Yesterday we learned that the Rimac Nevera set no fewer than 23 records in one day, including 0-60 mph in a staggering 1.74 seconds and 0-249-0 mph in a mind-blowing 29.94 seconds.
That’s impressive stuff for any car, even for an ultra-limited electric hypercar that starts around $2.15 million (2 million euros). It also proves that if anyone wants to achieve such high levels of performance, they need a battery-electric vehicle to do the job.
But do you know who’s not impressed with the Rimac Nevera’s records? Elon Musk, or at least that’s how one can interpret the reaction he had to the news on Twitter.
Asked by Teslaconomics whether the Tesla Roadster will be able to beat the 0-60 mph record of 1.74 seconds set by the Rimac Nevera, Tesla’s CEO replied cryptically with an “LOL.”
Despite hundreds of follow-up comments from Twitter users, Elon Musk did not clarify what he meant by the “laughing out loud” acronym. The most logical assumption would be that the Tesla Roadster will be way quicker than the Rimac Nevera.
While that may seem hard to believe considering the fact the Nevera is a $2.15 million purpose-built electric hypercar featuring cutting-edge tech, one must not forget the insane performance Tesla has managed to squeeze from the Model S Plaid and Model X Plaid, two family-sized vehicles that start at just under $110,000.
The Model S Plaid, for example, does 0-60 mph in 1.99 seconds and covers the quarter-mile in 9.23 seconds with a 155-mph trap speed, according to Tesla’s website.
Seeing as the Tesla Roadster is expected to feature an evolution of the tri-motor electric powertrain in the current Plaid models, and that it will most definitely be lighter and more aerodynamic than the Model S Plaid, the Rimac Nevera’s 0-60 mph record doesn’t look impossible to break.
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At the Roadster’s 2017 unveiling, Tesla said the electric supercar can do 0-60 mph in 1.9 seconds, and that’s without the SpaceX option, which is supposed to lower the 0-60 time to a ridiculous 1.1 seconds.
Mind you, as someone pointed out on Twitter, that wouldn’t be a fair fight because the Nevera does not offer cold gas thrusters powered by overwrapped pressure vessels.
We might learn what the Tesla Roadster is capable of as early as next year, when the model will “hopefully” launch, according to Elon Musk’s comments at the 2023 Annual Shareholder Meeting on May 16.
“We expect to complete the engineering and design of the next-gen Tesla Roadster this year and hopefully – this is not a commitment – start production next year,” he said. Musk also noted that while the Roadster will not become a huge contributor to revenue and will be a modest contributor to profitability, “it will be sick.”
