Mate Rimac, the visionary CEO behind the electric supercar manufacturers Rimac and Bugatti, has shared his thoughts on Elon Musk’s recent claim about the upcoming Tesla Roadster. Musk boasted that the new Roadster would accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in less than 1 second, thanks to the integration of thrusters.
Tesla’s next-generation Roadster was initially unveiled in 2017 with a projected release in 2020, a date that has been pushed back every subsequent year. Musk recently announced that the much-anticipated vehicle is now expected in 2024, with an updated version set to be unveiled later this year.
See also: Elon Musk Unveils Plan to Launch Tesla Roadster in Late 2024
Rimac, closely monitoring the Roadster program, noted that its Neverra electric hypercar already achieves similar performance to Tesla’s original claims for the Roadster. Following Tesla’s Roadster prototype unveiling, Rimac countered with a new version of its supercar boasting similar specifications.
With Porsche’s investment in Rimac and Mate Rimac’s leadership at Bugatti, the Croatian manufacturer is in a stronger position than ever to rival Tesla. When asked about Tesla’s sub-1-second acceleration claim, Rimac acknowledged the feasibility but highlighted potential weight-related challenges:
“It is possible with thrusters. We did the simulation. The problem is that you release the air in 2-3 seconds, and then you have a lot of dead weight that you are carrying around (tanks, compressors, valves, nozzles, etc.). Same with fans – they just give you more grip, but you need something like 30.000 Nm on the wheels to accelerate below 1 sec 0-100 km/h, which means you need massive motors, inverters, gearboxes, driveshafts, etc. Plus, the car has to be super light as otherwise you can’t create a lot of excess downforce with the fans as the tires would be overloaded very fast with any kind of car with “normal supercar” weight, especially electric. And then again you are carrying the weight with you when you are not doing 0-100 km/h. So thrusters are really the only way to go. But it brings a lot of downsides as well.”
See also: Tesla Open-Sources Original Roadster Design Amid Speculation Over Next-Gen Roadster’s Production
Rimac’s insights underscore the complexity of achieving such ambitious acceleration targets and the practical challenges that come with integrating thruster technology into a production vehicle. As the electric vehicle race intensifies, Rimac and Bugatti’s innovative approaches could pave the way for the future of high-performance electric vehicles.
