Shadowing Practice: New Tesla Roadster: It’s Finally Here… And It Flies! | 4K - Learn English Speaking with Video

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okay where you're not gonna be throwing me down some stairs no we'll stop

you right here okay okay thanks for wearing that whenever you're ready okay i'm gonna take the blindfold off

oh okay already i see different lines yeah come on show me should we do it pull

it yeah pull it here we go oh my word oh my word that's completely different totally already seen yes

so this it's almost got a ultra futuristic look to it kind of the idea

this is the tesla roadster the actual tesla roadster production car

and it might be one of the most intense vehicles ever conceived even

if the pregnancy has been interminable but yes intense

or at least some of the optional extras are

so stick with me

because today we'll be all about the genius brains behind

it thrust from zero 260 in under a second cold air thrusters

and ground effect and no one thought you could ever make a flying car

and the og roadster for a little bit of context side note

we came to see the roadster before it was revealed to the world

and it was shrouded in secrecy to the point that i was blindfolded even getting to the vehicle

okay let's just start at the beginning because i'm still actually just taking it in

this is a completely different thing to what i was expecting what what's happened here nine years

there's the original roadster the middle roadster nine years ago and then this the new roadster

and this one we're going to build you've kind of successfully managed to deflect all of the attention

because this is a genuine surprise so it's kind of what are the basic stats of this car

we started looking at where we wanted roadster to go right yeah

and we it obviously in nine years had to progress from the performance metrics etc

and we also started looking at this idea of flight

and how that would change the shape of the car okay yeah

and you look at you look at cyber truck what we've just done cyber cab the language

that we're progressing is you know distilling down getting more simple clean

and roadster needed to follow that suit it felt already like yesterday's teslas

when we were adhering to the the nine year ago design

so we wanted to progress it

so it was the future of nine years ago yeah this has got to be the future of 2026 exactly

and from the engineering side a lot of what we put in

that car we actually ended up putting in the model s plaid like actually the first plaid

that ever existed we ripped the motors out of that car

and put it into a plaid a model s

that became the plaid and

so like the tri -motor system the carbon overlaid

you know rotors the carbon ceramic brakes like even the you know track mode

and things we had talked about developing went in plat

and it's like well now you kind of got to be a lot better than

that so where did it where did it go then

because this if you've had nine years of development throughout your processing i can see tesla in

that it's still got a tesla vibe

but there were pretty high bars for what you were hoping to achieve for roadster even back there yeah

so this is going definitely in production like this yeah yeah

it's going to look like this yeah the whole deal yeah yeah

production car yeah and you're going to build it where in in texas in texas from 2027 right

and 28 28 so it's a little bit later

but this is the production car

so what have we got under here is it a completely new chassis

or is it based on something else yeah it's completely new

and bespoke just for this you know as our company has moved on and we've you know we we're in Austin,

I know where you flew in.

Cyber cabs are everywhere.

The future of autonomous driving is here.

Yeah.

Like it is on the knee of going up.

You know, really the task here was to make the last best driver's car.

That's kind of a mantra I've been holding for a while and sort of stuck with the team.

It's quite punchy though, isn't it?

Yeah.

I mean, it's truly the best on all the metrics.

Like defy physics best.

Yeah.

So, I mean, a couple of things to start out.

The first thing that you can't see from looking at this

but you might tell from the proportions is it's actually a rear -wheel drive only car really yeah

so is it dual motor it's dual motor at the rear axle

because all of the internet has said it's tri -motor it's quad motor

but is it more fun there's something like amazing

and visceral about the power coming out of the rear end

and just shooting it you know forward when you think of like a

driver's car which we wanted this to be like

so is it more about excitement than pure performance does

that mean you've turned it gives you the ability to have both what's it made of

so I mean there's a lot of different materials in here right

now this is like our alpha we always build these out of carbon fiber

but it's like a hybrid structure we're using the material where we need it

so you know we have aluminum in the fronts

and like obviously the suspension bits carbon ceramic brakes

and the carbon areas of the tub you have the glass

you have plastics where you need it you know still working out some of the body panels

but it's everything yeah because we we try to make it super lightweight yeah

because for me like performance is power to weight right and

so we're trying to get it you know team will kill me for saying this

but under 1700 kilos i wanted to start one six

because it's got to be the same weight as all the other performance cars out

there supercars like you can't yeah

if you're going to make it truly better you can't go around with a 2200 kilo electric vehicle

and call it a fun car to drive that's not going to be true

so if it's

if it's looking at being 1700 kilos how much power is it going to make are there different versions

or is there any one yes so that the base there's

so many questions i'll do the power chain real quick um

so you know a couple of things so it's two two motors at the rear yeah like that

performance vehicles and up will have super power dense uh motors that are going to run on high voltage, 890 to 1000 volts in that range,

and we'll use cobalt steel in the lamination and stuff to really get power power dense.

And that means that this car will have over, you know, a thousand kilowatts of power,

1500 horsepower, which is more than the Plaid had in three motors, but only in two.

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And the two motors sit at the rear axle, they're buttoned up against each other,

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they each have their own separate inverter with a planetary reduction to go out to each wheel independently.

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So how are you controlling all that horsepower and torque if it's only rear wheel drive?

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So, I mean, the braking system is a brake -by -wire system.

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Okay.

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We first implemented our brake -by -wire on CyberCab, just like you were talking about with design language.

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So it's braking it by reservation.

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And so we obviously have torque vectoring at the rear, which can help with yaw control.

