Considering it has a claimed top speed of 250 mph, the Tesla Roadster sure is taking a long time to arrive.
The second-generation sports car that was first revealed as a concept in 2017 had tentatively been scheduled for a reveal this April Fools’ Day, but Elon Musk in March said that it would miss the date and would instead debut “probably in late April.”
“Probably” being the key word. Musk updated the timing during this week’s first-quarter earnings call and the April showers will be long gone by the time of the unveiling.
“We may be able to debut that in a month or so,” Musk said. “It requires a lot of testing and validation before we can actually have a demo and not have something go wrong with the demo. I think it will be one of the most exciting product unveils ever. I’m not sure. I don’t think it moves the needle massively from a revenue standpoint, but it is very cool. I think it might be one of the most spectacular demos ever.”
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The Roadster is supposed to be equipped with a SpaceX cold thruster package that will improve its acceleration and allow it to “fly” to some extent. Given that Tesla knows how to make fast electric cars, it would appear that this technology is what’s holding things up.
Musk also reiterated his belief that the Roadster will one day be the last Tesla intended to be controlled by a human. ‘Long term, the only manually driven car will be the new Tesla Roadster,” he said.
Along with the SpaceX package, American Cars And Racing came across a Tesla patent for a Adaptive Vehicle Aerodynamics for Downforce system that includes underbody skirts and fans which create a low pressure area beneath the car. As with any patent, there is no guarantee it will be used on the production Roadster, but it would fit its position as a driver’s car.
Regardless of when it is revealed, Tesla had previously confirmed that it will not be on sale until sometime in 2027, at the earliest. Its status was also listed as “design development” in the shareholder deck released for the earnings call.
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