Tesla Roadster revealed: $50,000 deposit, $250,000 for Thrust, 10 thrusters, and a 0.81-second 0-60 demo

Live updates

• Oct 18, 2026, 10:30 AM ET: Ferrari had a similar idea on paper years ago. Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna confirmed to the Hindustan Times that Ferrari holds a patent for compressed-air jets on a car, first filed in Italy in December 2018. Ferrari's version is meant to press the car into the road so it can corner, brake and accelerate harder, not to lift it off the ground. Details in the new section below, "Ferrari patented a similar jet idea in 2018." No Tesla price, deposit or spec changes.
• Oct 16, 2026, 1:45 PM ET: More detail from Tesla engineering VP Lars Moravy, mostly from his sit-down with Henry Catchpole in Hagerty's video "The Flying Tesla Roadster Explained by the Man Who Engineered It", with refill timing also discussed in Top Gear's walkaround video. Rollout: Hagerty notes Moravy's 0.55-second 0–60 figure for the Rocket is "a rollout figure," and Tesla itself said on X its 0.81-second stage run works out to "0.67 seconds (w/ rollout subtracted)." (See the explainer below.) Seats: the Rocket is a single-seater. Hagerty says its extra 400-liter tank goes "in place of the passenger seat," which InsideEVs says Moravy confirmed, and Tesla's Roadster page lists seating for one. The Thrust keeps two seats. Gas and pressure: the thrusters run on compressed nitrogen, not plain air. Hagerty says the Thrust's 200-liter tank holds "compressed Nitrogen," and MotorTrend says the gas is primarily nitrogen stored at up to 10,000 psi. Per EVXL's summary of the Hagerty interview, Moravy said the tanks can hold up to 10,000 psi and that Tesla picked nitrogen because air is mostly nitrogen and spacecraft cold-gas thrusters already use it. That 10,000 psi is what the tanks are built to hold. The track screen in Tesla's own interior photo reads 5,500 psi for the thrusters, and Tesla hasn't said what pressure they run at. On stage, Moravy called the gas air. Refill time: filling is slow for now. EVXL reports Moravy told Hagerty that filling all 600 liters takes six to seven hours. In the Top Gear video, he described filling the Thrust's 200-liter tank from an external high-pressure nitrogen supply in two to six hours, per InsideEVs, and Top Gear writes that the tank "needs refilling at a station." Tesla aims to get that down to about 30 minutes, InsideEVs and EVXL report. Tesla hasn't explained how this fits with Musk's on-stage line that the car can recharge its own tank.
• 11:32 PM ET: At 9:57 PM ET Elon Musk posted a 15-second clip, "Turns out the future does have flying cars" (watch on X), and Tesla reposted it at 11:19 PM ET (Tesla on X). We've added its opening frame to the gallery. At 11:18 PM ET Tesla also posted "From Roadster in a rocket / To rocket in a Roadster" (Tesla on X), the same tagline as its Roadster page. Nothing new on price, deposits or specs, and still no final price.
• 11:15 PM ET: Franz von Holzhausen posted a new 18-second Roadster video at 11:03 PM ET (watch on X). Shot vertically on the reveal floor, it shows the white Roadster from behind with its wing up, in front of the curved ramp. We've added its opening frame to the gallery. Canada is in, too: CNBC reports Tesla is taking $50,000 deposits from buyers in the U.S., Canada and China. CNBC doesn't say which currency applies in Canada. Tesla Canada's Roadster page is live and says the Limited Release version goes "0-100 in under 1 second." The page doesn't give the unit. Still no final price for any version.
• 10:58 PM ET: Tesla posted a new official 44-second video at 10:49 PM ET, captioned "Do a kickflip!", showing the Roadster jumping over the Tesla lineup (watch on X). We've added its opening frame to the gallery below. Earlier, at 10:40 PM ET, Elon Musk shared a 49-second highlight reel of the night's stunts. That reel came from the fan account @AutismCapital, not from Tesla. Still no sticker price for any version.
• 10:55 PM ET: Tesla design chief Franz von Holzhausen posted a new photo on X at 10:01 PM ET, and Elon Musk reposted it at 10:17 PM ET. It shows the Roadster in mid-air, thruster plumes trailing behind it, above a Tesla Semi and a row of Tesla cars. We've added it to the gallery below. On money, Electrek says the $5,000 due today is, in Tesla's words, fully refundable, and that the reservation is canceled if the remaining $45,000 isn't paid within 10 days. Together that's the same $50,000 Performance deposit Tesla asked for in 2017. Still no sticker price for any version.
