Tesla’s next-generation Roadster has lost more than half of its promised range. It has dropped from 620 miles to just over 300. That is a big cut for a car that has been in the works for nearly nine years. The new Roadster looks built for speed, not long road trips.
Tesla’s Roadster range Drops
When Tesla unveiled the next-generation Roadster in 2017, its 620-mile range claim set it apart from other performance EVs. The pitch was simple. You would get supercar acceleration without giving up long-distance cruising.
Today, Tesla’s latest estimate is 310 to 320 miles per charge. That is still decent for an electric sports car, but it is a different promise from the one that first got people’s attention.
In a nearly hour-long interview with Top Gear, Tesla vice president of engineering Lars Moravy and the company’s design chief confirmed that production is targeted for Texas in 2028.
The car has been rethought from the ground up. It uses an aluminium and carbon-fibre chassis, steer-by-wire, brake-by-wire, and carbon-ceramic brakes. The bespoke battery pack uses nickel-based lithium-ion cells and runs at 800V to 1,000V. Tesla has not revealed its capacity.
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The rest of the spec sheet shows where Tesla’s priorities lie. The Roadster can reportedly charge at up to 500kW on a V4 Supercharger, which takes the battery from 15% to 85% in 10 minutes.
The dual-motor, rear-wheel-drive setup makes over 1,073hp in the base version and more than 1,341hp in higher trims. The battery can supply up to 1,000kW. The lightest variant weighs about 3,700 pounds.
Tesla is targeting a top speed of 330mph, though the current figure is 214mph. The Roadster is clearly built for speed more than for crossing the country without stopping.
That does not make the range a deal-breaker. More than 300 miles is plenty for weekend drives and longer trips, especially with charging this fast.
Still, if you reserved the car based on the original specs, you are now looking at a very different range promise. Production is not due until 2028, so the numbers could change again.
The Roadster still has something to prove
Tesla’s updated range claim shows how much a long-awaited car can change between its first reveal and its production target.
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The Roadster may still deliver blistering performance, but the range has gone from a headline promise to a fairly ordinary figure for a high-performance EV.
After nearly nine years of waiting, you have good reason to look past the spectacle and ask what the finished car will actually deliver. That is, if you can even get one without an invitation.
The biggest question is not whether the Roadster can do something outrageous. It is whether Tesla can finally deliver the car, and whether the finished version lives up to the promises that made people reserve one in the first place.
