Tesla’s thruster-equipped Roadster finally breaks cover, with 2028 production promised (again)
Tesla showed its long-promised Roadster — and a thruster “Rocket” version — at Thursday night’s event near Waco, Texas. Final specs are still unpublished, and production is now promised for 2028.
Not-so-local news: a quick look at a story everyone’s talking about.
WACO, Texas — Nine years after Elon Musk first promised it, Tesla unveiled its next-generation Roadster Thursday night at an outdoor event near SpaceX’s test facilities. The reveal had been pushed back two weeks from Oct. 1 because of severe weather.
The headline feature is a “Rocket” version fitted with cold-gas thrusters developed with SpaceX. They work by releasing compressed gas, not by burning fuel. Musk has said the system can push the car from 0 to 60 mph in about 1.1 seconds and allow “short hops” off the ground. In footage Tesla released from Thursday’s demonstration, the car launched off a ramp, flipped upside down in mid-air on its thrusters and came down past a row of Tesla vehicles, including a Semi.
Tesla has not published final specifications. The figures still circulating — 620 miles of range, a top speed above 250 mph and 0–60 in 1.9 seconds for the standard car — date from the 2017 prototype, as do the $200,000 base and $250,000 Founders Series prices. Tesla is taking reservations with a $5,000 deposit followed by a $45,000 payment within 10 days.
Musk said production will begin in 2028 “for real.” Tesla first took $50,000 deposits in 2017 with deliveries promised for 2020, and has missed every date since.
Whether a thruster-assisted car can legally hop on a public road is an open question; no regulator has approved anything like it. For now, the closest most of Shiawassee County will get is the livestream.
Sources: Tesla livestream and released footage; CNBC; Electrek.
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