Roadster Takes a Leap
Tesla has unveiled a new Roadster that jumps over a line of cars and turns a slow rotation in midair. The trick relies on cold gas thrusters, engineering drawn from SpaceX and reworked to work in the atmosphere rather than the vacuum of space. TechCrunch reports that the car used a mix of high powered fans and thrusters to drive up an inverted ramp, spin around, and settle back onto the pavement, before lifting itself over a Cybercab, a Cybertruck, a Tesla Semi, a Model Y, and a Model 3 while still in motion.
The demonstration was a thruster stunt rather than a road car taking off. Tesla's road versions do not fly, and the line the company will sell starts with Performance, a car with two seats that Tesla calls road ready, fitted with active aerodynamics and a suction system that pulls air from under the body. Thrust adds thrusters at the rear and is described as race ready.
The third version is Rocket, which seats one and carries thrusters around its perimeter to push the car upward and rotate it. But Tesla says the Rocket is not approved for public roads, and it is offered by invitation. And Tesla describes Thrust and Rocket as augments to the Performance car rather than separate machines. Tesla was also taking reservations on the day of the reveal. TechCrunch reports the site charging US$50,000 to reserve the Performance and US$250,000 for Thrust, with the Rocket invite only. Electrek reports that reservations had reopened at US$5,000 payable now and US$45,000 due within 10 days, refundable.
The performance claims go well beyond anything on the market. Tesla quotes the Rocket reaching 97 km per hour from rest in under 0.59 seconds, Thrust in under 0.9 seconds, and Performance in under 1.6 seconds, along with more than 483 km of range and a top speed above 370 km per hour on the Rocket. No independent testing of those numbers has been published.
The hardware behind the jump is unusual for a car. Lars Moravy, Tesla's engineering vice president, said at the reveal that ten thrusters fed by 600 litres of compressed air lift and spin the vehicle, and that the tank can be refilled. Tesla says making thrusters work in the atmosphere rather than a vacuum required new hardware and new controls, and that every usable void in the car is packed with carbon fibre overwrapped pressure vessels to hold the gas.
The design has moved a long way from the prototype Tesla revealed nine years ago. Tesla says its design language has shifted from the older S3XY cars to the Cybertruck, the Cybercab, and Optimus, with the Roadster taking cues from the SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft and the F-35 fighter. And the body hides its headlights, runs one taillight across the full width, and wears an Ano White finish that Tesla says borrows from the coatings used to protect rockets.
Inside, the car has a yoke for steering by wire, a central touchscreen, and two smaller displays ahead of the driver. The windows are tinted gold to echo the visor of a spacesuit. Tesla has also fixed the seat in place and kept manual controls to save weight, with magnesium, titanium, and carbon fibre used through the structure.
Elon Musk presented the car and called it the best of the last of the human driven cars. He said the car Tesla showed would be the one that reaches the roads, and that it would puff itself up to perform its manoeuvres whenever a driver wanted. Musk has framed the Roadster as a halo car rather than a volume seller, and he has said safety is not the main goal of a machine built this way. On timing, TechCrunch reports Musk saying Tesla will finally build the long delayed car in 2028, and Electrek carries his line "2028, actually". Neither report treats the date as a confirmed start of production, only as his statement.
The reveal reads as an engineering showcase rather than a product launch, because the striking claims sit on versions that most buyers will never be offered. The thrusters that throw the car over a line of trucks belong to the trims Tesla says are not road legal. So the Roadster's defining trick is the part of it that will not reach a driveway.
Tesla revealed a second generation Roadster that used cold gas thrusters to jump over a line of cars and rotate in midair
Three versions are offered. Performance is road ready with two seats and a suction system, Thrust adds thrusters at the rear, and Rocket seats one with thrusters around its perimeter
Tesla says the Rocket is not approved for public roads, and the road versions do not fly
Tesla quotes more than 483 km of range and a run to 97 km per hour in under 0.59 seconds on the Rocket, with no independent testing published
Tesla has published no price for any of the three versions
