When announcing updates to the Model S in July 2015, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said a new Roadster model would be coming with a Maximum Plaid mode in four years. When Musk posted his “Master Plan Part Deux” earlier this year, one main point was to expand its product line to address all major segments. Musk did not mention anything about the Roadster in that plan, but now a new tweet now confirms that the car is still in the works.
Roadster not a priority for Tesla
Musk has been quite generous lately in answering questions posed via Twitter. Recently, when Uber Design Manager Jelle Prins asked about a successor to the original roadster, the CEO replied that it is “some years away, but yes.”
Though it is not a major flood of new information, it is good to know that Musk still includes sports cars in his definition of serving all market segments. Musk and his team already have quite a to-do list, including plans to build a pickup truck, a bus, and a crossover, the upcoming release of the mass market Model 3, further development of the Model X and Model S, finishing the Gigafactory, and development of Autopilot, Tesla’s autonomous-driving software, notes Car and Driver.
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“Some years” could be a lot of time and can mean a lot of different things, but we cannot expect the new version of the Roadster to be rolled out just like Tesla’s other products. There is already so much for the automaker to do, and considering that Roadster will not be a huge moneymaker for the automaker, it is not likely to be a top priority for Tesla.
New Superchargers could be insanely fast
Musk also tweeted that the new Superchargers might be so fast that they will easily overtake their gas counterparts. In a tweet, Musk said the new Supercharger V3 will be coming soon, and it will make the previous V2 Superchargers look like “child’s play.”
Range anxiety has been one of the things that was holding back the adoption of electric vehicles. Also knowing that their electric vehicle will take about 40 minutes to get an 80% charge is a problem. It is the main reason why the Chevrolet Volt and the Toyota Prius (among others) have been quite slow to make the shift to all-electric. However, it seems that going forward, all this will change for the better.
On Wednesday, Tesla shares closed up 0.1% at $219.74.
