Tesla (TSLA) showed a Roadster on Thursday night that left the ground on compressed-air thrusters built with SpaceX engineers. The demo, at a SpaceX site in McGregor, Texas, is the clearest sign yet that the two companies now share hardware, not just a boss. We covered the car's wall-climbing opening act in our first report.
Rocket parts, no rocket fuel
The thrusters are cold-gas units, meaning they fire stored air rather than burning propellant. Lars Moravy, Tesla's vice president of vehicle engineering, said 10 thrusters fed by 600 litres of compressed air lift and spin the car, and the tanks can be refilled. In the demo, the car drove up a curved ramp, hung upside down on suction fans, then launched, flipped and landed, and a second run cleared a row of Tesla vehicles, including a Semi. The car hung upside down by suction fans on the track, then fired its thrusters to launch into the air, flip in flight, and land.
Musk said afterward, "Flying cars are real". That is generous, since Firstpost describes a short burst to clear obstacles, not flight in any aircraft sense. CBS News reported that the FAA said the car doesn't meet the definition of an aircraft.
Three versions, one of them flies
| Version | Seats | 0 to 60 mph claim | Deposit (US$) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Performance | 2 | under 1.6 s | 50,000 |
| Thrust | 2 | under 0.9 s | 250,000 |
| Rocket | 1 | under 0.59 s | invite only |
All claims are Tesla's internal testing. The 0.81s run has not been independently verified.
Those figures are Tesla's claims, as relayed by Drive Tesla, and Reuters, as carried by Virginia Business, listed the same three versions and deposits from Tesla's reservation page. A recorded run showed 0.81 seconds to 60 mph (97 km/h), which nobody has independently verified. Tesla says the Rocket isn't approved for public roads, and asked about street legality, Musk said, "Yeah, depends on your street".
A promise with a long history
Tesla quoted no price, and the 2017 base figure was $200,000. The car was first promised for 2020, and production is now set for 2028, so treat that as a goal, not a date. Morningstar's Seth Goldstein expects about 2,000 sales a year, against 1.6 million Teslas sold last year.
Watch for a price, and for whether thrusters ever reach a version you can legally drive. Would you pay $250,000 to hop over a Semi?
That's wattsup, and here's wattsnext.
Sources
- 1.Tesla unveils highly anticipated flying Roadster with SpaceX thrusters · USA Today
- 2.Tesla stock pops after unveiling Roadster with compressed air thrusters for limited flight · Yahoo Finance
- 3.Tesla unveils thruster-equipped Roadster, with production set for 2028 · TNW | Cars
- 4.Flying cars are finally here? Elon Musk unveils Tesla Roadster that can take off and flip mid-air | Watch · Firstpost
- 5.With Tesla Roadster debut, Elon Musk shows "flying cars are real" · CBS News
- 6.Tesla's new Roadster turns in air with SpaceX thrusters, won't land until 2028 (Reuters) · Virginia Business (Reuters report)
Reported by the WattsUpNext desk from the sources linked below. Spot an error? Tell us at corrections@wattsupnext.com.
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