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But then if we need to do, like, some more stability control, we have the brake power at the front.

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But there's some other cool stuff for stability that we'll get into in a bit.

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Which sounds intriguing.

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But are there different versions that we need to know about?

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Is there a base? there's a roadster yeah there's a performance roadster okay

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there's a thrust version we'll get into the details on that

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and there's a rocket version so four different variants right

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and they build from each other they're going to build up

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and is it just in horsepower or hardware or both both yeah

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so well the results end up scaling down as you add the augments

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so i'm assuming that pop up headlights pop down they pop down headlights okay

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are they full headlights yeah this is the full headlight

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so you know on the cyber truck

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we had one of the slimmest headlights on the market

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it was about 20 millimeters tall

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it sat down in the in the fascia um these are a little bit less than

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that and you have the full um you know low beam

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and high beam up there and then you know the the joint effort between vrons

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and i so in the teams

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that worked on it to get the light to project out of this like

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and being that low yeah being as seemingly seemingly conca you know blocking the light

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because you can put your hand up here it goes everywhere yeah

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but you've kept that front graphic really super super clean

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that was the idea the whole car we tried to keep incredibly clean

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and you'll see as we discuss the car transforms into its alter ego

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but keeping the cleanliness

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and all the insane engineering development that's underneath the skin was you know part of the back

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and forth challenge that we were facing this feels like an edit

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if you get what i mean how do you like this could have had loads of bits

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and yeah yeah but we but we didn't feel like

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that was a true tesla in the cleanliness of the design language

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that we've been progressing as a company all the cars we've ever made haven't despite their ridiculous performance, have never looked like, you know,

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giant rear wing race car type things when they're in their form.

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Like, they are at their most beautiful.

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And I think there's a magic in just a really pure, clean elegance, and then underneath that is insane performance.

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But you're calling it a roadster, and it's not a roadster.

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Well.

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What is happening in this bit?

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What size wheels are they? these are uh split fitment front

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and rear we got 295 30s at the front three 335 30s at the rear

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and then a split tire uh our wheel diameter 2021 just to get the right balance

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you know even with a low mass

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you need grip um we'll see with some features

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we show in a minute you're trying to sidestep grip yeah

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that's weird it's weird how very very mid -engined graphic

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it's got from the side like it's almost lotus -y in know like

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if you've got a white esprit there's a movement through there that's like just so happens

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that was part of the inspiration and we can show you a little bit of

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that inspiration right outside the door here

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because modern supercars have this kind of tight that energy in

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that front arch yeah if

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if you recall um we had the submarine version of the loaders in our studio

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but i thought that and trying inspiration from them.

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I thought that was a bit of propaganda to try and...

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I can see it now, but I thought you were lying.

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No. That's Matt.

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Back to your Roadster point, it's not Roadster.

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The roof's come out.

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So it's a T -top.

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T -top, but you get the open air feeling of a Roadster.

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Are they conventional doors? Should we open?

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Yeah.

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Oh, so not conventional doors.

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So you may recall on the Cyber Cab, we kind of went with this uh you know sort of butterfly type door yeah

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and we open it here um to really kind of fly into

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that sort of feeling

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that franz was talking about where even even the you've got a butt pad to slide in exactly

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you sit right here it's a little saddle to get your ass in yeah

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then you twist right yeah yeah i never thought about that being a solution

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i think i sat on that thing like 30 times in the studio i was like i need a pad i think

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But if you recall from the Roadster we showed previously, same concept, just evolved.

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So it would be a 2 plus 2.

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Let's not look at the interior because I want to talk about that later.

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So no heavy electric.

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So which bit lifts out?

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Is it this section?

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Yeah, that section there from the, you know, from the...

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The can't rail.

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The can't rail forward, yeah.

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I still don't think that means it's a Roadster, but the basic hardware is where it all starts.

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We have the battery on the floor, it's a higher voltage in the 800 to 1000 volt range that we run our Cybertruck and semis at,

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to really get it to have a lot of throughput in terms of current power.

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With over a megawatt at the rear axle, we want to get it out, and we want to get it out the whole time.

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So we've evolved our batteries since then, we've built our in -house program, and one of the cool things about making your own batteries

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is you can make the cell exactly what you want it to be.

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And what chemistry are they? and so it's still lithium -ion nickel based material yeah

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but like it's a bespoke chemistry for high power throughput so it's your new the news

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oh new new yeah like just for this program new oh okay um

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because we think about high volume cars they don't have the same power requirements they have longevity requirements

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but they you know you don't need to be pulling out a kilowatt

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and then shoving a kilowatt I'm sorry a megawatt keep saying all the time

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but we want to have to be a true driver's car

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it's got to last it's got to drive for you know full traction sustain

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that power and so we needed to change the cell to do that

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and then we needed to change the whole battery architecture are you ending up with more like a capacitor

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then something not really i mean it's just so

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but you know we changed the architecture of it

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so like to have more you know current throughput as i mentioned

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but also to manage the thermals better

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so the battery pack itself has you know cooling on both sides of the battery has an aluminum no left

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and right okay um you know our cylindrical cells usually have one cooling tube down the middle yeah

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and then to cool the other side of the cell

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you have to kind of go across it yeah that's not very efficient

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if you want to keep the coolest cells

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so we put cooling tubes on both sides

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if you were to drive it normally what kind of range would it have it's about like 310 320 miles

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which i think is absolutely absolutely reasonable and usable in a sports car yeah like

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But you know the original pitch for it being 1 ,000 kilometers, 620 miles.

