What happens when electric-car engineering meets rocket science? Tesla's new Roadster attempts to answer that question.

On October 15, 2026, Tesla revealed its redesigned Roadster, in collaboration with SpaceX, they used cold thrusters to allow the car to perform a complete flip in the air. With production planned in 2028, are they really selling us flying cars ? Here I'll explore the physics behind it.

Rocket on 4 wheels ?

The cars that you and I have, they work by rolling tires to basically push the ground back, hence pushing us forward. The Roadster works by taking that force and adding thrusters to it, basically giving us an extra boost of speed by expelling cold air backwards.

The increased speed feels intuitive, but lets think about why. Basically, every particle of gas we push back has a velocity. We pushed that particle with a certain force, and the particle pushes back with the same force(often called Normal force). Millions of tiny pushes are what dramatically accelerate the car forward, and in this case upward as well.

The upward force generated, also known as thrust depends on amount/mass of gas pushed downwards per second as well as the speed it is released with, also known as exit velocity. If this thrust is greater than the downward pull of weight, the car flies.

However, a brief airborne jump is not the same as sustained flight. The available gas, mass, compression systems and aerodynamics affect how long the car flies. With all things considered, this looks more to be a one time use gimmick.

The Physics of Extreme Acceleration

Tesla has claimed a 0–60 mph time of less than one second for the Roadster's Rocket version. For scale, the shortest 0 - 60 time we have ever seen is 1.55 seconds. To achieve that with an electric car is not a small feat.

Reaching this speed in one second requires an average acceleration of:

That's approximately 2.7 time gravitational acceleration. On roads this is extremely improbable due to limitation in tire friction and the force that is passed onto the ground. Additionally downforce as seen in F1 cars can improve grip, with  thrusters further increasing acceleration and speed.

These numbers are still only claims made by Tesla using their own tests, the Roadster is yet to undergo testing by external sources.

Revolutionary or Impractical?

The Roadster flying is definitely a cool trick and amazing for marketing but isn't really practical. Driving in a 1 seater car with gas compressers around you for a cool trick is definitely not everybody's idea of a car.

The Roadster is hence, definitely a cool concept but not really a practical flying car for the masses. The achievement of flight in an electric car is a huge step that I do not want to undermine in any way. Flying cars at this time can be compared to electric cars in 2014, a concept with a few prototypes, but not really practical

The real engineering achievement isn't simply making a car that can leave the ground. It will be showing that it can be replicated and balancing the pros for the cons. 

In the long term there are many applications for accident prevention, long distance flight, flying ambulances etc.