After the new Tesla Roadster demonstrated acrobatic stunts, including jumps and aerial rotations, on October 15th, engineers, scientists, and specialized press began to question its technical feasibility. Although the sports electric vehicle performed maneuvers that attracted worldwide attention, there are serious drawbacks that make repeating these actions on roads extremely difficult.
It was also noted that the presentation was conducted using a remotely controlled prototype, which may be significantly lighter than the final version of the car.
One of the most criticized aspects is the range: in 2017, Tesla promised a range of 998 km using a 200 kWh battery. However, the current figure is slightly over 483 km, and the manufacturer has not disclosed the full capacity of the battery system.
According to information published on Torque News' website, the company reduced the battery size to lower weight and free up space for fans that ensure the car's grip on the surface, as well as for fuel tanks.
These tanks compete for space with passengers. As reported by Lars Moravy, Tesla's Vice President of Engineering, the 200-liter cylinder in the Thrust version is located behind the seats, while in the flying Rocket version, the passenger seat is replaced by another with a volume of 400 liters.
Moravy also told Top Gear that each charge provides about five seconds of thrust, and the refueling process takes between two and six hours.
Scientist Ian LeCun, a professor at New York University and Turing Award laureate, called this demonstration a marketing stunt. He suggested that even if half the car's weight consisted of compressed gas, the powerful thrust required to lift it would last less than ten seconds, likely around five. This figure matches what Moravy himself admitted.
The reason for this is the low efficiency of cold gas jets: without burning fuel, they provide less than a quarter of the impulse of a kerosene rocket engine, according to a comparison conducted by Jalopnik.
For comparison, according to The Verge, the tanks in the Rocket hold about 250 kg of gas, whereas Tesla aims to keep the car's weight below 1700 kg.
Based on this, LeCun concluded that the car presented in the video is a light shell filled with tanks and is far from a road model. He compared the Roadster to the private spacecraft SpaceShipOne from 2004, which completed three record flights before being retired.
The visual appearance has also undergone radical changes: the rounded four-seater coupe from 2017 with a removable glass roof has transformed into an angular wedge two-seater model equipped with scissor doors and inspired by military aircraft SR-71 and F-35.
Despite this, Tesla has reopened pre-orders, priced at approximately 252 thousand reales (50 thousand US dollars). The final price has not yet been determined—it was equivalent to 1 million reales (200 thousand US dollars) in 2017, and production is planned for 2028.
The Rocket version is not permitted to drive on public roads, and Musk himself admitted on stage that it was not designed with safety as a priority.