Tesla’s Roadster: 0-100 km/h in Under 2 Seconds

The exploits of Elon Musk have been widely and enthusiastically publicised over the last several years, with his projects at high-tech car manufacturer Tesla being the most talked about.

The Tesla stable already features the affordable option, the Model 3, the larger Sedan Model S, and the large semi-utility vehicle Model X among its numbers, but those ranks are about to grow.

The Roadster is what initially put Tesla on the map but has been due an update for some time now, an update the manufacturer says will be hitting showroom floors some time around 2020, for a price tag of around $200,000 – roughly R2.3m. The Roadster’s performance is what has tongues wagging, as Musk claimed that the 200kW battery-powered sportscar will hit 100 km/h in just under 2 seconds – due to the immediate access to power facilitated by the electric platform, rather than a conventional combustion engine.

The second potential addition to the Tesla range is a behemoth of a commercial truck. This is something that’s likely to be incredibly market specific, so may not hit the shores of SA as it could only make commercial sense in the US.

It’s something of a hybrid between a bakkie and a commercial transport truck – what Musk described as “a pick-up truck that can carry a pick-up truck”. It’s certainly not the most practical of creations, but considering Musk’s penchant for out-of-the-box surprises, it’s not too shocking that he’s got some interesting plans up his sleeves. Tesla has pushed some design boundaries before with their other models, but nothing quite like this concept art for the potential semi:

Whether the truck will come to fruition or remain a quirky concept remains to be seen, but when it comes to Musk’s ambitions, he usually delivers on what seem like outlandish promises. Time will tell, but what’s certain is that the lightning-quick Roadster will be stripping asphalt off American roads in a little over two years!