With SpaceX rocket thrusters, Tesla Roadster will be a 'Bond car': Elon Musk

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has revealed more details about his company’s upcoming model - the Roadster. In a recent podcast interview, Musk had said he could not provide a launch date for Roadster yet. Musk had referred to the Roadster as something like a 'dessert', saying, "We gotta get the meat and potatoes and greens and stuff."

Now, the Tesla CEO has confirmed that a special edition of the upcoming Roadster will have rocket thrusters from SpaceX installed, making it a car to crave for. In an interview recently with Jay Leno, Elon Musk said, "We will use compressed air at extreme pressure. It is acold gasengine. The main engine will be behind the license plate. So to accelerate the license plate it will go down andthe rocket enginewill start behind it. It's totally James Bond."

You read that right! A car with rocket thrusters on the road will be a sight to behold. And this was expected since Musk had repeatedly said that the Roadster will have various packages that can significantly increase its performance.The one that he spoke about is the Roadster SpaceX Package which will take advantage ofaerospace technologiesby inserting them in a road vehicle with additional engines.

The Tesla Roadster,expected to be released not before 2022, will work as the synergy between Musk's two companies - Tesla and SpaceX. The idea is toequip the Roadster with 10 cold gas thrusters manufactured by SpaceX.This type of equipment is generally found on satellites in order to allow them to make small bursts or position corrections.Operating with pressurised air,the technology is safe and non-polluting.

In the interview with Jay, Musk went on to explain thatsome of these thrusters will be placed behind the license plate.This will drop when the driver activates the thrusters.

Tesla had announced the Roadster, a battery-powered four-seater, at the end of 2017 and at the time said the car would be faster than any street-legal production car. Musk in the past has said Roadster sales would begin after a revised version of its Model S sedan is released.

Elon Musk's love for James Bond is nothing new. In 2013, he spent 997,000 dollars (around ₹7.58 crore) tobuy the Lotus Esprit that was used inthe 1977 James Bond film 'The Spy Who Loved Me' starring Roger Moore.The angular lines on the Lotus Espirit, that transformed into a submarine, reportedly had served as inspiration for the Tesla Cybertruck as well.