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It was kind of like, you don't need that for the weight you've got to carry because no one's going to use it yet.

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And so what we really did, this is also our fastest charging battery.

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So in order to get all that power out to the motor and add that thermal capacity, you get an added bonus,

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which is I can charge much faster.

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We're hoping to do 1585 in 10 minutes.

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So could you get a semi -charger and plug

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that into it? well that's an MCS uh yeah but

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if you've got like the pluggy thing but it goes on the end

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but uh but yeah the well no uh

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but like the megawatt charging megawatt charging is this on semi primarily

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because we can distribute it across the massive pack yeah

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but on this one we're gonna

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you know using 800 volts with our gen 4 super chargers

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you know we're able to pull you know over uh almost the megawatt over over 500 kilowatts into the car

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but the car feel that

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that feels like a much more realistic the weird thing

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i'm feeling already is this is a much more realistic real usable

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it looks like a spaceship it feels like a spaceship where's the spaceshipy bit

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because you're talking to me about it being these are all

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rational things over 300 miles of range rear wheel drive rear

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wheel drive feels good to drive lighter weight yeah know with all

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that power and like all that torque like we also have to break the laws of physics

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um because because if you if you live in the world of of grip

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that currently exists in sports car like land

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you're limited by the tires always always the tire the best tires in the world maybe

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you can do 2g's mold with some are 1 .6 1 .8 something like

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that we wanted to like take it one step beyond that

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and so this car uh much in line with what you're talking about with the the

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um submarine car has some has some fans in the back right so what do the fans do

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well how do you make a set of fans not look rubbish yeah well you can

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so what do you have to have this do you have this fight all the time

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it's not a fight it's like a camaraderie like

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we want like i love cars i always want like

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when franz wants to make them look cool I'm right there with them like yep that's better we should do

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that hang on a minute does the entire back of the

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car move well lots of parts on the car yeah pretty much every panel moves

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the car transforms like I was saying before the car transforms

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which one saying that we have this really clean kind of beautiful clean design and yeah

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when you really need the extra performance you get

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it downforce etc well let's let's have a look at the back I by the way I really like

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that kind of almost long tail feel yeah like an extension towards the rear

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if you look at that profile it looks like it should end there but you've almost pulled that profile longer

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yeah it's got a pretty long wheelbase this it's bigger than a thought what's

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that wheelbase 28 25 2 .8 meters so it's actually fairly roomy from the back of the front seats

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to the centreline of the rear wheels.

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Well, it's going to have a trunk, you know.

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So to recap, in that wheelbase is a generous battery, which Tesla won't confirm at this point,

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with between 310 and 320 miles of range across the models.

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Two motors, both on the rear axle, to give torque vectoring.

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The lightest, the basic Roadster, will likely be under 1 ,700 kilograms, and that's not bad.

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And they all get 500 kilowatt charging for less than 15 minutes, 15 to 80%

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but it gets wilder from here on in okay

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so what do the fans actually do let's look at them yeah well we'll show you where they are

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and then these are not exhausts i'm guessing not exhaust where are the fans oh there are the fans

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but they're not just hang on a minute so there's fans

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but nozzles yeah so what is what is just what is it all right

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so fans create are part of a suction system

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so ground effect ground effect pulling the car down

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so to really break the laws of physics they say

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you have to define you have to live with the physics

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that exists here okay so we have to break friction

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and there's only a couple ways to do that one invent a rubber

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that has higher you know mu coefficients than one

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which seems really implausible or just pull the car down with air

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so what the fans do is we have side skirts front

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and rear skirt roughly under the whole battery pack sucks the car down

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and it can pull the car down are they deployable

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or are they yeah they're deployable oh okay

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so they're not a static skirt set

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i mean the chaparral did a good job with the static skirt it kind of went up

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and down i mean come on it's good good stuff right mercury spieling style vibes definitely style

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but like we went bigger um to get more downforce

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and to keep it more

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and then the you know we have the movable skirt to deal with road humps

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and things like that but then we actually said you know

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that kind of fills in the void of aero before you know you start moving

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and the speed comes and then you can get down for us from like wings

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and barge boards and whatever but so we fill in

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that void with the fan but then

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when you're up at the speed we also wanted to use the fans

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so then we lift up the front and rear skirts

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and we get like a high flow underneath the car yeah sucking the air through it

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so you know i joke a little bit you know out the back from the fans at

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that point it was like a ram air effect yeah and

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that that's like kind of the dual mode system we put in

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because whenever we put something in we want to get all of the use out of it like everything

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so you've got side skirts and front and rear skirts

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and then at speed those front and rear skirts lift up

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so you get a proper venturi effect on the other side of the car

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so you're speeding the air up underneath the car

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and then pulling it out through these here these here why have you got nozzles though

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because you don't they're not nozzles i think that's what

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which these ones are those ones is this you being aesthetic yes yes

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so does it need those no

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but we didn't want i didn't want them to end in a cone or yeah just to be a a bit blank.

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Yeah.

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But then, so, you've got active fans pulling the car down, but what if you do hit a big bump?

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They can...

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Yeah, they move up and down because they're deployable.

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They have sort of compliance.

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Right, so they've got some suspension in there.

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So then what's that?

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So these are part of the augments that get us to a thrust version of the car.

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Okay.

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So there's thrust and rocket at the top.

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Right.

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So rocket is at the top.

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Right.

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And then there's a thrust version of the car.

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which has four nozzles and a big COPV sitting in the back of the car.

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Explain to me what a COPV is.

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Carbon over -wrapped pressure vessel.