• 10:46 PM ET: Post-reveal roundups fill in a few stage claims we hadn't logged. The Verge quotes Musk teasing a top-speed target of Mach 0.5 — "halfway to the speed of sound," roughly 380 mph, "maybe a little higher" — and says Moravy called the jump over Tesla's lineup "a kick flip." Verge also reports two ultra-high-pressure air tanks totaling about 600 liters and ~250 kilograms of air, with 10 nozzles, matching TechCrunch's thruster count. That's a Musk target, not an independent test, and it sits above Tesla's own claimed figure of speeds above 230 mph on the product page and configurations post. SlashGear and TechCrunch report Musk saying Tesla may try to jump the Snake River Canyon. Electrek has a full post-reveal writeup confirming the three trims, the deposit path, the range cut from the old 620-mile claim to over 300 miles, and that final sticker prices are still unannounced. As of 10:46 PM ET, Tesla hadn't posted anything new since its 9:59 PM ET "Real life, baby" clip, and there was still no price. (Tesla has since posted a new video; see 10:58 PM ET.)
• 10:15 PM ET: Our take: the tech is stunning, but is it a driver's car? Tesla Roadster: Impressive tech, but is it a driver's car?
• 10:00 PM ET: More hardware numbers and a clearer deposit path. TechCrunch reports that vehicle engineering VP Lars Moravy said the Roadster uses 10 thrusters connected to 600 liters of compressed air, and that the invite-only Rocket trim has those 10 cold-gas thrusters around the car. TechCrunch also says all three trims are claimed for about 300 miles of range and speeds above 230 mph — Tesla's own claims, not independent tests. Engadget clarifies the money: Performance is still $5,000 due today plus $45,000 within 10 days, and the Thrust package takes an additional $245,000 within 10 days of reservation (on top of that base path). Rocket stays invite only. Final sticker prices are still unannounced. TechCrunch quotes Musk saying "This will be the actual car that's on the roads," and that the demo jumped a Cybercab, Cybertruck, Semi, Model Y and Model 3. At 9:59 PM ET Tesla posted a ~46-second highlight clip, "Real life, baby" (watch on X).
• 9:50 PM ET: Deposits are out. Engadget reports, citing Tesla's website, that the long-running $50,000 reservation is for the base Performance model, the Thrust model with rear thrusters takes a $250,000 down payment, and the top Rocket model is invite only. Sawyer Merritt posted the same three tiers and noted that final prices are still to be announced. Engadget's own guess is that a $250,000 down payment points to a total price "well over $1 million"; that's Engadget's speculation, not a Tesla figure. Tesla also explained more of the hardware on X. It says every usable space in the car is packed with carbon-fiber pressure vessels (COPVs) for the thrusters, because more compressed gas means more flight time (Tesla on X), and that the thruster system generates "4–5x the force the tires can" (Tesla on X). We've added four more official photos to the gallery below.
• 9:35 PM ET: Tesla kept posting after the stream. At 9:26 PM ET it showed the car changing shape in Track Mode and claimed the aero gives "the best passive downforce package of any road car (approaching F1 levels!)," with the wing moved by actuators from its Optimus robot program (Tesla on X). That's Tesla's claim; no independent figures yet. At 9:30 PM ET it posted an 86-second film, "Roadster: The last best driver's car" (watch on X). At 9:33 PM ET it posted four studio photos with exterior details: concealed headlights, a full-length taillight, flush surfaces and thin-spoke lightweight wheels (Tesla on X). The photos are in our gallery below. Still the same on the basics: Musk said on stage that production starts in 2028 (Engadget; BGR), and Tesla hasn't announced a price.
• 9:24 PM ET: Tesla has turned its Roadster page into a full product page, and it lists three versions of the car (see "The three versions" below). The page credits a "multi-mode fan and ground sealing system" with enough suction to hold the car upside down "even when stationary," plus a Track Mode that lowers the car, high-downforce and low-drag modes, and cold-gas thrusters with all-electric actuators that make micro adjustments to stabilize the car "in flight." Its tagline: "We already put Roadster in a rocket. Now we put a rocket in Roadster." On timing, Musk said production starts in 2028, "for real," according to Engadget and BGR. Engadget reports a top speed of at least 235 mph, which Musk said the car can go "much faster than"; BGR has it at over 230 mph. Tesla posted on X that the Roadster's design is "inspired by the SR-71 & F-35" (Tesla on X). There's still no price: Engadget notes the event gave "absolutely no info on price," and the $50,000 reservation reported by BGR before the event is the only figure so far.
