Tesla Roadster 1 Kicked Off EV Revolution, Tesla Roadster 2 Helps To Close It Out

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Originally published on EV Obsession.

I am not pretending to be any more capable of covering the shocking revelation of the second-generation Tesla Roadster than any other enthusiastic EV blogger out there. However, this event brings back that peculiar sensation I experienced in the passenger seat of this particular Tesla Roadster back in 2011:

I was a petrolhead at the time. I had just spent a fortune restoring a Paris/Dakar-replica Suzuki motorcycle. I really did love that bike. However, when the kind gentleman from windestate.com slammed the accelerator in this thing, my mindset — as well as my bowels — turned upside down. After that, my beautiful desert off-roader felt like a lame duck in rattling knight’s armour.

What had happened? Well, the sensation — that I had a hard time to formulate at the time — was the recognition of the beginning of the clean revolution in transportation.

Elon Musk chose to take advantage of the hype around the Tesla Semi to reveal one more thing, the Tesla Roadster 2:


This marks the end of the dirty world of transportation. The Roadster is not a sensible car. It is a symbol. The second iteration complements the original, and wraps up the message. The old Roadster marked the beginning of a clean new world. The new Roadster marks the end of the dirty old world. Or as Elon puts it:

“to give a hard core smackdown to gasoline powered cars!”

Once again, Tesla has left the traditional automotive industry in shock. In the next months, the media will get swamped with stories about what just happened. I advise you to pay attention. If you have a gasoline-powered car in your driveway, you should start to plan ahead — because it will be worthless within a decade. I guess…

Tesla Roadster 2008:

248 hp
270 Nm
53 kWh
244 miles (393 km)
0 — 60 mph: 3.9 sec
Top speed: 125 mph

Tesla Roadster 2020:

1,500 hp
10,000 Nm
200 kWh
620 miles (1000 km)
0 — 60 mph: 1.9 sec
Top speed +250 mph


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Jesper Berggreen

Jesper had his perspective on the world expanded vastly after having attended primary school in rural Africa in the early 1980s. And while educated a computer programmer and laboratory technician, working with computers and lab-robots at the institute of forensic medicine in Aarhus, Denmark, he never forgets what life is like having nothing. Thus it became obvious for him that technological advancement is necessary for the prosperity of all humankind, sharing this one vessel we call planet earth. However, technology has to be smart, clean, sustainable, widely accessible, and democratic in order to change the world for the better. Writing about clean energy, electric transportation, energy poverty, and related issues, he gets the message through to anyone who wants to know better. Jesper is founder of Lifelike.dk and a long-term investor in Tesla, Ørsted, and Vestas.

Jesper Berggreen has 241 posts and counting. See all posts by Jesper Berggreen