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So this would be, what, a two -seater?

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Two -seater, with a trunk.

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So talk to me about the...

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But when you get the thrust version, we fill the trunk.

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Holy crikey.

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Is this Ghostbusters?

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Well, you may have heard of the SpaceX package.

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We've been talking about it for a little bit.

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This is the COPV that Franz mentioned this is a 200 liter copv

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that can go up to about 10 000 psi so

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that would be like something in falcon heaven yeah i mean it's actually in a scale it's based off

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that correct yeah but you know on earth we live by different rules there's like gravity

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and wind resistance and air and so uh

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we had to like upscale it a little bit you know in space you just need a little nudge

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and you get going but here we needed you know seemed appropriate to have like

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since it's so much about flight to have roughly the same thrust as a fighter jet okay

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so this is a big tank full of compressed air essentially

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compressed air have you got is this inertial damping to stop

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that rotating when it thrusts these are the valves that open

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to allow the air the manifolds yeah exactly

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so you can see on the end of the the copv there's an outlet

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that goes into the first cylinder here that is a valve

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and then you have with a kingpin off

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that this nice tiny little actuator

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which we borrowed from another project we're working on called optimus optimus yeah

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it says it on even i can work out and

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that opens and closes the valve

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and shoots it down these equal length pipes to those thrusters you see in the back

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and can you operate those thrusters hello individually yes and

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that why would we do that tom uh i'm assuming to help turn the car

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or not turn the car if you don't want to turn

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but that's exactly right like with two sets of thrusters we can slightly adjust as we see yaw

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so that we keep you straight yeah or

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if you need some turn we can put some yaw in there

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so how fast can you how do you fill it

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and how fast can you fill it and how long does it last

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and how many psi is it okay

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and are there only thrusters on the back

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so how do you feel it there's a nozzle to fill

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it i fill it with a high pressure nitrogen system we thought

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that was kind of online

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because you know spacex does know a lot about uh it's you know kind of cold gas systems

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and we didn't want to put like a actual afterburner on the car

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and burn fuel that's not tesla yeah

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so 200 uh liters here you fill

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it like with a you know traditional like uh gas filling system

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we're working on a new system um it's not fully develop yet

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but current fill times are like two to six hours

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we're hoping to get down to under a half hour okay um

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and that system gives you one charge and

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that charge can deploy then you know in a quarter mile run it'll last

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you know the first third two thirds of

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that about five ish seconds yeah and gets you

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that thrust from zero to 60 in under a second under

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a second sub one six sub one second zero to 60

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the thruster system here will do about 0 .85 0 .88 seconds

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so how many times can you use

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that before it's depleted it's one time once it's once yeah this is

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so beautifully pointless no offense so

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but you know like we talk about it we've nine years ago

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we were in a different space we were scaling the ed industry

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and elon has always called this the cherry on top right like it's okay to have fun

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but you got to do the hard work first

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but you don't need to make this car tesla doesn't need to well tesla doesn't need to make this

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so why are you making it and

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actually can i do one thing before

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that in terms of design that's a really hard thing yeah to deal with yeah in

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that shape when you think of the packaging of the car

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and then we're putting a big bottle in it it defines

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some of the packaging sitting on top of the twin motors the batteries suspension everything else

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it's a it's a challenge so you you alluded to a longer wheelbase

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and a longer tail now you see why yeah we needed to actually design the car

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so what's here if that's if you don't have that

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if you don't have this on the like standard roadster version

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it's just open space for luggage what about the legality of a thruster well you know I mean I think that

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you know obviously some versions of this will

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that you know the rocket version yeah off -road use only

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but this like you know we are intending to you know fully certify for crash

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and everything and making them all we get yeah

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so it's a full production unit you'll be able to drive

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that with this on the road but you can't use the system on a road

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because if you pick up a piece of gravel you're putting it through someone's eye it's windshield

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or just right you know 80 kilonewtons of cold gas into the

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but tesla doesn't need to build this car no but if you

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if you look at the history of the roadster the roads

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the original roadster was you know the proof of concept

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that evs were uh fun to drive could go the distance and really prove the technology was viable

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and then as we generate as we went through kind of the eras and we created a whole

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portfolio of vehicles that are more than capable of proving

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that um roadster has always been like what's the extreme

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that we could take how far can you take an ev

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how far can you take performance where is where where's

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that border of limited physics and vehicle and that's

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that was our brief and that's why how do we use first principles

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and limited physics to get to the kind of ultimate

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last true driver car

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and that's why you sort of break the dynamics of physics you add the

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but you add the skirts and the fan system to give you an advantage that most cars can't deal with.

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And then, you know, because we've got some friendly partners here at SpaceX,

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we said, let's also use some of their tech to do something no one else in the world can do.

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And then we bring all that tech to this to say, like, this is really like the pinnacle of performance.

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Are you happy with the result?

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I mean, I love this.

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So top speed is what?

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It's 214 miles per hour for now, but we're working on a version because the boss threw down the gauntlet there.

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You'll have a 330 mile an hour version of this car it's just gearing it's just gearing

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so the aero can handle that yes so what's the rocket got

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that the thrust version hasn't well just to go through it the standard roadster will have one megawatt of power

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which equates to 1340 brake horsepower with roughly 960 pounds feet

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of torque the performance version adds more torque the fans for ground effect adaptive suspension and some other tweaks,

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the Thrustverse gets a 200 -litre cold air thruster system with four nozzles

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and will hit 60 miles an hour from standstill in 0 .85 of a second.

