Elon Musk tells us why the Tesla Roadster is taking so long

The Tesla Roadster was announced back in 2017 and promised insane road-going performance, extreme acceleration and great styling but where the hell is it? It’s been a good three years or so and we have heard nothing. So, what’s going on with it?

Elon Musk recently went on the Joe Rogan Podcast and explained himself. Not only did he tell us why it’s delayed but he also revealed some rather exciting stats too.

First of all, let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way. Like all car manufacturers across the world, Tesla too has been affected by COVID-19 which has set back production of the Roadster by several months, according to Musk.

As well as this, Tesla has some ‘things to get done ahead of the Roadster which includes the following. They need to ramp up Model Y production as this will be a more mass-produced car. Tesla also needs to get the Gigafactory built in Berlin and expand the factory in Shanghai before thinking about building Roadster orders.

Elon Musk also said that Tesla aims to get the Cybertruck and Semi out of the way first. Even though the Cybertruck was announced far more recently, Elon thinks it would make more sense to get those orders rolling before the Roadster. He said “The Roadster is kind of like Dessert, so we have to get the meat and potatoes done first,” which seems fair.

Tesla is also working on various new technologies at the moment which will be implemented in the Model S and some in the upcoming Roadster. These include the Tri-motor and Plaid powertrain.

So, Musk said, “anyone who’s been waiting won’t be sorry”. But perhaps the biggest news of all is that he revealed the 1.9 seconds 0–60 mph time is for the base model. So god knows what sort of acceleration the higher models will be. He didn’t reveal any information on this as he will save it for the final release. Exciting isn’t it!