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TeslaCEO Elon Musk tweeted on Wednesday that the long-awaited Roadster will be once again… delayed.
2021 has been the year of super crazy supply chain shortages, so it wouldn’t matter if we had 17 new products, as none would ship.
Assuming 2022 is not mega drama, new Roadster should ship in 2023.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 1, 2021
As you can see, 2023 isn’t a set date, but rather a prediction, assuming that nothing big and unexpected occurs in 2022.
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Truth be told the chip and supply chain shortages have caused unforeseen delays in the automotive industry and Tesla is no exception.
During the company’s latest earnings call, however, Musk had said that Tesla is working around this issue by using alternative chips in its cars and rewriting its software to support it.
Perhaps the mass-market success of Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y have taken the Roadster out of the company’s priority list.
After all, the EV’s delay is rather long.
Musk first announced the $200,000 second-generation Roadster at a Tesla unveiling event back in 2017, promising a series of jaw-dropping specs: a 200kWh battery pack, nearly a 1,000km of range on a single charge, and a zero to 60mph acceleration in 1.9 seconds.
Production was set to start in 2020, but, in January, the CEO tweeted that production would start instead in 2021.
Finishing engineering this year, production starts next year. Aiming to have release candidate design drivable late summer. Tri-motor drive system & advanced battery work were important precursors.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 28, 2021
All these delays must not sound good for those who have reserved a Roadster with a $50,000 deposit for the base model and a $250,000 deposit for the advanced and limited Founders Series edition — at least the deposit is refundable until the customer signs a purchase agreement.
Musk may have promised a James Bond-like car, equipped with the SpaceX rocket thrusters as an optional package, but I doubt we’ll the Roadster roll or fly on the streets any time soon.
Do EVs excite your electrons? Do ebikes get your wheels spinning? Do self-driving cars get you all charged up?
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