At a 30-minute event in Waco, Texas, on Thursday, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk unveiled a new electric supercar and demonstrated to the Tesla cult its ability to drive upside down, briefly fly, and accelerate to 60mph in under a second.
The Roadster is powered by two ultra-high pressure air tanks with a combined volume of 600 liters, containing approximately 250 kilograms of air, and uses 10 nozzles to execute its maneuvers.
Musk claimed “This will be an actual car that’s on the roads” — though later the company admitted it would not be road legal. This seems obvious, of course. Imagine having to satisfy strict regulatory requirements from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The Roadster could go into production in 2028, as Musk promised — or it could be another decade of missed deadlines and broken promises. Again, who cares? Car flew.
Ars Technica describes the Roadster show as an attempt to revamp old Hollywood stunt technology.
The rear of the car showcases four giant tail pipes that might signal rocket power thanks to SpaceX technology, but instead of hydrocarbons emitted by aviation, the vehicle emits 100,000 psi of compressed nitrogen. Musk claims a planned top speed of 383 mph (616 km/h), with a 0-60 mph time of 0.8 seconds. Doesn’t sound exactly road friendly in the name of consumer safety, yet Elmo says production begins in 2027.
An EV already exists and is for sale with more capability than Mars Boi’s Roadster.
The McMurtry Spéirling, which looks like a miniaturized Batmobile, will drive upside down, and is capable of producing up to 3.5 lateral Gs. Tesla claims the Roadster tops out at 2 Gs.
Musk has a history of overpromising and underdelivering, and there is no obvious market for a super fast, super expensive hypercar.
Meanwhile, Tesla’s core business remains in trouble. Even in quarters where the company has decent sales, its profits are vanishing as costs rise and selling prices drop. And most recently, sales have not been decent.
Perhaps merging Tesla with SpaceX technology has more to do with SpaceX being accepted into the S&P 500 index, which rejected the company in June as it failed to show several consecutive profitable quarters for inclusion. If Elmo succeeds in doing so, he will have access to billions of dollars from passive investment funds that invest retirement accounts in the S&P 500. Apparently that could happen before the end of the year.