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And then there's the limited production

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Rocket, six more thruster nozzles for front and sides, one seat and a 600 -litre tank, and hover.

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And even Tesla isn't really sure how fast it can be.

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What's better than 200 litres of cold gas?

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Well, propane.

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600 litres of cold gas.

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So in the rocket version, it's actually very much like an airplane.

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You only get one seat fighter jet, and the second seat is a 400 -liter cold gas tank.

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Oh, my God.

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And then there are six more thrusters, one in each corner to push up, and two at the front for a little bit of yaw control.

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So you are aiding the car in turning, but then you're pointing them at the floor.

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Interesting case.

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What's it going to do if you do that?

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Are you saying it can hover?

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You're saying it's a flying car?

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Yeah.

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You'll see tomorrow.

457

What do they...

458

I'll call your...

459

How high?

460

High enough.

461

To be answered at a later date, like tomorrow.

462

Again, it's totally pointless, but if it actually flies...

463

Well, you know, like at Tesla, we like to prove people wrong.

464

A lot of people thought electric vehicles wouldn't work.

465

A lot of people thought autonomous vehicles wouldn't work.

466

A lot of people thought electric semis would never exist.

467

But no one thought you could ever make a flying car.

468

So this is a car that can help itself change direction by firing cold air thrusters and fly.

469

Consider the boundaries pushed.

470

So there's some serious aero going on here, but it all kind of hides away when not needed.

471

We talked about the aero underneath the car, but like I said before,

472

the design of the car transforms into a passive aero package that looks like this.

473

Oh my goodness.

474

so the trick in working with franz is everything is everybody's job it's like a faberge egg yeah you know

475

when you twist it yeah everything pulls

476

so we start from the very front where in the mouth actually down here behind the chin spoiler

477

we have wings that open oh got you

478

and these wings go about to 80 degrees

479

so we can actually damn it when we need low drag should i do

480

that you can sign it over here

481

you can see him way back in here oh yeah there you go see him moving yeah yeah

482

and then is that actual and could you use that as an air of flatness that doesn't need to

483

being able to see forward but the air comes through there

484

and then you challenge with the front to get down forces you always need to let the air go out

485

So the air can come out here.

486

Exactly.

487

And this also adds to the thermal cooling system because it comes through the radiator fan.

488

The rad's down there flat and I can see the fan.

489

And then this is punching out, pulls the air out of the front wheel arch.

490

A lot of times the engineer wins on this

491

and you put it in the door and you see the air flow through the door.

492

But to keep with Franz's clean line theme, you know, this is where we work together.

493

Yeah, we didn't want to punch big holes on the top of the fender.

494

Or have like a barge board or have an extra bit of accessory.

495

Or like a cutout in the door that just has a...

496

So we open that up and you get the airflow out the top and out the sides.

497

So is this like a 60 mile an hour change or is it a mode?

498

Yeah, I mean, you know, Aeros doesn't really start working until 40, 50, 60 miles an hour.

499

So we use the suction system before that to get everything we want.

500

And then these come out when the speed starts to make sense, about 60, let's say 50.

501

And then we can use this for multiple modes, either the high downforce mode or the low drag mode.

502

Right now we actually have the way to low drag.

503

So that's more of a long tail aspect to extend that aerodynamic profile.

504

But we can move it and we can get to a high downforce mode.

505

Does it move in the...

506

It does.

507

It moves in that plane.

508

So that's high downforce.

509

Yep.

510

That's actually quite a big surface area.

511

Yeah.

512

It's huge.

513

That's very neat.

514

And you notice that we have a biplane effect.

515

We have this second wing here to get underneath.

516

so you're actually allowing the channel yeah to flow through and that gives us

517

air flow it's like a gurney flap yeah

518

it's like a gurney flap underneath the wing very very air very aerospace forward you know

519

but that way we get flow under

520

and over we push the vehicle down will it move automatically

521

yes yeah is it an air brake as well yes yes

522

so you hit the brakes you get

523

and um again back here working with our sisters like it's all about simplicity

524

so it's like one wing four bar link on either side

525

and two actuators borrowed again from the optimist team

526

because it turns out to hold all that downforce when you need it

527

you've got to have an actuator that's really powerful so is

528

that like optimus's thigh muscles or something it's the ankle muscles it's ankles ankle yeah

529

because this this so this is a really

530

non -standard architecture that could be super bloody busy but

531

that all looks quite neat right even i personally think even

532

when it's deployed like this it has like an elegant there's still a cleanliness

533

and an elegance the overall design isn't it wild but

534

because the it makes the car look super super wide

535

because you've used part of the wheel arch yeah right and

536

and pulled that out this light bar that just extrudes all the way across

537

and the corner of the car is incredibly wide just wanted this really clean horizontal graphic

538

and obviously you can write swear words under here exactly exactly you're essentially flipping people off with your wig

539

but then when you get to the you know the cars

540

and coffee you just let it all come back in

541

and you feel like

542

when you go to the shops you don't feel like an asshole yeah

543

you close it all up it's a nice clean

544

it's a green car yeah

545

and in the beauty of all of this we i was able to hide the charge port oh

546

you love this where's the charge port it's here oh

547

but how did you get to the charge you open the wing

548

to charge but it means one less opening one less line on the car yes

549

and you see so many examples where that's done so poorly

550

so we said before like almost every panel moves

551

so you have the lift gate that comes up and you get that

552

but the kind of rear quarter stays the doors open

553

they split the roof those come yeah the barge bars come out the front hood vent comes out

554

so really there's like the rear quarters the front fenders

555

and the front part of the roof that don't move

556

or the the hood that don't move

557

but it doesn't change the essential apart from the wing it doesn't change the essential nature of the front end

558

or the side right like if you're viewing it from back here I've not got like a big sticky outfit.

