Tesla’s second-generation Roadster electric sports car will be unveiled in 2024 – and the production-ready two-seater will be astronomically fast, according to Elon Musk.
The US EV-maker’s CEO announced on X (formerly Twitter) that the new Roadster will hit 60mph in less than one second as he teased a number of ‘radically increased design goals’ for the sporty electric vehicle.
Musk went on to declare that ‘there will never be another car like this’ and its incredible acceleration will be ‘the least interesting part’ of the Roadster.
Could the Tesla Roadster be the fastest-accelerating road car of all time? Elon Musk reckons it will be able to hit 60mph in less than ONE SECOND
In a series of posts on the social media platform, the Tesla front man said: ‘Tonight, we radically increased the design goals for the new Tesla Roadster.
‘There will never be another car like this, if you could even call it a car.’
He added that it will be developed as part of a Tesla and SpaceX collaboration, with ‘production design’ completed and unveiled by the end of this year, with the goal of deliveries arriving to customers in 2025.
He previously claimed than an optional rocket-thruster package, developed with Telsa’s spacecraft project, would propel it to 60mph in 1.1 seconds.
‘I think it has a shot at being the most mind-blowing product demo of all time,’ he added.
The bold statement about the potential performance of the next Roadster would be a significant leap compared to the original specifications set out for the convertible Tesla when plans were originally released in 2017.
The Tesla CEO made a number of bold statements regarding the Roadster 2 in a series of X (formerly Twitter) posts on Wednesday
The US EV-maker’s CEO announced on X that the team developing the Roadster have ‘radically increased design goals’ for the sporty electric vehicle
The fastest-accelerating production road car on the planet currently is the Rimac Nevera electric hypercar. It can hit 62mph from a standing start in 1.85 seconds – but it costs over £2million
Croatia’s electric hypercar is so incredibly fast that it holds 23 different accelerating records, all of which were achieved in a single day in May last year
Musk went on to declare that ‘there will never be another car like this’ and its incredible acceleration will be ‘the least interesting part’ of the Roadster
With the second-generation Tesla Roadster originally claimed to be priced in the region of £200,000, it would be a tenth of the price of the Rimac Nevera
Some seven years ago, Musk said it would be able to hit 60mph from a standstill in 1.9 seconds.
He had also claimed it would reach 100mph just 2.3 seconds later and have a top speed of 250mph.
And the quoted range was just as eye-popping, with Musk hinting at a distance of 620 miles between charges.
If the Roadster is to achieve the 0-60mph goal set out by Tesla’s CEO, it would see the EV take the crown as the world’s fastest accelerating road car.
That mantle is currently held by the £2million electric Rimac Nevera, which takes 1.85 seconds to reach 62mph.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk pictured during the unveiling of Roadster 2 during a presentation in Hawthorne, California, on 16 November 2017. He said then that first deliveries would arrive in 2020
Back in 2017, Musk had claimed the Roadster 2 would be able to hit 60mph from a standstill in 1.9 seconds
He had also claimed in 2017 that it would reach 100mph in 4.2 seconds and have a top speed of 250mph
While Musk’s latest series of posts have claimed the Roadster 2 could be delivered to customers in 2025, he has previously stated its availability for 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024
While Musk’s latest X statement will have Tesla fans frothing at the mouth, others will suggest it’s simply another case of an unfounded remark from the contentious character.
He has previously made reference to the Roadster being available to customers as early as 2020, and has pushed that delivery date back on various occasions in a delayed timeline of 2022, 2023 and 2024.
This came after Musk launched a cherry red Tesla Roadster into space on 6 February 2018 as part of a stunt for SpaceX’s first test launch of its Falcon Heavy rocket.
The Tesla Roadster concept shown in January 2018 – a month before it was fired into orbit aboard the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket
The ‘Starman’ mannequin sat at the wheel of the Tesla Roadster before it took off from Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral on 6 February 2018
The cherry red Roadster – loaded with the space-suited Starman – could crash into Earth within the next million years
Later in 2018, SpaceX confirmed the car had zoomed beyond Mars in its outer space travel
This still image taken from a SpaceX livestream video shows “Starman” sitting in SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s cherry red Tesla roadster after the Falcon Heavy rocket
Musk has previous blamed supply chain issues for the extended timescale for the arrival of the second-gen Roadster, also attributing the delay to ongoing development of Tesla’s tri-motor drivetrain and improvements to battery tech.
While Musk made comment about the performance of the sports car, he failed to mention price.
In 2017, he said the Roadster would be priced around $250,000 (around £190,000 at the time), which is a tenth of the price of Rimac’s Nevera EV hypercar.
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