Elon Musk wants Tesla’s new sports car to make 007 proud.
The billionaire electric car tycoon said he was working to deceive the upcoming Tesla Roadster with the rocket technology so it could soar above the ground.
“I’m trying to figure out how to make this thing float without killing people,” Musk said in an episode of Joe Rogan’s podcast released Thursday.
“I thought maybe we could make it float, but not too high, so maybe it could float like a meter above the ground or something,” he added. “If you fall, you blow out the suspension, but you are not going to die.”
Tesla has been working for several years on an updated version of the Roadster – the company’s first electric car for mass markets.
The Silicon Valley company expects to complete the model this year, and hopes to begin shipping it in 2022, according to Musk.
The Roadster will be able to move through the air as it floats above the ground if Musk’s gliding experiments are successful, he said. He claims Tesla will offer a “SpaceX option package”, apparently named after Musk’s rocket business, which will equip the car with a high-pressure fuel barrel and a bunch of thrusters. ‘
If the glide does not work out, the Roadster could still have rear bumpers that ‘make him move like hell out of hell on the road,’ Musk said.
“I’m at least confident that we can do a screw where the badge turns down, you know, James Bond style, and then the rocket screw behind it, and that gives you three tons of push,” he said.
Tesla introduced the new Roadster for the first time in 2017. The following year, SpaceX launched Musk’s personal Roadster into space. The car passed Mars for the first time last fall.
Tesla shares fell 0.6 percent from 7 a.m. Friday in trading on the first market.