Tesla Roadster Flew at Its Texas Debut: Three Thruster Trims, Sub-One-Second 0-60, Due in 2028
At an event outside Waco, Texas, Tesla demonstrated its redesigned Roadster lifting itself off the ground with cold-gas thrusters, then announced three trims with production planned for 2028.
Tesla put its second-generation Roadster into the air on Thursday night. At a livestreamed event outside Waco, Texas, the car drove up an inverted ramp with help from high-powered fans and cold-gas thrusters, spun around, and eased itself back down to the pavement, according to TechCrunch, which covered the event. In a second demonstration, the Roadster lifted itself up and over a Cybercab, Cybertruck, Tesla Semi, Model Y, and Model 3 while moving.
"Well, it worked," chief executive Elon Musk said at the event, according to The Times. "Flying cars are real."
Musk said the car on stage is the one Tesla plans to sell. "This will be the actual car that’s on the roads," he said, according to TechCrunch. "It literally is just going to puff itself up, and uh, and be able to do this, these maneuvers whenever you’d like." Tesla also showed the Roadster going from 0 to 60 miles per hour in one second.
How the thrusters work
Lars Moravy, Tesla’s vice president of vehicle engineering, said at the event that the Roadster uses 10 thrusters fed by 600 liters of compressed air to lift and spin the car in midair, according to TechCrunch. The tank can be recharged. In a post on X, Tesla said "every usable void in the car" holds Carbon Fiber Overwrapped Pressure Vessels, or COPVs.
Musk first described the thruster idea in 2018, writing on Twitter that a "SpaceX option package for new Tesla Roadster will include ~10 small rocket thrusters arranged seamlessly around car," adding that they "dramatically improve acceleration, top speed, braking & cornering" and "maybe they will even allow a Tesla to fly."
Three trims and the 2028 plan
Tesla plans to sell three versions of the Roadster, according to TechCrunch. The two-seat "Performance" trim is described as road ready, with active aerodynamics and a multi-mode suction system. The two-seat "Thrust" trim is race ready, with rear-mounted cold-gas thrusters that enable sub-one-second 0-60 times. The one-seat "Rocket" trim, described as air ready, carries 10 cold-gas thrusters positioned around the car.
Tesla says all three trims will have 300 miles of range and top speeds above 230 mph. The company is taking reservations: $50,000 for the Performance trim and $250,000 for the Thrust trim, with the Rocket trim listed as invite only.
Musk said Tesla will build the car in 2028, though he did not name a price for the vehicle itself.
Reaction to the demo was mixed. YouTuber Marques Brownlee, who has reserved Roadsters in the past, posted on Thursday: "They really just got on stage and said this newly designed 4000+ pound car can do flips and go half the speed of sound (380+mph) and will ship in 2028. This is a prank, right?"
Musk has downplayed the car’s financial significance before. At the event he said he is "not sure it moves the needle massively from a revenue standpoint," according to TechCrunch. Earlier this year, on a podcast, he said that "if safety is your number one goal, do not buy the Roadster." He added that Tesla would "aspire not to kill anyone in this car."
The new Roadster was shown in stark white, with an angular design that Tesla said was inspired by the SR-71 and F-35 fighter planes. The event took place almost nine years after Tesla first showed a second-generation Roadster prototype in 2017.
Reporting based on coverage by TechCrunch and The Times.
