Elon Musk has said a lot of crazy things about the new Tesla Roadster over the years. From its alleged rocket technology to its capability to fly for short “hops,” Musk’s comments about the upcoming all-electric halo car have been practically fantastical. And in a recent comment, Musk noted that Tesla is targeting an absolutely insane 0-60 mph time with the new Roadster.
When the next-generation Roadster was unveiled back in late 2017 with the Tesla Semi, Elon Musk announced that it would be a vehicle with a 0-60 mph time of 1.9 seconds. At the time, such figures were already insane, but they were achieved several years later by the much larger and much heavier Tesla Model S Plaid, which could perform a 1.99-second 0-60 mph run under ideal conditions.
With the Model S Plaid achieving the 2017 next-gen Roadster’s 1.9-second 0-60 mph time, Tesla’s estimates for the Roadster became more ambitious. When the upcoming all-electric supercar was featured at the Petersen Auto Museum, for example, Tesla’s plaque for the vehicle noted that with the SpaceX Package, the new Roadster was expected to achieve a 0-60 mph acceleration time of 1.1 seconds.
Musk’s recent updates on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, indicated that Tesla now has even more ambitious performance targets. As per Musk, the new Roadster would have a 0-60 mph time of less than 1 second. But even more interestingly, such performance would be one of the least interesting parts about the vehicle, Musk noted.
If Tesla does pull off a feat like the next-generation Roadster, it will establish Tesla as an automaker that makes cars that seem impossible possible. Sub-1-second 0-60 mph times are within the realm of top fuel dragsters already, after all, and those are nowhere close to actual production cars. As per Auto Express, the fastest 0-60 mph time for production cars as of early 2024 goes to the 1,011 bhp Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170, whose farewell is marked with an impressive 0-60 mph time of 1.66 seconds.
