The reasons the Tesla Roadster lags behind

The Tesla Roadster is again delayed. Presented in 2017, it has gone through several dates: 2020, 2022 and now 2023 … at the very least. Let’s see what can be the causes.

The Tesla Roadster was introduced in 2017 in an event quite in the style of Elon Musk, with big words, announcements, screens full of videos, numbers and beautiful photos.

So, we talked about the truck, the Tesla Semi (delayed at least until 2022), and the Cybertruck (sine die delay due to an error in the matrix, according to Musk), but these models are still known to be low. .

And the Roadster? It is complicated. On the one hand, we are talking about an electric supercar which is said to be capable of reaching 100 km / h in 1.9 seconds, exceeding 400 km / h and capable of generating around 10,000 Nm at the wheel. There is one that could be the first reason.

This multimedia touchscreen replaces the car stereo and integrates Android Auto to use GPS, YouTube, Maps, Spotify and other Android applications.

All the more so if you take into account that in theory A rocket version developed by SpaceX should appear with which it could reach 100 in just one second… and that will probably, at the very least, raise eyebrows at the authorities responsible for approving any new car.

Another cause is the economic problem. And it’s an important piece of engineering that requires good funding and a lot of resources. So, shortly after presenting it, Elon Musk himself announced that they were delaying the project to prioritize others like the Tesla Model Y or the Berlin Gigafactory.

“The Roadster is like a dessert”Musk said at the time with one of those metaphors he loves so much (like the one from The Matrix above). “First comes the meat, the potatoes, the vegetables and everything in between.”

Although maybe This does not appeal to those who have already deposited at least the $ 5,000 pre-reservation, who was joined by a payment of another 45,000 soon after to secure the car.

Ultimately, another cause of the Tesla Model S lag It is common to other manufacturers from various parts of the world like Toyota or Ford, and also the main one of all: the chip and semiconductor crisis. More and more, cars are technological elements crammed with these parts …

… and of course, here the perfect storm gathers: on the one hand, there is a significant imbalance between supply and demand, and the shutdown of production last year only made the problem worse.

And is chips are made from rare materials called semiconductors, ideal for conducting electricity or even isolating it. There are a few, but the best known are the silicon, cadmium and selenium.

The problem is, just like the cobalt for making batteries is found in places like North Korea or China, the main producers of semiconductors are in “complicated” countries: China, Singapore… And others like South Korea which have a more than buoyant industry and are not going to stop it to feed the competition.

So, as Musk admitted to CNBC, there are supply chain issues. “2021 was a year of brutal cuts in production lines, so It would have been the same if we had had 17 new products because none had arrived. I think 2022 would not be dramatic [pero] the new Roadster should arrive in 2023. “

We’ll see what it is… Bets?

This article was posted on Top Gear by Luis Guisado.

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