While all EV enthusiast and investor eyes were focused on Tesla’s Semi-truck unveiling last night, the EV maker shocked the crowed with a bonus at the end of the ceremony, presenting the new Tesla Roadster that Elon Musk says “will be the fastest production car ever made, period.”
The Tesla Roadster sports car will be capable of accelerating 0-60 mph in 1.9 seconds, the first time a car has broken below the 2-second mark, Musk told the crowd at the event. The 0-100 mph acceleration is also a record—4.2 seconds achieved with the prototype, Musk said. He didn’t say what the top speed would be, but did say that it would be above 250 mph.
The 200kWh battery pack (twice the capacity of Model S) will support a 620-mile range in a single charge, or over 1,000 kilometers—the first time a production EV will have a more than 1,000 kilometers range in a single charge at highway speed, Musk said.
“The point of doing this is to just give a hardcore smackdown to gasoline cars,” Tesla’s chief said.
The car will be available in 2020, he added.
The base price for the new sleek Roadster is $200,000. For the Founders Series, customers will pay a $50,000 premium. If you want to hold your place in line, Tesla is taking reservations.
Tesla’s Semi truck and revamped Roadster unveils come at a time in which the EV maker is struggling to ramp up production for its Model 3 mass-market car whose deliveries have been lagging behind both Tesla’s projections and market expectations. Musk himself has described manufacturing bottlenecks for the Model 3 as ‘production hell’. Related: Norway’s $1 Trillion Wealth Fund Looks To Dump Oil & Gas Stocks
“Elon’s showmanship remains intact, even as his customers’ patience for Model 3 delivery wanes,” Karl Brauer, executive publisher of Kelley Blue Book and Autotrader, told CNBC.
“The specs on the new semi truck and sports car would put both vehicles at the top of their segments...assuming they can be produced and sold as part of a sustainable business plan. So far that final element has eluded Tesla Motors, which makes it difficult to see these vehicles as more than ‘what if’ concept cars,” Brauer noted.
After the Thursday show, shares in Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) were soaring more than 4 percent in pre-market trade on NASDAQ at 9:27 a.m. EST on Friday.
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By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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