The capabilities of the next-generation Tesla Roadster have been subject to some skepticism ever since Elon Musk pulled the curtain back on the upcoming luxury sports car. “The base model will do 0 to 60 [mph] in 1.9 seconds,” touted the tech mogul to a whooping crowd back in November.
Months later, Emile Bouret — one of the few people who has been behind the wheel of a 2020 Roadster — says Musk may have actually been underselling its specs.
“I know there is some skepticism about the figures that Elon … quoted that day,” said Bouret, during an interview with the YouTube channel VINwiki. “I think I can say, without getting in trouble, that those are actual figures. Those aren’t theoreticals or calculations, we’ve done those numbers. And I probably shouldn’t say that those numbers are conservative but they are. That thing is going to be a proper weapon.”
Bouret is a professional driver and car designer that has worked with Tesla in the past. He was the driver chauffering Tesla owners around in the Roadster during its announcement.
Musk also announced that the Roadster would be capable of going 0 to 100 mph in 4.2 seconds, a quarter-mile in 8.9 seconds, and a blistering 250+ mph as its top speed. This would put it in the coveted 250-mph club alongside some of the fastest commercially available cars like the 2017 Bugatti Chiron and the Koenigsegg Agera RS.
Of course, the major difference is that the Roadster is all-electric. All other EVs that come close to this speed are considered “supercars” and are more like a jet than a consumer car.
So assuming Bouret and Musk aren’t overselling, Tesla may be about to usher in a new era of electric sports cars.