559

It's still got that essential profile.

560

That's mental.

561

And when you put it back, when you put it back down, now it just looks like a long tail.

562

So it's just a long tail speed version.

563

It's like the speed form of the car.

564

And then when you go all in, you get back to that, you know, fully compressed.

565

And the car also will drop its suspension.

566

So it's got an active suspension system.

567

Yeah.

568

But what about the inside?

569

Time to see what the Roadster has in store for the driver.

570

This is quite roomy.

571

We can actually not touch.

572

And actually quite high in here.

573

I thought this would be quite squat.

574

We were trying to get the car, you know, the seating position as low as possible.

575

Get your butt right on the battery.

576

Unlike most electric sports cars.

577

Right.

578

And, you know, I think trying to really disguise the height of the battery pack and the size of it.

579

I mean, it's not a small piece of it.

580

Is it split?

581

Have we got an H point that's lower than, the battery's fully underneath us?

582

Single stack, lots of discussion.

583

And how tall are you?

584

So I'm 6 '3", the boss is 6 '3",

585

so Elon's 6 '3", so he's taller than I thought we ought to make sure we are better.

586

Because this is really comfy, but it feels wider.

587

Is that because this tub feels...

588

Well, the car is wider.

589

Yeah, it's two meters wide.

590

Okay, so it's fairly big.

591

But the seat is, the structure is really low, because Franz really, as you mentioned, wanted to push that seat down.

592

And so the seat structure, in order to do that, we actually got rid of all the power,

593

because that's just added mass for a driver's car one person's usually driving put your seat in

594

that position once and then it stays

595

so we actually have the recline button here it operates like the pneumatics on like a uh airplane

596

if you oh okay pull that up

597

and lean forward you can adjust your seat back to your position

598

if you want to be more upright or reclined

599

but we figured that's lower mass and it only needs to happen once

600

and then the uh for the for the leg leg distance the pedals move

601

because it's super lighter with the pedals

602

and it's a bit like a race car yes

603

and then obviously we've got yoke so the yoke is really tailored to the the steer by wire and we're exposing

604

the column basically exposing the system there's no connection

605

this is the steering column structure there's not like oh

606

i see there's not like a secondary system holding it up

607

and then you know this is the sliding you know position

608

so when you have variable input you can we can tailor it

609

so can always leave your hands on the wheels

610

so there's not variable rack yeah is it brake by wire

611

it is great for does it feel does this car feel real

612

or does this feel like a video game

613

if you've got brake by wire and stair by wire

614

and a megawatt and a megawatt of power and 2g's of downforce

615

and thrusters and things and stuff yeah it feels unreal

616

but what does it feel like a real car

617

or does it feel like you're piloting a jet i think both i mean i think

618

when you drive it as a car without all of those things our intention is always to make

619

it a super enjoyable like touring grand touring type feel yeah

620

you know you got the good response linear response on the

621

steering linear response on the brakes linear response on the accelerator but then

622

when you're in like full -on like break the laws of physics mode it feels a little unreal

623

because we're not used to it you're not used to you know over 2g's of cornering

624

or 6g's of thrust you know but

625

if you've got the base car as a as a good natural fit a good naturally dynamic car then

626

that all builds from there it builds it's there there are augments

627

that stack on top of each other so you keep adding the components

628

because the base car feel naturally you have to have the base car feel good otherwise building all

629

that stuff on top of it doesn't matter exactly

630

which do you think is the best balance would it be thrust

631

or do you just like the stupidity of it depends on your mission

632

see i'm always tempted by i really want to try the basic one right do you know what i mean

633

because it feels like it might we've not the world hasn't done a really good battery electric

634

natural feeling sports car weirdly i did drive an og tesla roadster nobody's repeated it right

635

effectively yeah until now so then when you're in this and you're so there's a boost button here

636

what's that drs there's a drs paddle yeah

637

so we can you can adjust the the aero balance the aero balance manually

638

or have it automatic

639

and how would i engage like thrust

640

then it's a special setting on here correct like similar to like a cheetah mode launch yeah you would

641

so you have to die in it yeah okay and then

642

if this was a rocket you wouldn't exist

643

i would i would be a big 400 liter copv sitting next to you there would be a seat

644

there you know it's amazing how far the scuttle reaches as well yeah

645

and you've been down there you've got the yeah it's important

646

when you're driving to like have the heads up display speed you know some g's

647

so right now we're just showing like a random speed display in a in a lap time

648

but the intent is to have whatever the you know pertinent information is

649

so you can you can select your different things balance sport custom track mode

650

and then how much of this stuff is deployable yourself

651

so all of its deployable you can go into like show mode

652

or but but we want you know to make sure

653

that you can be Superman while you're driving

654

and we take care of it for you okay

655

I mean the graphics are pretty cool oh my god yeah cool

656

so you can see the challenge of the system all the stuff in gold makes

657

it go cool it looks like a plumber's nightmare yeah

658

that is cracking oh so wish with all the elements we've talked about are are there are

659

and the suspension I guess it's a double wishbone up front with a you you know, a rocker arm, horizontal adaptive suspension with,

660

you know, a spool valve.

