Tesla

Tesla Roadster

The second generation Tesla Roadster is an upcoming battery electric four-seater sports car planned to be built by Tesla, Inc. The company claims it will be capable of accelerating from 0 to 60 mph in 1.9 seconds, which would have been quicker than any street legal production car at the date of its announcement in November 2017. The Roadster is the successor to Tesla's first production car, the 2008 Tesla Roadster, and is intended to be a halo car for the company. Unveiled as a concept prototype in November 2017 and originally set to start production in 2020 with 10,000 units, the release has been delayed multiple times. In November 2025, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the Roadster would begin production in 2027. Musk said that higher-performance trim levels will be available beyond the base specification.

Text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Predecessor: Tesla Roadster

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Overview

=== History === In 2011, at the end of the production run of the original Tesla Roadster, Musk suggested that a new version of the Roadster, without the Lotus Elise chassis, could return to production by 2014. The new Roadster was first teased in 2014. At the time, it was also referred to as the Tesla Model R. In 2015, Musk suggested a new Roadster as early as 2019, capable of faster acceleration. A tweet by Musk in December 2016 said that a second Roadster was in Tesla's plans, but still "some years away". A prototype of the Roadster made a surprise appearance at the end of the Tesla Semi event on November 16, 2017, when it was driven out of the back of one of the semi-truck trailers to the song "Sabotage", with a tease of availability in 2020 at a starting price of US$200,000. Musk explained the concept as, "The point of doing this is to give a hardcore smackdown to gasoline cars. Driving a gasoline sports car is going to feel like a steam engine with a side of quiche." Test rides were given at the event for those who immediately paid the first $5,000 of a $50,000 deposit to pre-order the vehicle. Additional information followed after the teaser, such as the various world-record speeds Tesla said it would break. In June 2018, Musk revealed a potential feature called "SpaceX option package" for the Roadster. This would add around ten cold gas thrusters to the car to improve maneuverability; it would comprise an electric pump to recharge an air tank used to provide compressed air flowing through propelling nozzles to generate a cold jet thrust. The air tanks, based on "composite overwrapped pressure vessel" (COPV) also used in the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, would replace the back seats. The thrusters would be used to improve cornering, acceleration, top speed, a

Design

The second-generation Tesla Roadster is a 2+2 coupé with a removable glass roof. It was designed by Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla's chief designer who has been responsible for most Tesla vehicles. The Roadster has a 2+2 seating arrangement, with smaller rear seats for two passengers. The Roadster has three electric motors: one in the front and two in the rear, allowing for all-wheel drive, and torque vectoring during cornering. The vehicle will have a 200 kWh battery, twice the capacity of the largest battery in an existing Tesla car (the Tesla Model S or Model X), and much larger than the 123 kWh battery of the Tesla Cybertruck. The Roadster will have a 620 miles (1,000 km) range on a single charge at highway speeds. Tesla said the torque at the wheels was 7,400 lb⋅ft (10,000 N⋅m). The car will include a steer-by-wire system similar to the Cybertruck.

Performance

Musk made the following statements regarding the prototype Roadster's acceleration: 0–60 mph (0–97 km/h) in 1.1 seconds with a rocket thruster option added (without specifying if this includes a 1-foot rollout). 0–60 mph (0–97 km/h) in 2.1 seconds for the base model before adding rocket thruster option (without specifying if this includes a 1-foot rollout). Tesla's website later stated 1.9 seconds. Its stated 0 to 1⁄4 mile (0 to 400 metres) time will be 8.88 seconds, with a top speed above 250 mph (400 km/h). If the production Roadster achieves these performance numbers, it will outperform the supercars of 2019, and would set new production car records, none of which had yet done better than 0–100 km/h (0–62 mph) in 2.0 seconds or 9.0 seconds in the 1/4 mile. Referring to the performance, Musk stated, "this is what we are achieving in the prototype"; he also indicated that the stated numbers refer to the anticipated "base model". The updated Model S Plaid released in 2021 set several production car records with performance statistics close to those anticipated by the Roadster. In February 2024, Musk stated on X that the new design goal for the production Roadster included an acceleration of 0–60 mph (0–97 km/h) in less than one second, without specifying if the "SpaceX package" would be an option or not.

Analysis

Research completed in 2017 by Bloomberg L.P. indicates that the estimate as to the range per charge is optimistic, based on comments from Salim Morsy, the electric vehicle analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. In an article titled Tesla's Newest Promises Break the Laws of Batteries, Morsy indicated that the claimed battery capacity would require batteries that would be too large for the Roadster's small frame. "I don't think the car you saw last week had the full 200 kilowatt hours in it. I don't think it's physically possible to do that right now." Morsy's analysis directly contradicts Musk, who had stated earlier in the year "this is what we are achieving in the prototype". Venkat Viswanathan, a mechanical engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University, told Jalopnik that the 1.9 second figure for 0–60 mph (0–97 km/h) seemed reasonable given the estimated battery weight of 1,836 pounds (833 kg). He added that the feasibility of the acceleration claim assumed suitable tires would be available for the required traction.

In media

On series 4, episode 12 of Jay Leno's Garage, broadcast on August 23, 2018, Jay Leno rode in the Tesla Roadster prototype along with its designer Franz von Holzhausen. In a March 2024 interview with Don Lemon, Musk stated that the Roadster would "not have big wings", but would have a drive-by-wire steering yoke.

Sections adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); text is shortened. Read the full article for the complete history and citations.

Specifications

Measured facts from Wikidata (CC0). Check the linked sources for citations.

More photos

Sources

• Wikidata — https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q43253563CC0 1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-01
• Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Roadster_(second_generation)CC BY-SA 4.0 · Text © Wikipedia contributors; revision 1377414603 · retrieved 2026-10-01
• Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tesla_roadster_2020_prototype.jpgCC BY-SA 4.0 · Photo: Smnt · retrieved 2026-10-01
• Manufacturer website (link only) — https://www.tesla.com/roadsterLink only; no content copied · retrieved 2026-10-01
• Car Model Index — https://models.autoculturesociety.com/Compiled record. Sources that do not permit reuse are not copied; this index is credited instead.

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