Joe Rogan hosted Tesla CEO Elon Musk on his podcast again this week, and while they covered a number of topics, it was hard to miss Musk’s claims of a vehicle with rocket technology, which will allegedly be fixed to the Roadster.
In the interview, Musk and Rogan talked about the potential for the upcoming Roadster to feature rocket technology, hovering capabilities, and a James Bond style flip down license plate, among other things. The features would reportedly generate up to 3 tonnes of thrust, making for a literal rocket car.
Fun times with my favorite Martian! Elon Musk joined me to talk about Space X, Tesla, the realities of climate change and all sorts of other cool shit!
Available now on @spotify https://t.co/Yb3ZCloMx6— Joe Rogan (@joerogan) February 11, 2021
Whether the bit was a joke or not, Musk responded to Rogan’s questions about when the Roadster would become available, and if the rocket thrusters meant it would be able to hover.
Musk said, “I’m trying to figure out how to make this thing hover without killing people. I thought maybe we could make it hover, but not too high. Maybe it can hover a meter above the ground or something like that.”
Later in the conversation, Musk continued, “At minimum I’m confident we could do a thruster where the license plate flips down, James Bond style, then a rocket thruster behind it – and that gives ya 3 tonnes of thrust.”
Musk did say that the team would finish engineering the Roadster later this year, with deliveries beginning in early 2022.
While a hovering Tesla Roadster is, in all likelihood, not going to become a reality, it just goes to show how far Musk’s hyperbolic ideas are willing to go. And if there’s any truth at all to his conversation with Rogan, 2022’s going to be one hell of a year.
