Elon Musk is serious about adding thrusters to the new Tesla Roadster

Tesla Roadster

Elon Musk has confirmed that he is completely serious about adding thrusters to the new Tesla Roadster and he added that the optional package will replace the mysterious back seats that the upcoming electric supercar is supposedly going to have.

When we reported on Musk first announcing that the vehicle is going to have thrusters this weekend, one out of three readers didn’t think that it was for real.

But Tesla’s CEO has now confirmed that it is going to happen and he revealed a few new details about what is now called the “SpaceX package".

Leave it to Elon Musk to thrusters on a car

What Musk first called “small rocket thrusters" are actually going to be “composite overwrapped pressure vessel" (COPV), which basically consists of a sophisticated bottle containing ultra high-pressure air that can be released for thrust.

The air is going to be automatically added by air pumps using power from the Roadster’s battery pack so there’s no need to refuel and the system is technically still all-electric:

While it will draw energy from the battery pack, Tesla is designing a new 200 kWh pack with over 600 miles of range on a single charge for the new Roadster so it shouldn’t be a big issue.

Musk is talking about adding as many as 10 of those systems all around the vehicle, which would help not only for speed and acceleration but also for deceleration and possibly even to turn.

We are starting to talk about adding a significant amount of weight and taking an important space in the relatively small new all-electric supercar.

The CEO says that if chosen, the optional package would replace the backseat:

We never actually had a good look at the backseat even on Tesla’s working prototype of the next-gen Roadster.

At the unveiling event, Musk said that it was big enough to fit children or small adults, but he is now referring to it as “kid seats."

It sounds like the mysterious back seat is still in the plan, but it won’t be available if you choose to have the “SpaceX Package" with those cold air thrusters all around the car.

While Musk went into more details about the new feature, he didn’t reveal any updated specs that it could bring to the already insane standard version of the Roadster, which includes 0-60 mph in 1.9 sec, 620-mile of range, and more.

But the CEO did hype the vehicle even more than he already had by saying that Tesla’s new Roadster will be “out of this world" and there will be “no finer car in history."

Are you excited yet?