• 9:19 PM ET: Tesla's livestream showed a 0.81-second 0 to 60 mph run. Musk had set the target as "less than one second," and Engadget confirms the 0.81-second result and quotes him: "We anticipate being able to do better than that." That's a demo-run figure shown on stage, not a production spec. BGR says an earlier test had hit about one second. More of the walkaround on Tesla's livestream: the design draws on flight, the SR-71 and "cars that transform," with an aerospace look. It's a lightweight two-seater, and alongside the steer-by-wire yoke the brakes and throttle are also by-wire. The fans and thrusters sit in the rear diffuser area, as Engadget and BGR also report. Tesla says the fan system is meant to let the car corner at more than 2 g and accelerate with more traction than the tires alone could give. The body has two modes, high-downforce and low-drag, which BGR also reported. The fan system has two modes too: at low speed it sucks the car down, and at high speed it opens at the front and rear to push more air under the car. The rear wing changes its pitch to adjust downforce automatically, which Engadget also reports Musk saying. Price and production timing still haven't been announced.
• 9:15 PM ET: More hardware detail from the stage. Engadget reports Musk said the stunts don't need a "special propellant": the car uses a rechargeable air tank, so owners can "do these maneuvers" themselves, which lines up with the ultra-high-pressure air tank BGR reported. Musk also said "this is not necessarily a safety-optimized car," according to Engadget. BGR reports the seats are molded into the chassis and the car uses steer-by-wire. Price, performance figures and production timing still haven't been announced.
• 9:12 PM ET: The demo is done, and it went further than a reveal. On Tesla's livestream, Musk and the Tesla team called the Roadster Tesla's last manually driven car, and in the long run its only one, while noting it was "technically autonomous for this demo" as a safety precaution. They also warned that success wasn't guaranteed and that the crew was at a safe distance. According to Engadget, the car drove slowly up a tall ramp, stayed inverted for a few seconds and came back down, then made a second run with a mid-air twist before landing. Engadget says jets fired to slow its descent, and both Engadget and BGR report it later jumped over a line of other Teslas, flipped and landed. Engadget reports an Optimus robot sat in the driver's seat for show, with the car programmed to do the stunts. On stage, the move was framed as flight: "Flying cars are real," with a nod to Peter Thiel's line that we were promised flying cars and got 140 characters instead. Then: "That's not the last thing you'll see." The key piece of hardware is a fan suction system under the car that Tesla says can pull up to 2 g, which BGR also reported. That's what kept the car on the ramp upside down, and it matches the reading of Tesla's "Electric fan car" patent covered below. Engadget reports Musk said most owners won't need to drive upside down, but the same system gives the car exceptional cornering grip. BGR also reports an ultra-high-pressure air tank. Price, specs and production timing still haven't been announced.
• 9:07 PM ET: First look at the rear on Tesla's livestream: a full-width red light bar, an "RDSTR" license plate and four round ports set low in the rear fascia, in the same spot as the four plumes in Tesla's teaser. Tesla hasn't said yet what the ports do.
• 9:06 PM ET: The event is under way. The stream went live at about 9:00 PM ET, a few minutes late, from the SpaceX site in McGregor, Texas (Engadget; BGR). BGR reports that chief designer Franz von Holzhausen, vehicle engineering VP Lars Moravy and Elon Musk have been on stage. Musk opened with "You're gonna see some crazy stuff tonight," said Tesla wanted a live audience so people would believe the demo isn't AI, and called the car "better than any James Bond car" (Engadget; BGR). Engadget also reports him saying the Roadster will "eventually" be the only Tesla you drive yourself. At 9:04 PM ET Tesla posted that the Roadster is "the best of the last human-driven cars" (Tesla on X). Still not announced: price, specs, thruster details and production timing. Before the event, BGR reported that Tesla's website still takes $50,000 reservations ($5,000 up front plus a $45,000 wire transfer).
• 7:30 PM ET: The stream is due at 8:55 PM ET. We'll add the price, specs and production timing here as Tesla announces them.

