The 2020 Tesla Roadster Will Do 0-60mph In 1.9sec, 1/4-Mile In 8.8

0-60mph in 1.9 seconds is one hell of a figure to open with. It’s the benchmark sprint that Tesla says its new Roadster - which had a surprise appearance at the company’s semi truck unveiling - will be capable of when it arrives in 2020, and it’d make it not just the fastest accelerating electric vehicle, but the fastest accelerating production car. Period.

But that’s just a start. Tesla is also claiming a ‘250mph+’ top speed for the all-wheel drive sports car - unusually high for an EV. 0-100mph will happen in 4.2 seconds, and it’ll be able to run an 8.8 second quarter-mile. Oh, and it’ll have a 620 mile range.

It’s made possible by a 200kWh battery pack, but how Tesla will offset the inevitable high weight of such a thing, we’re not yet sure.

It’ll seat four people, and have a removal glass roof panel that can be stored in the boot. It looks like the rear seats are particularly small, but away from Porsche 911s, few super-fast sports cars have rear chairs of any kind.

The Tesla Roadster is a car that makes some very hefty claims, so should we be skeptical? At least a little, we’d say - while this is a tantalising look at an electric sports car of the near future, the reality of the present is Tesla isn’t in the best health. It recently reported its biggest ever loss, and Model 3 production is way, way off the firm’s original targets.

Can it manage to sort out Model 3 ‘bottleneck’ issues, build its new semi-truck and put the fastest accelerating road car the world has ever seen into production? We sure hope so.

If all goes to plan, the Roadster will set you back $200,000, or $250,000 for one of the 1000 ‘Founders Series’ cars.