Tesla reopens Roadster reservations ahead of the October 15 reveal

Update, October 4: Tesla moved the Roadster event to Thursday, October 15, because severe storms were forecast for the outdoor thruster demo near Waco, as Electrek and TechCrunch reported on September 28. The details are in Tesla moves the Roadster event to October 15; the reservation terms below are unchanged.

The Roadster order button is back. On September 20, Tesla reopened reservations for the next-generation Roadster, as Electrek reported, just eleven days before the car's public reveal. After a brief hold over the weekend, the page is live again, per Teslarati, and the countdown is on to the reveal, which Tesla has since moved to October 15.

How the reservation works

The Roadster reservation is $50,000, paid in two parts:

• $5,000 by credit card to hold your place. Tesla describes this payment as fully refundable.
• $45,000 by wire transfer within 10 days. The reservation becomes final once the wire clears.

That is the same $50,000 structure Tesla used when it first took Roadster deposits in November 2017. The difference now is that a reveal date is on the calendar.

What arrives at the reveal

Tesla first set the unveiling for October 1 at 8:30 p.m. Eastern, near Waco, Texas, at SpaceX's rocket test site in McGregor, and has since moved it to October 15 for better weather. It is the first time Tesla has committed to a specific date for this car since the prototype rolled onto a stage nine years ago, and we laid out what to expect when the date was announced.

Tesla says the event will cover three things buyers have waited a long time to hear:

• Pricing. The 2017 figure was $200,000 for the base car.
• Specifications. The original targets were a sub-1.9-second 0 to 60 mph time, a top speed above 250 mph, and 620 miles of range.
• Production targets. Tesla has pointed to Gigafactory Texas, with production in 2027 or 2028.

There will also be a show. Tesla plans a demonstration of a remote-operated stunt car fitted with SpaceX-designed cold gas thrusters, the "SpaceX package" Elon Musk has teased for years. The event is big enough that the FAA has set up a temporary flight restriction over the McGregor site for the night.

"Excitement guaranteed"

Musk's own summary of the event is characteristically blunt: "It'll be a banger. Excitement guaranteed." He has called the Roadster "the cherry on the icing on the cake" and promised a demonstration people won't forget.

The Roadster is a halo car, not a volume product. Its job is to show what an electric drivetrain can do at the absolute limit, the way the original Roadster showed in 2008 that an electric car could be fast, and the way the Model S Plaid later showed it could beat almost anything on a drag strip.

Where the Roadster started

The Roadster is the car Tesla began with. The original, delivered from 2008, was built on a lightweight sports car chassis and powered by thousands of lithium-ion laptop-style cells. It proved something most of the industry doubted at the time: that a battery car could be quick, fun and usable every day, with a range measured in hundreds of miles rather than dozens.

Everything since grew from that bet. The money and the engineering from the first Roadster led to the Model S, the Model S led to the Model 3 and Model Y, and those made Tesla the company it is today. A new Roadster closes that loop. It's Tesla returning to the car that started it, with fifteen years of battery, motor and software progress behind it.

That history is why reservation holders have been so patient, and why October 15 has the whole community's attention.

Should you reserve now?

If you want to be early in line, reopening before the reveal is a thoughtful move for buyers. The refundable $5,000 lets you hold a spot before you commit the rest. The $45,000 wire is due within 10 days, so check where that window falls against the October 15 event before you reserve.

For everyone else, the reveal stream is free.

A car made for wraps

A Roadster is the kind of car people wrap on day one. Paint Shop support for it hasn't been announced yet, though every Tesla on sale today has it. Until a template exists, the street racing wrap ideas guide is the closest thing to a Roadster livery you can put on your car today, and the studio builds it for your model in a few minutes. We'll be watching on October 15.