The three versions

Tesla uses two sets of names. Its Roadster page calls them By Reservation, Limited Release and Invite Only; its configurations post on X calls them Performance, Thrust and Rocket. The extreme hardware depends on the Rocket trim, which the page says isn't available in all regions. Deposit figures come from Engadget and Sawyer Merritt; Tesla hasn't announced final sticker prices.

• Performance (By Reservation), $50,000 deposit: "$5,000 due today" plus "$45,000 within 10 days," per Engadget. Electrek says Tesla calls the $5,000 fully refundable, and that the reservation is canceled if the $45,000 isn't paid within 10 days. "Road ready" with two seats, active aerodynamics and the multi-mode suction system. No thrusters.
• Thrust (Limited Release), $250,000 path: Engadget reports an additional $245,000 within 10 days of reservation for the Thrust package (suction system plus rear acceleration thrusters). "Race ready" with two seats; Tesla says rear cold-gas thrusters take it from 0 to 60 mph in under one second.
• Rocket (Invite Only): "Air ready" with one seat and 10 cold-gas thrusters around the perimeter for forward, upward and rotational movement, according to TechCrunch. Tesla's line: "So yes, it can fly." The page says it is not approved for public road use. TechCrunch also reports Moravy said the system is fed by about 600 liters of compressed air.

Tesla's configurations post lists claimed figures: more than 300 miles of range, a top speed above 230 mph for the Rocket, and 0 to 60 mph in under 1.6 seconds (Performance), under 0.9 seconds (Thrust) and under 0.59 seconds (Rocket) (Tesla on X). TechCrunch reports the same range and top-speed claims for all three trims. These are Tesla's claims, not tested numbers. Separately, The Verge quotes Musk on stage teasing Mach 0.5 (about 380 mph), "maybe a little higher" — a target he framed as something to "crack," not a tested figure.

About those 0–60 times: US drag strips and most American magazines time 0–60 mph with a "1-foot rollout": the clock starts only after the car has already moved about a foot, which usually trims a tenth or more off the time. Tesla's quickest numbers use that convention. Hagerty calls Moravy's 0.55-second Rocket figure a rollout figure, and Tesla on X says the 0.81-second stage run becomes "0.67 seconds (w/ rollout subtracted)." So a rollout time isn't directly comparable with a 0–60 time measured from a dead stop, which is how many European and independent tests do it. Add roughly a tenth or two to compare like with like.

Ordering is open in Canada. CNBC reports Tesla is accepting $50,000 deposits from buyers in the U.S., Canada and China; CNBC doesn't say whether the Canadian figure is in U.S. or Canadian dollars. Tesla Canada's Roadster page lists the same three versions and says the Limited Release car goes "0-100 in under 1 second" (no unit given). It also notes that the Rocket trim is "not available in all regions." Tesla hasn't published a Canadian price.

The page also says the features and specs shown reflect Tesla's optional "Thrust augment" upgrade. Other details it lists: Ano White paint inspired by aerospace coatings, Gold Glazed tinted glass meant to mimic a spacesuit visor, an Ultrawhite "Supersonic" interior with a yoke built for steer-by-wire, a center touchscreen with two smaller forward displays, fixed seats, and magnesium, titanium and carbon fiber to cut weight. Tesla hasn't published prices for any version.

Gallery: Tesla's official photos

Tesla posted these studio shots on X during the reveal (Tesla on X). Its Roadster page describes the white finish as Ano White paint and the tinted glass as Gold Glazed, with titanium accents.

When and how to watch

Tesla says the Roadster event streams live tonight, Thursday, Oct 15, 2026, at "7:55pm CST" (Tesla on X). The event is in Texas, so that's 8:55 PM ET, 6:55 PM MT and 5:55 PM PT, the same time CNBC and Car and Driver give. Tesla's own livestream page says the same: "Join us on Thursday, October 15th for the Roadster unveiling at 7:55 PM CST."

• Tesla's X account: Tesla posted a "Roadster event livestream" link this afternoon (Tesla on X) and the stream itself at 8:54 PM ET (Tesla on X).
• Tesla's livestream page: livestream.tesla.com.
• Tesla's YouTube channel: youtube.com/live/qt5p-_tE8d0.
• Where it's happening: a SpaceX test site in McGregor, Texas, near Waco, according to CNBC. CNBC also reports that Tesla set up a no-fly zone around the site through filings with the Federal Aviation Administration.

What Tesla has teased

Tesla's Roadster page and livestream page use a single dark teaser image: the rear of the car with a wide wing, a glowing red full-width light bar and four bright plumes, set against a starfield. Since the event was first announced on Sep 12, the image has been shown upside down. Not a Tesla App noted at the time that flipping it reveals an angular tail, the wing and four plumes from the rear deck, and Tesla Oracle read the plumes as SpaceX-style thrusters.