661

adjustable right i love spool valves the weird thing is this doesn't feel like you've gone

662

too insane we've even got quarter lights which means that you've got

663

relatively good forward vision yeah we spend a lot of time getting

664

that pillar small so like when you're driving you actually have good vision left

665

and right and you address the wheel in a quite a racy way yeah

666

and you know it's only plus minus 170 degrees like the cybertruck

667

so you never really have to go hand over you never go hand over what about

668

when you drift and you lose it and you have to grab it well because it's steer by wire we can

669

kind of damp the the wheel on the way back oh wow

670

so we get all of the information for each mode yes

671

but it's not like we've not got anything this doesn't feel too scary

672

i don't feel like this is a kind of spaceship for spaceship sake

673

i think this is all recognizable to a tesla well if you

674

if you look at like the range of what we're trying to accomplish

675

you know a really pure true driver's car all the way

676

to an extreme never been done before flying flying car we wanted to make a cockpit that

677

that made you feel like a pilot

678

this is like a pilot's car pilot in the terms of the original meaning of pilot as a driver yeah

679

and then also pilot as flight pilot yeah top gun so

680

when i sit in this and make it fly i can press a button press boost and hover or whatever

681

that's got to be something that there's no other car

682

that has ever done

683

that really is there apart from hovercraft right the jetson's car did it in the cartoons you know

684

that wasn't real you're not supposed to try

685

and make it happen this is like back to the future but it's real yeah jesus

686

anything else you want to show me on the inside

687

i mean this is it you can like you have the

688

amenities of you know putting your phone wireless charging has it got carplay um no car play

689

it hasn't got a better system than carplay yeah but you know

690

So it's actually more of a GT as well, it's not like an out and out sports car with nothing in it.

691

But you know we kept a lot of it manual, keep the motor weight down,

692

you can save 30 kilos in a seat without all the motors and power and stuff.

693

This is a completely new product, nothing to do with previous iterations of Roadster, and it's blown away expectations in most areas.

694

But the original pitch for the Roadster set a high bar.

695

0 -60 in 1 .9 seconds before any upgrades, 620 miles of range, that's 1 ,000 kilometres,

696

a top speed above 250 miles an hour and production in 2020.

697

Yeah, that timeline has been a bit bendy.

698

Tesla first introduced the idea of a second generation Roadster back in 2014.

699

A two -seater built entirely by Tesla since the first version wore a Lotus Elise chassis

700

and it was called the Tesla Model R.

701

In 2017 the Roadster name was used

702

and an actual car appeared by driving it out of the back of a Tesla semi -trailer.

703

That car was supposed to appear in 2020.

704

2018 saw the infamous pitch for cold air thrusters

705

and there's been rumour and stop -start knowledge about Roadster unveilings from then on, especially from a couple of years ago to now.

706

So we've had lots of baiting of breath to the point at

707

which quite a few people who put deposits down nine years ago have probably passed out.

708

But they've just gasped and they're all first in the queue for the new one.

709

But before we wrap this up I just wanted to offer a little bit of context.

710

Say hello to grandpa.

711

Throwback.

712

Yeah and then some because this is the OG Tesla Roadster

713

and while people are talking about missed deadlines and difficult births this is Tesla's very first production car.

714

This is where it all began.

715

The year is 2008.

716

I was 32 and still had hair.

717

And Tesla came out with a battery electric sports car when everything else powered by just batteries was essentially a milk float.

718

Based around a modified

719

Lotus Elise chassis with carbon fibre panels, it made all sorts of sense.

720

The Elise was already designed to be light and batteries were heavy.

721

And the original Roadster weighed just over 1 ,300 kilograms that's light even now

722

and you can definitely see the Lotus Elise in the proportions

723

and even little bits of the related Vauxhall VX220

724

which came a bit later

725

so the headlights are in the same place

726

it's got the same venting in the bonnet even though these panels are all carbon fibre

727

it's got a Lotus Elise windscreen the same sort of roll hoop

728

and yes there is some cold air inlet here

729

because batteries still need a little bit of cooling it's got a two inch longer wheelbase than the Elise

730

which you can sort of see and then the big giveaway is around the back

731

because not only does it have six kind of funky lights and a big

732

Tesla badge

733

But under here is where all the magic happens

734

because this is a 53 kilowatt hour lithium ion battery pack when everything else at the time was lead acid.

735

That gives you 248 brake horsepower

736

and 200 pounds feet of torque driving the rear wheels through a Borg Warner single speed transmission.

737

And the cool thing about this is the battery is this bit here

738

and that's actually an L shape that goes down there

739

and under here this is actually all the control modules for it

740

and it still gets a bit of a boot

741

now the most expensive roadsters are actually ones with the r80 battery upgrade

742

or the signature series

743

but you can find these cars from between about 40 000 pounds to about 80 depending on condition once

744

you get in it it does feel a bit more like a load of sleaze

745

it's hard to get into with the roof on it

746

so i've left the roof at home

747

and once you're in it's actually quite comfortable starting with the dash sort of layout

748

there's a massive chunky knob for the headlights

749

which looks like something off a kettle

750

and then in front of me i've got a little tesla steering wheel no power assistance i'll have you know

751

and then the two dials are for your speedo

752

and then this instead of a rev counter is the amount of power

753

that you're using

754

so on the motorway you can see what you're doing there's a doubled in alpine head unit

755

which i remember because behind it

756

is the cd player that's 15 year old tech for you

757

that just there is an ipod dock do you remember them

758

and then there's some hvac bits

759

and bobs the real interesting thing though is the tesla screen

760

which in this case isn't a big 15 inch tv plastered to the dash it's this little square down here

761

and you can check things like charging

762

you can look at the amount of range you've got

763

you can check your service intervals basically everything you can do on a modern car

764

but in a thing that big changing gear is easy it's park reverse neutral

765

and drive from push buttons you just have to have your foot on the brake

766

and then there's a traction control switch down here

767

and heated seats as well as a manual handbrake it's actually quite comfortable

768

0 -60 in under four seconds 125 mile an hour top speed

769

and about 244 miles of range which became a lot more in the later versions.

