New Tesla Roadster; 8 unanswered questions about Elon Musk's rocket supercar

Tesla finally presented the new generation of Tesla Roadster; A car that is supposed to blur the line between supercar and aerospace technology. The post New Tesla Roadster; 8 unanswered questions about Elon Musk's rocket supercar appeared first on Safir Arjan.

Tesla finally presented the new generation of Tesla Roadster; A car that is supposed to blur the line between supercar and aerospace technology.

Become a special member of Arjan Ambassador in order to benefit from and access special facilities and different departments in Arjan Ambassador.

After years of waiting, Tesla finally presented the new generation of Tesla Roadster; A car that is supposed to blur the line between electric supercar and aerospace technology. At the unveiling, the roadster moved upside down with the help of an underbody suction system, took off from the ground with cold gas engines, and the version equipped with the Thrust system accelerated from 0 to 60 mph in less than one second.

Tesla aims to produce the car for 2028 and has announced a range of more than 480 km and a maximum speed of more than 370 km/h. However, Tesla's stunning display raised more questions than it answered. Many of the most important details about the Thrust and Rocket versions are still unknown, and even the day-to-day use of the strangest car technology has not been explained.

The most important technology of the Thrust version is the cold gas engine. Behind the seats is a composite pressurized tank, or COPV, that stores a gas consisting mostly of nitrogen up to a pressure of about 10,000 psi.

This gas comes out of the four rear nozzles at a very high speed and creates a thrust independent of the wheels. MotorTrend has reported the volume of this tank to be around 200 liters.

But Tesla still hasn't said how many times a full tank allows for maximum thrust. Can the driver experience dozens of accelerations from 0 to 96 km/h in less than one second, or should he refill the tank after a few uses?

This question is more important for the Rocket version, since flying and hovering will use much more gas than a short boost during acceleration.

This is perhaps the most important practical question of the car. Tesla has not officially explained the method of recharging the pressurized tanks. A pressure of about 10,000 psi is equivalent to approximately 690 bar; Therefore, it is not possible to fill this tank with a normal nitrogen capsule.

The system will require specialized pressure equipment, gas booster or infrastructure similar to some hydrogen systems. It's unclear whether the Roadster will have an internal compressor that gently refills the tank, owners will have to visit Tesla service centers, or if Tesla will provide special equipment for this task.

In the information published after the unveiling, there is no explanation about the charging time, cost or gas supply location. This means that a Roadster owner may be dealing with a car whose battery charges in a Supercharger, but requires an entirely separate process to re-use one of its most attractive features.

At the unveiling, Tesla showed that the version equipped with more engines can take off, change direction in mid-air and land again. MotorTrend has identified a total of 10 cold gas nozzles in the demonstration sample; Four nozzles for forward thrust, four downward nozzles to create lift and two nozzles in the front to control the direction of movement.

But there are still no official numbers for flight duration, maximum altitude, distance covered in the air or the number of maneuvers with a full tank. So for now it's best to think of the Roadster Rocket as a car with the ability to jump and fly short, not a flying car that can fly several kilometers above the street.

Even if the production version can do exactly the same moves as the demo, the next issue is the rules. Tesla notes on its Roadster page that the Rocket version will not be available in all regions, and has not yet released a list of markets that will confirm the feature.

A car can face a whole new set of safety regulations and even aviation rules as soon as it's deliberately taken off the ground. It's unclear whether regulatory bodies will allow such a feature to be used on the public street, or if "flying" will be limited to runways and controlled environments.

COPV is not a new technology and has been used in the aerospace and hydrogen vehicle industries for years. The roadster tank also uses a very resistant composite structure, and this technology is one of SpaceX's areas of expertise. But installing a tank with such a high pressure in a road-going supercar raises different questions.

What happens if the car crashes from behind? After how many years does the tank need to be inspected or replaced? How is pressure released in a fire? And what protection structure will the Rocket version, which has more tanks, have? Tesla has not yet released crash test results or details of the segment's safety systems.

Tesla has confirmed that the new generation Roadster will use cylindrical 4680 cells, a new cooling architecture and a titanium coating for the battery pack. At the same time, the current official range of the car is stated to be more than 300 miles, that is, more than 480 kilometers.

But the battery capacity, electrical architecture voltage, maximum charging power, charging curve and even the final weight of the car have not been announced yet.

This information is very important for a car with such performance; Because suction fans, active aerodynamics, powerful engines and other car systems all require energy, and heavy use on the track can greatly increase energy consumption.

Numbers like $50,000 and $250,000 were thrown around a lot after the unveiling, but there's an important caveat: These numbers aren't the price of the car. Tesla has not yet announced the final price of the Roadster. $50,000 is charged to reserve the Performance version and $250,000 to reserve the Thrust. For now, the Rocket version can only be ordered by invitation from Tesla.

So we still don't know how much the version that reaches 96 km/h in under one second will really cost; How about a single-player version of the Rocket with a full flight system.

Roadster electric motors do not depend on the cold gas system to move the car. The Performance version also uses electric motors and suction system under the body without gas engines, and Tesla has considered a very high acceleration for it. The Thrust version actually adds a cold gas engine to this collection.

So running out of nitrogen does not mean stopping the car.

But what we don't know is exactly what limits the car imposes in this mode. Does Thrust Acceleration translate directly to Performance Levels? Does the software system allow normal driving with an empty tank? How will the tank pressure be displayed to the driver and when will the car request a recharge? Even these simple details have yet to be determined.

The new Roadster is perhaps the strangest product that Tesla has introduced so far. The active suction system can stick the car to the surface even at zero speed, the cold gas propellants bypass the tire adhesion limit during acceleration, and the Rocket version even moves the car into the third dimension for a short period of time.

But these technologies have not yet been tested on a mass-produced product. After the initial introduction of the second generation in 2017, the Roadster itself has been delayed many times, and now 2028 is considered as the starting date for production.

So until the final specs are released, perhaps the most intriguing part of the Roadster isn't the numbers Tesla has announced, but the unanswered questions: Where do we charge a rocket car, how many times can we fire it, and who will even let it take off?