for the semi, it needs to be entered into that crazy racing series with the other semis.
"Imagine a sports car that accelerates from 0-60mph in 1.9-seconds, 0-100mph in 4.2 seconds, and smashes through the quarter-mile in 8.9-seconds. If I said this car had an internal combustion engine you’d reply with a big, ‘yeah right, total BS!’, and you’d be right for doing so."
I don't know. People have built such cars at home, so a car manufacturer should be able too to make one.
The future looked good on this one.