Nine years after Elon Musk first showed it, Tesla has revealed the production Tesla Roadster. On 15 October, at SpaceX’s test site in McGregor, Texas, the two-seater climbed a curved wall, hung almost upside down and then flew. Fans underneath pin it to the road, and compressed-air thrusters lift it off. Production is due to start in 2028.
What happened at the launch?
The car drove up a ramp that curves past vertical. It reached a pitch of 170 degrees about 21 metres above the ground. It then let go and dropped, with its thrusters firing to slow the fall. In a second run, it launched over a line of Tesla models, including a Cybercab, Cybertruck, Semi, Model Y and Model 3, spinning in mid-air before landing. Throughout, a Starman mannequin sat in the driver’s seat.
Before the first run, Musk quoted the investor Peter Thiel. “A friend of mine, Peter Thiel, once said that the future promised us flying cars, but instead we got 140 characters,” he said. After the first flight, he added: “Well, not anymore.”
He also explained why Tesla wanted a live crowd. “We need an audience to prove that it’s not AI,” he said. The demonstration car ran on its own for safety. “It is technically autonomous for this demo to make sure we don’t kill anyone,” Musk said. Customers, by contrast, will drive their cars themselves.
How does the Roadster stick to the road?
Fans in the rear diffuser do the work by suction. They pull air out from under the car, so the pressure beneath it drops. Ordinary air pressure on the body then pushes the car down. Because the fans run on battery power, they create grip at any speed, even standing still.
Brabham tried the same idea with its BT46B fan car in 1978. More recently, Tesla received a patent describing battery-powered fans and sealing skirts under the floor. However, Tesla didn’t confirm on stage whether the production car uses skirts.
Musk said the system “can pull up to two Gs in order to make the car go upside down”. On-screen telemetry showed 4,700 kg of downforce near the top of the wall. Lars Moravy, Tesla’s vice president of vehicle engineering, said tyres alone typically manage about 1.26 g of grip. With the fans running, he said, the Roadster can corner at more than 2 g.
Tesla has also fitted an active rear wing. Its pitch changes on the move, and the car adjusts it automatically for each corner. Drivers can also choose a high-downforce mode for the track or a low-drag mode for top speed.
How does it fly?
Tesla uses cold-gas thrusters, a technology borrowed from SpaceX. There’s no combustion and no fuel. Instead, the car stores compressed air in two carbon overwrapped pressure vessels, the same type of tank SpaceX uses on its rockets.
Moravy said the tanks hold about 600 litres, or roughly 250 kg of air. Ten nozzles then release it. Four main thrusters sit in the rear diffuser, while smaller ones at each corner control the car’s attitude in flight. Tesla says the system produces more than 80 kN of thrust, and the exhaust leaves the nozzles faster than sound.
“It can basically fly like a rocket,” Musk said. He also claimed the car can refill its own tanks. “That literally is just going to puff itself up and be able to do these manoeuvres whenever you’d like,” he said. Tesla hasn’t said how long refilling takes, or how much flight a full tank allows.
How fast does it accelerate?
On the launch pad, the Roadster ran from 0 to 60 mph in 0.81 seconds with its rear thrusters firing. That works out at an average of about 3.4 g, nearly three times what tyres alone can deliver. The thrusters push against the air, so they don’t depend on grip at all.
For comparison, the fan-assisted McMurtry Spéirling took 1.50 seconds for the same sprint. Musk says the production car will be quicker still. “As you increase force and decrease mass, you get more acceleration,” he said. Tesla quotes a top speed of over 230 mph.
What powers the Roadster?
The car is fully electric, but Tesla gave no battery capacity, motor count or power output at the event. Steering, braking and throttle are all by-wire, with a yoke in place of a wheel. Tesla billed the 2017 prototype with a 200 kWh battery, though it hasn’t repeated that figure for the new car.
When can you buy one?
Tesla plans three versions. Performance seats two and uses the fan system. Thrust adds the rear thrusters needed for the sub-one-second sprint. Rocket seats one, carries all ten thrusters and is invitation only. Reservations on Tesla’s website cost $50,000 for Performance and $250,000 for Thrust.
Tesla hasn’t named a price. Musk also said the car may not be legal everywhere. “I’m not sure it’s necessarily legal in all jurisdictions, but there will be such a car that someone can own,” he said. Meanwhile, the 2028 date follows earlier delays in 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2024.
