Tesla recently had the 'Tesla Semi' event organised where we were expecting two new electric trucks to be unveiled. And that was indeed the case. Undoubtedly, Tesla had a great presentation with Elon Musk on stage introducing the new Semis. However, it's not the trucks that got many jaws hit the floor, it was the new Tesla Roadster!
Tesla left everyone in awe when it brought out the new Roadster as a huge surprise. Just after Elon Musk was done explaining things about the new Semis, we thought the event has come to an end, only to find out that it was just the 'beginning'. The rear gates of one of the two Semis opened up and amidst the smoke and lighting, the brand-new Tesla Roadster emerged. And the crowd went totally berserk. The glossy red car did a couple of rounds of the stage and parked in the centre for everyone to admire it.
Once the crowd was able to take in what's happening, the cheering settled down a bit and Elon Musk started to talk about the new Roadster. As per the numbers, this little car is going to be the fastest production car ever built, period. Tesla claims a 0-60 mph (0-97 kph) sprint in 1.9 seconds, 0-70 mph (0-113 kph) in 2.0 seconds, 0-100 mph (0-161 kph) in just 4.2 seconds and the quarter-mile (402 m) run in just 8.9 seconds. Read the numbers again and try to digest them.
You see, 0-60 mph in just 1.9 seconds is entering pure rally-car territory, which, by the way, is heavily modified for the sport and isn't road legal. The new Tesla Roadster, on the other hand, is going to be a proper and fully road legal machine which people can actually buy and use. All these astronomical figures that Tesla claims, come from the courtesy of the power pack of the car. The Roadster has got three batteries, one at the front and the other two at the back. It is an all-wheel drive electric car.
It has a power of 200 kWh, which is twice as much as the Tesla Model S P100D has. The torque on this thing, I bet your guess wouldn't be even close to it, is 10,000 Nm! Over the past five years, I've had written many articles and stories related to automobile industry but I have never typed out that big a number to mention a vehicle's torque figure. It's totally insane. Wow!
Now, we know how fast the new Roadster is, but is it practical too? It has got two doors and a 2+2 seating arrangement to accommodate four passengers. Well, of course, the rear seats are a bit tight. And to make the car properly usable, Tesla claims a range of 621 miles (1,000 km). Oh, yes, we're talking about the range in one single charge. This is also unbelievable. It's going to be the first electric car to have such a large range.
If we talk about looks, the new Tesla Roadster look very much like... 'Tesla'. I mean, it's futuristic and modern, very beautiful and sexy. It is designed by Franz von Holzhausen, the former Mazda designer. The interiors too carry the same futuristic approach, with a really weird shape of the steering wheel. We didn't see a dashboard. Well, maybe the final production variant of the car will have one.
Tesla said that the deliveries of the second generation Roadster will commence in 2020. It will cost an estimated USD 200,000 for the base variant which can be booked now by paying a fee of USD 50,000. The higher variant is called 'The Founder Series' and only a thousand units will be made. Interested buyers can reserve this model by paying the full amount of USD 250,000 now.
Tesla has completely shaken the automobile industry with its latest revelation. This showed us a glimpse of the kind of future Elon Musk has in mind for Tesla, and for the world. If, and we are pretty darn sure that it will, the new Roadster becomes a reality and delivers as per the claims and promises Musk has made, then all the supercar manufacturers have to think of something unthinkable to beat it. Tesla must have already given some of them a reason to worry about the coming future.
We'll be doing a separate story about the new Semis, so if you are interested to know details about them, stay tuned.
