Tesla Roadster (second Generation)
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The Tesla Roadster is an all-electric
battery-powered An electric battery is a source of electric power consisting of one or more electrochemical cells with external connections for powering electrical devices. When a battery is supplying power, its positive terminal is the cathode and its negat ...
four-seater all-wheel-drive
sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...
concept Concepts are defined as abstract ideas. They are understood to be the fundamental building blocks of the concept behind principles, thoughts and beliefs. They play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied by s ...
in development by
Tesla, Inc. Tesla, Inc. ( or ) is an American multinational automotive and clean energy company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Tesla designs and manufactures electric vehicles (electric cars and trucks), battery energy storage from home to grid- ...
Tesla has said that it will be capable of in 1.9 seconds, which would be quicker than any street-legal
production car Production vehicles or production cars are mass-produced identical models, offered for sale to the public, and able to be legally driven on public roads ( street legal). Legislation and other rules further define the production vehicle within part ...
as of the announcement in 2017. The Roadster is the successor to Tesla's first production car, the 2008 Roadster. Tesla CEO
Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc.; founder of The Bori ...
has said that Roadster should ship in 2023. Musk said in a tweet that higher-performance
trim levels Trim levels are used by manufacturers to identify a vehicle's level of equipment or special features. The equipment/features fitted to a particular vehicle also depend on any #Options packages, options packages or individual options that the car w ...
will be available beyond the base specifications, including a
SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal of ...
package that would "include ~10 small rocket cold air thrusters arranged seamlessly around the car" which would supposedly allow for dramatic improvements in "acceleration, top speed, braking & cornering" such as a claimed 1.1 second 0–60 mph (0–97 km/h) time.


Overview


History

In 2011, at the end of the production run of the original Tesla Roadster, Elon Musk suggested that a new version of the Roadster, without the Lotus chassis, would 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, capable of faster
acceleration In mechanics, acceleration is the rate of change of the velocity of an object with respect to time. Accelerations are vector quantities (in that they have magnitude and direction). The orientation of an object's acceleration is given by the ...
. A tweet by Elon Musk in December 2016 reconfirmed a second Roadster was in the works, but still "some years away". The second Roadster was designed by
Franz von Holzhausen Franz von Holzhausen (born May 10, 1968) is an American vehicle designer. Since 2008, he has been in charge of design at Tesla Inc., Tesla, Inc. He designed the Tesla Model S, Tesla Model 3, Model 3, Tesla Model X, Model X, Tesla Model Y, Model Y, ...
. A prototype of the Roadster was shown in a surprise moment at the end of the
Tesla Semi The Tesla Semi is a battery electric vehicle, battery electric Truck classification#Class 8, Class 8 Semi-trailer truck, semi-truck by Tesla, Inc. The truck is powered by three motors, and is claimed by Tesla to have approximately three times ...
event on November 16, 2017, with an announced availability in the year 2020 at the starting price of $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 will break. In June 2018, Elon Musk revealed a potential feature called "SpaceX option package" for the Roadster. This would add around ten
cold gas thruster A cold gas thruster (or a cold gas propulsion system) is a type of rocket engine which uses the expansion of a (typically inert) pressurized gas to generate thrust. As opposed to traditional rocket engines, a cold gas thruster does not house any c ...
s to the car to improve maneuverability; it would comprise an electric pump to recharge an air tank used to provide
compressed air Compressed air is air kept under a pressure that is greater than atmospheric pressure. Compressed air is an important medium for transfer of energy in industrial processes, and is used for power tools such as air hammers, drills, wrenches, and o ...
flowing through
propelling nozzle A propelling nozzle is a nozzle that converts the internal energy of a working gas into propulsive force; it is the nozzle, which forms a jet, that separates a gas turbine, or gas generator, from a jet engine. Propelling nozzles accelerate the av ...
s to generate a cold jet thrust. The air tanks, based on "
composite overwrapped pressure vessel A composite overwrapped pressure vessel (COPV) is a vessel consisting of a thin, non-structural liner wrapped with a structural fiber composite, designed to hold a fluid under pressure. The liner provides a barrier between the fluid and the compo ...
" (COPV) also used in the
Falcon 9 Falcon 9 is a partially reusable medium lift launch vehicle that can carry cargo and crew into Earth orbit, produced by American aerospace company SpaceX. The rocket has two stages. The first (booster) stage carries the second stage and payl ...
and
Falcon Heavy Falcon Heavy is a partially reusable heavy-lift launch vehicle that is produced by SpaceX, an American aerospace manufacturer. The rocket consists of two strap-on boosters made from Falcon 9 first stages, a center core also made from a Falc ...
rockets, would replace the back seats. The thrusters would be used to improve cornering, acceleration, top speed, and braking. Working pressure would be . During the 2020 second quarter financial results conference call, Elon Musk stated that Tesla plans to tentatively build the Roadster in California and production would be in the next 12 to 18 months. The start of production would be mid to late 2021. In January 2021, Elon Musk tweeted that production would be delayed until 2022. He commented that in 2021, the company would finish engineering the Roadster with the goal of having a "candidate design drivable late summer". In September 2021, Musk said that production would be delayed until 2023. Musk further confirmed the 2023 target at The 2021
Shareholder Meeting "Shareholder Meeting" is the eleventh episode of the sixth season of the American comedy television series ''The Office'' and the show's 111th episode overall. Written by Justin Spitzer and directed by Charles McDougall, it originally aired on ...
in October.


