elon musk

2022 New York Auto Show, and Subaru Solterra driven | Autoblog Podcast #725

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April 15, 2022 / Comments Off

407

SpaceX option package for 2020 Tesla Roadster could add more performance

Seems a detail escaped our story on Tesla’s Annual Shareholder Meeting last week. Company CEO Elon Musk said the Roadster and semi introduced last year are merely the base versions, and that their production units would offer more performance. Concerning the open-top, Musk said, “What we unveiled with the Roadster was the base model performance. It’s going to have a SpaceX options package. It’s crazy.”

The comment adds more detail to a few tweets Musk wrote in November last year, one saying, “There will be a special option package that takes it to the next level.” Following tweets added, “Not saying the next gen Roadster special upgrade package *will* definitely enable it to fly short hops, but maybe …,” and, “Certainly possible. Just a question of safety. Rocket tech applied to a car opens up revolutionary possibilities.”

Some believe the SpaceX package could be no more than special badging and the Midnight Cherry color matching the Roadster Musk recently sent into space. However, the betting line leans heavily toward an even more potent Roadster. We’ve already been promised a 0-60 mile-per-hour time of 1.9 seconds – likely using the four-seater’s Plaid Mode, a quarter-mile time of 8.8 seconds, a top speed beyond 250 mph, and 620 miles of range on a single charge. That’s hypercar performance for around $200,000 to $250,000, less than one-sixth the usual hypercar price.

Yet Musk wants no question about the Roadster’s superiority, telling the audience at the shareholder’s meeting, “It’s important for us to show with the Roadster that an electric vehicle can outperform a gasoline car in every way. Because gasoline cars still have sort of a halo effect, and I think if we can show an electric car can outperform a gasoline car in every way, then we sort of get rid of that halo effect of gasoline cars.”

The semi and the Roadster are expected in production next year, so it shouldn’t be too long before we find out what the SpaceX package entails — perhaps a faster form of ground-based flight, or something with a bit more altitude.

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June 9, 2018 / Comments Off

593

Elon Musk teases a flying version of Roadster supercar. Is he serious?

Tesla surprised the world last week when it revealed its Roadster on the same day it debuted its much-awaited (and much-hyped) electric-powered semi truck. Founder Elon Musk claims the car can do 0-60 in just 1.9 seconds, which would make it the fastest production car, and will have a 620-mile driving range.

Now, he’s claiming the supercar may eventually possess the ability to fly. He took to Twitter Sunday first to clarify that the 0-60 time is “the base model performance” but also to tease a “special option package that takes it to the next level.” We’ll let you read it below.

Not saying the next gen Roadster special upgrade package *will* definitely enable it to fly short hops, but maybe …

Certainly possible. Just a question of safety. Rocket tech applied to a car opens up revolutionary possibilities.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 19, 2017

What to make of the latest Musk claim? Well, the unexpected news about the Roadster has already led many observers to wonder if Tesla is spreading itself too thin and creating more financial strains at a time when it needs to focus on fixing production bottlenecks for its Model 3 sedan, its attempt at an affordable, mass-market car, and reversing mounting financial losses. This will likely only add fuel to that fire.

Musk is also CEO of SpaceX and has frequently borrowed technologies developed by the rocket developer for Tesla, including a space-grade superalloy for Tesla’s “Ludicrous Mode,” notes Electrek. So he’d certainly have a leg up on his competitors in that regard.

Or, he could simply be joking.

Musk expressed uncommon skepticism about flying cars earlier this year in a TED Talk, saying they’d be noisy and generate high levels of wind force, according to USA Today.

“If something’s flying over your head and there’s a whole bunch of flying cars going all over the place, that is not an anxiety-reducing situation,” Musk said at the time. “You’re thinking, ‘Did they service their hubcap, or is it going to come off and guillotine me?'”

So we’ll ultimately have to wait for more details from Musk and his Twitter feed. Meanwhile, the Roadster will launch in 2020 with a Founder’s Series model priced at $250,000 and limited to just 1,000 models.