Tesla Roadster flips, hops, and lands on compressed air — production still three years away

A wedge-shaped electric car drove up an inverted ramp, launched itself upside down into the Texas night air, executed a mid-air flip, and landed back on the tarmac under its own control. Then it did it again — this time hopping over a Cybercab, a Cybertruck, a Semi, a Model Y, and a Model 3 in a single bound. The Tesla Roadster, nine years after its original reveal, has finally shown what it can do.

The invite-only event took place Thursday evening at SpaceX's Rocket Development and Testing facility outside Waco, Texas — two weeks later than originally planned after Tesla pushed the October 1 reveal date due to weather. What unfolded there was unlike anything previously demonstrated by a production automaker.

Well, it worked.— Elon Musk, CEO

The aerial maneuvers are powered by 10 directional cold-gas thrusters fed from roughly 600 litres of compressed air stored in carbon-fiber overwrapped pressure vessels packed into every usable void in the car. No combustion or rocket propellant is involved, and the system can be recharged. Tesla engineering VP Lars Moravy confirmed the thruster count and air volume, with TechCrunch reporting the storage details. Musk credited the result to Tesla and SpaceX engineers working side by side.

The thrusters don't work alone. Tesla pairs them with what it calls a multi-mode suction system — high-powered fans that held the car to the inverted ramp during the demo run and that also pull the car down for extra grip on road-going trims.

Tesla is offering the Roadster in three configurations. The Performance trim is road-ready, seats two, and includes the multi-mode suction system. The Thrust trim is race-ready, also seats two, adds rear-mounted cold-gas thrusters, and is priced with a $250,000 reservation deposit. The Rocket trim — the one that flew in Waco — seats one, adds perimeter-mounted thrusters for forward, upward, and lateral rotational movement, and is invite-only with no published price. All three versions are quoted at more than 300 miles of range and a top speed of more than 230 mph, with Musk claiming the production Rocket version could target Mach 0.5, or 383 mph.

The car also recorded a 0–60 mph time of 0.81 seconds during a test run at the event — a figure Tesla is calling sub-one second and the world's fastest for a production car.

There were hints that the Tesla Roadster might do something extraordinary, but I think what happened in Texas on Thursday evening far exceeded everyone's expectations. How it all translates into a finished, usable, enjoyable road car for enthusiasts remains to be seen. For now, it seems like an incredible engineering achievement.— Henry Catchpole, host of Hagerty's 'The Driver's Seat'

Not everyone was swept up in the spectacle. Gene Munster of Deepwater Management, a long-time Tesla bull, posted two takeaways on X: that the event was 'an engineering flex with no commercial value beyond embarrassing traditional car makers,' and that Musk 'can't wait to bring Tesla and SpaceX together.' Musk himself has previously conceded the Roadster probably will not move the needle much on revenue, according to hwbusters.com.

The practical questions are significant. Tesla's own product page includes a footnote stating the car is not approved for public road use — a particular issue for the Rocket trim. Electrek notes, according to hwbusters.com, that a flying car still has to clear FAA type certification, a process that can take years. Alef Aeronautics, whose electric flying car received an FAA Special Airworthiness Certification in 2023, released a video of its vehicle flying over the new Roadster and welcomed Tesla to 'the flying car race.' The two companies share an early investor in Tim Draper but take different technical approaches: Alef uses distributed electric propulsion; Tesla uses stored compressed gas.

Then there is the matter of timing. Tesla first unveiled the second-generation Roadster in 2017, took reservations with large deposits, and originally promised deliveries would begin in 2020. The target slipped to 2021, then 2023, then 2024. Musk now says production will begin in 2028, at Giga Texas according to Teslarati, as reported by hwbusters.com. As hwbusters.com noted plainly: 'A 2028 start is a target, not a delivery date.'

For those ready to commit now, Tesla is asking for a $5,000 deposit followed by a $45,000 wire transfer within 10 days for the Performance version, and $250,000 for the Thrust variant, according to Yahoo Finance. The Rocket version remains invite-only.

The original Tesla Roadster, released in 2008 and sold until 2012, was Tesla's first electric vehicle and used a Lotus Elise chassis. Its successor has been in development — and in reservation-holder limbo — ever since the 2017 announcement.

Why it matters — The Roadster demo marks the first time a production automaker has publicly shown a street car performing controlled aerial maneuvers — but with no road approval for the flying trim, no published price, and a 2028 production target from a company with a long history of delays, the gap between spectacle and deliverable product remains wide.

Sources differ on Performance trim reservation total cost: $5,000 deposit + $45,000 wire transfer = $50,000 total (finance.yahoo.com) vs $50,000 for Performance (stated as a single figure) (hwbusters.com)

Reported by aviationweek.com, finance.yahoo.com, hwbusters.com