Tesla added a new twist today. Tesla watcher Nic Cruz Patane posted on X that the easter egg on Tesla's website had been updated: flip the Roadster image and adjust the photo settings, and it now reads "THIS SIDE UP."

That matters because of a patent. On Sep 29 Tesla was granted US patent 12,746,987, titled "Electric fan car" (USPTO). It describes electric ducted fans that pull air from under the car and push it out of a rear diffuser to add downforce. Electrek notes the drawings show four fans on a Model S, not a Roadster. On Oct 7 Tesla Oracle pointed out that the flipped teaser, with four plumes in a row under the light bar, looks a lot like the patent's fan layout. Not a Tesla App went further and suggested Tesla might show the car driving upside down. These are readings of a teaser and a patent, not anything Tesla has confirmed.

Elon Musk's only hint today was a post Tesla reshared, calling the new Roadster "beyond movies, beyond imagination, beyond human" (Tesla on X).

Ferrari patented a similar jet idea in 2018

Tesla isn't the first carmaker to put gas jets on a performance car, at least on paper. Ferrari engineer Fabrizio Favaretto is the named inventor on "High-performance car with gas pushers," which Ferrari first filed in Italy on Dec 27, 2018, and in the US on Dec 23, 2019. The US patent, number 11,072,381, was granted on Jul 27, 2021 (Google Patents). The Drive wrote about it in February 2023, but according to the Hindustan Times, Ferrari had never confirmed it on the record until CEO Benedetto Vigna did so in an interview in New Delhi, where Ferrari showed its electric Luce this weekend. "Yes, there is a patent from Ferrari in 2019 from our colleague. I know it very well," Vigna said. Mint also reported the interview.

The goal is different from Tesla's. In Ferrari's patent, a tank of compressed air (the patent gives 700 to 900 bar as an example) feeds nozzles that fire jets faster than the speed of sound. A jet pointing up near the middle of the car pushes it down for more grip, side jets push back against the car sliding outward in a corner, a front jet helps it brake, a rear jet adds acceleration, and a jet under the floor speeds up the air beneath the car so it is pulled toward the road. A compressor driven by the wheels can refill the tank under braking, and the patent puts the added weight at about 40 to 45 kg. It suggests the jets might be used only at low speeds, in an emergency stop, or for a single fast lap. Tesla's thrusters, by contrast, were shown lifting the Roadster over a row of parked Teslas (Google Patents; Hindustan Times).

Nothing suggests a dispute. Vigna didn't say Tesla copied anything. Asked about the demo, he said Ferrari asks whether a new technology "delivers unique emotion, driving thrill, or something that is more on the sensational side" (Hindustan Times). Ferrari hasn't said it plans to build a car with the system, and no Ferrari on sale uses it. A patent is a claim on an idea, not a product plan. For the full story on Ferrari's patent, how the jets work and what it means for Ferrari buyers, see Ferrari patented air jets that push a car down onto the road.

What was promised before

Tesla first showed a second-generation Roadster in November 2017, at the end of the Tesla Semi reveal, and it began taking $50,000 deposits, according to CNBC. Teslarati says the 2017 base car was quoted at 1.9 seconds from 0 to 60 mph. Musk later promised "rocket thrusters" that could "allow a Tesla to fly," as CNBC puts it, and Teslarati reports that a SpaceX package with cold-gas thrusters could cut the 0 to 60 mph time to about one second. None of those numbers has been shown in a production car.

The timeline has slipped repeatedly. Electrek says the car was promised for 2020 and is now slated for "2027 or 2028." CNBC says Tesla has missed every delivery date it targeted. This reveal was meant to happen on Oct 1 and was pushed back two weeks because of the weather, according to Car and Driver. Teslarati reports Tesla has said tonight's event will include pricing, specifications and production targets.

What to watch for tonight

• Price and deposits: whether Tesla confirms a price, and what happens to the 2017 deposits.
• Performance: whether the 2017 claims, including 1.9 seconds to 60 mph, still stand, and whether the thruster package is real.
• The rear end: whether the car has the four fans from the patent, thrusters, or both.
• Timing: a production date and a factory, the details that have been missing since 2017.

Analysis

Our take

The Roadster finally has a public shape, a 2028 production target, three named versions and deposit figures — and still no sticker price. A 0.81-second stage demo and a flying stunt won the night; Musk's Mach 0.5 tease and a possible Snake River Canyon jump are aspirations, not product-page specs. Buyers will still need a firm total price, a factory and proof that the car they can buy matches the one that hopped a row of Teslas. We'll keep updating as Tesla and reputable outlets fill those gaps.