Pre-order marketing

Pre-order A pre-order is an order placed for an item that has not yet been released. The idea for pre-orders came because people found it hard to get popular items in stores because of their popularity. Companies then had the idea to allow customers to r ...
s of the Roadster began in 2017, with a US$50,000 deposit required. Tesla owners taking part in the referral promotion program began accumulating discounts toward the purchase of a Roadster based on the number of referrals. Those reaching 55 confirmed referrals obtained a 100% rebate toward a future Roadster purchase.


Price

The base model was initially listed on tesla website as US$200,000 but the first 1,000 to be produced, known as the Founder's Series, will be priced at $250,000. Full payment would be required to pre-order the latter vehicle. The price was later removed from the website, leaving only the deposit/reservation price of the base model as US$50,000.


Design

The second-generation Tesla Roadster is a 2+2
coupé A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...
with a removable glass roof. It was designed by
Franz von Holzhausen Franz von Holzhausen (born May 10, 1968) is an American vehicle designer. Since 2008, he has been in charge of design at Tesla Inc., Tesla, Inc. He designed the Tesla Model S, Tesla Model 3, Model 3, Tesla Model X, Model X, Tesla Model Y, Model Y, ...
, Tesla's chief designer who has also been responsible for most earlier vehicles made by Tesla Motors. The Roadster has a 2+2 seating arrangement, with smaller rear seats for two passengers. The Roadster has three electric motors, one in front and two at the rear, allowing for
all-wheel drive An all-wheel drive vehicle (AWD vehicle) is one with a powertrain capable of providing power to all its wheels, whether full-time or on-demand. The most common forms of all-wheel drive are: ;1x1 : All unicycles Reflecting one axle with one w ...
, and
torque vectoring Torque vectoring is a technology employed in automobile differentials that has the ability to vary the torque to each half-shaft with an electronic system; or in rail vehicles which achieve the same using individually motored wheels. This method ...
during cornering. Tesla said that the vehicle had a battery, twice the capacity of the largest battery in an existing Tesla car (in the
Tesla Model S The Tesla Model S is a Battery electric vehicle, battery-powered liftback car serving as the flagship model of Tesla, Inc. The Model S features a dual-motor, all-wheel drive layout, although earlier versions of the Model S featured a rear-moto ...
or Model X Performance or Long Range Plus). Tesla has said that the Roadster will have a range on a single charge at highway speeds. Tesla stated that the torque at wheels was . The rear wheels are larger than the front wheels.


Performance

The following claims have been made by Musk for the prototype Roadster's acceleration: * in 1.1 seconds with a rocket thruster option added (without specifying if this includes a 1-foot rollout) * in 2.1 seconds for the base model before adding rocket thruster option (without specifying if this includes a 1-foot rollout or not) Its claimed time will be 8.88 seconds, with a top speed above . If the production Roadster achieves these performance numbers, it will outperform the
supercar A supercar – also called exotic car – is a loosely defined description of street-legal, high-performance sports cars. Since the 2010s, the term hypercar has come into use for the highest performing supercars. Supercars commonly serve as t ...
s of 2019 and would have set new production car records, none of which had done better than in 2.0 seconds or 8.88 seconds in the 1/4 mile, until the release of the
Rimac Nevera The Rimac Nevera (pronounced: ǐːmat͡s něʋeːra is an all-electric sports car designed and manufactured by the Croatian automotive manufacturer Rimac Automobili. The first production prototype car was released in August 2021. Nevera pro ...
in August 2021. Referring to the performance, Musk stated, "this is what we are achieving in the prototype"; he also indicated the performance may improve in the production model and that the stated numbers refer to the anticipated "base model".


Analysis

Research completed by
Bloomberg L.P. Bloomberg L.P. is a privately held financial, software, data, and media company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was co-founded by Michael Bloomberg in 1981, with Thomas Secunda, Duncan MacMillan (Bloomberg), Duncan MacMi ...
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 stated "this is what we are achieving in the prototype". Venkat Viswanathan, a
mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...
professor at
Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...
, told ''
Jalopnik G/O Media Inc. is an American media holding company that runs ''Gizmodo'', ''Kotaku'', ''Jalopnik'', '' Deadspin'', ''Lifehacker'', '' Jezebel'', '' The Root'', '' The A.V. Club'', ''The Takeout'', '' The Onion'', and ''The Inventory''. Hist ...
'' that the 1.9 second figure for seemed reasonable given the estimated battery weight of . He added that the feasibility of the acceleration claim assumed suitable tires would be available for the required traction. Series 4, episode 12 of ''
Jay Leno's Garage ''Jay Leno's Garage'' is an American web and television series about motor vehicles, primarily cars and motorbikes starring Jay Leno, the former host of ''The Tonight Show''. Originally a web series for NBC.com, a special aired on CNBC in August ...
'' broadcast on August 23, 2018 featured
Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno (; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and actor. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show'' from 1992 to 2009. Beginning in September 2009 ...
inside the Tesla Roadster prototype along with its designer
Franz von Holzhausen Franz von Holzhausen (born May 10, 1968) is an American vehicle designer. Since 2008, he has been in charge of design at Tesla Inc., Tesla, Inc. He designed the Tesla Model S, Tesla Model 3, Model 3, Tesla Model X, Model X, Tesla Model Y, Model Y, ...
.


See also

* * * * (Concept Two) *
Lotus Evija The Lotus Evija is a limited production electric sports car to be manufactured by British automobile manufacturer Lotus Cars. Unveiled in July 2019, it is the first electric vehicle to be introduced and manufactured by the company. Codenamed "Typ ...


References


External links

* {{Tesla timeline Electric concept cars Electric sports cars Rocket cars Roadsters Roadster 2020 Cars introduced in 2017