Tesla put on a big show last night during the new Roadster’s debut, but it didn’t actually reveal concrete specifications, leaving fans and critics alike wanting more.
Thankfully, it didn’t take long for Lars Moravy, Tesla’s chief engineer, and Franz von Holzhausen, the brand’s design boss, to give a detailed rundown of the Roadster’s platform, battery, electric motors, and design.
In a nearly hour-long video published by Top Gear, the two execs were adamant that the car will go into production in Texas in 2028 with all the bells and whistles that made big headlines in the past 24 hours. “This one, we’re going to build,” said Moravy, adding that the concept we saw in 2017 would no longer be suitable for today.
So, what is the new Tesla Roadster capable of? First off, it’s based on a completely new and bespoke chassis that combines aluminum and carbon fiber, steer-by-wire, and brake-by-wire with carbon ceramic rotors. It integrates a high-voltage battery pack rated somewhere between 800 and 1,000 volts, which uses nickel-based lithium-ion cells developed specifically for the Roadster.
The Tesla reps didn’t give a number for the energy capacity, but said that in normal driving conditions, the Roadster would be able to deliver around 310 to 320 miles of range on a full charge. That's a far cry from the 620 miles of range Tesla touted when it first revealed the second-generation Roadster in 2017. But the Roadster is clearly meant to be more of a track toy than a long-distance road-tripper.
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