770

This thing would beat most contemporary petrol -powered cars away from the lights mainly

771

because that instant torque from the electric motor was a bit of a revelation

772

but back in the day this was seen as a curiosity, a bit of a sideshow

773

but actually it was playing 4D chess where everyone else was finger painting

774

and like modern Teslas this thing evolved during its lifetime later versions had way more range

775

and way more power it's weird

776

because some of the inputs are just like an Elise

777

because there's no power assisted steering at slow speed it's very heavy

778

but where you turn into a corner on an Elise

779

and it flick like a housefly this kind of leans over

780

because it weighs a bit more three or four hundred kilos more in fact

781

but it still feels like a sports car and we're still struggling with

782

that in 2026

783

but this thing made history

784

it was the first series production fully electric car to use lithium iron cells

785

it was the first car to have more than 200 miles

786

of real world range all those model threes model s's y's model x's

787

they all owe a debt of gratitude to this car even all the raft of new evs hitting our streets

788

they all began here

789

and yes it's taken us about 15 years to realize just how visionary tesla was

790

and the new one looks like complete science fiction

791

but what we're going to think about that one in a decade

792

and a half

793

so the tesla roadster is finally here the myth has become reality the fiction has become fact for me

794

this feels like a bugatti veyron moment where the top brass set absolutely impossible ideals

795

and then the engineers and the designers had to stand there and go hold my beer.

796

They have built a flying car that looks like that and I think it might be a game changer.

797

So tell me what you think.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “New Tesla Roadster: It’s Finally Here… And It Flies!”. This video has 797 sentences and 9193 words to shadow. The speech runs for 49:05. The speaker talks fast, about 187 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
tesla noun	/ˈtɛslə/	In the International System of Units, the derived unit of magnetic flux density or magnetic inductivity.
thrust verb	/θɹʌst/	To make advance with force.
skirt noun	/skɚt/	A separate article of clothing, usually worn by women and girls, that hangs from the waist and covers the lower torso and part of the legs.
physics noun	/ˈfɪz.ɪks/	The branch of science concerned with the study of the properties and interactions of space, time, matter and energy.
rocket noun	/ˈɹɑk.ɪt/	A cylindrical projectile that can be fired to a great height through combustion, (specifically) a type of firework of this form, typically exploding with light…
suspension noun	/səˈspɛnʃən/	The act of suspending, or the state of being suspended.
underneath adverb	/ˌʌndɚˈniθ/	Below; in a place beneath.
torque noun	/tɔɹk/	A rotational or twisting effect of a force; a moment of force, defined for measurement purposes as an equivalent straight line force multiplied by the distance…
wire noun	/ˈwaɪɚ/	Metal formed into a thin, even thread, now usually by being drawn through a hole in a steel die.
brake noun	/bɹeɪk/	A device used to slow or stop the motion of a wheel, or of a vehicle, usually by friction (although other resistive forces, such as electromagnetic fields or…
steer verb	/stɪɹ/	To guide the course of a vessel, vehicle, aircraft etc. (by means of a device such as a rudder, paddle, or steering wheel).
tail noun	/ˈteɪ̯l/	An object or part of an object resembling a tail in shape, such as the thongs on a cat-o'-nine-tails; a strand of material hanging from something.
valve noun	/ˈvælv/	A device that controls the flow of a gas or fluid through a space, such as a pipe, manifold, or plenum.
cyber adjective	/ˈsaɪ.bəɹ/	Of, or having to do with, the Internet; alternative form of cyber-.
lotus noun	/ˈloʊtəs/	Any member of the genus Nelumbo of aquatic plants in the family Nelumbonaceae.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
come out verb	/ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/	To be discovered; to be revealed.
come through verb		To come into a room or other space through a door or passageway.
end up verb		To bring to a conclusion.
hand over verb		To relinquish control or possession of something to someone.
lift up verb		To elevate to a higher position.
pop down verb		To place on a surface.
back down verb		To take a less aggressive position in a conflict than one previously had, or has planned to have.
blow away verb		To cause to go away by blowing, or by wind.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

It's quite punchy though, isn't it?
Are you happy with the result?
What's it going to do if you do that?
Are you saying it can hover?
You're saying it's a flying car?

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on	I've been holding · we've been progressing · We've been talking
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	has been · we've just done · you've had
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	was revealed · was shrouded · be answered
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	horsepower, which is · rear, which can · lights which means

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 174 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, you've, we're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: thrust /θɹʌst/, underneath /ˌʌndɚˈniθ/, lithium /ˈlɪθi.əm/, thermal /ˈθɜːməl/, thruster /ˈθɹʌ.stɚ/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: suspension /səˈspɛnʃən/, essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, inspiration /ˌɪn.spɪˈɹeɪ.ʃən/, fiction /ˈfɪkʃən/, conventional /kənˈvɛnʃənl̩/
Long words — get the stress right: architecture /ˈɑː.kɪˌtɛk.t͡ʃə/, essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, inspiration /ˌɪn.spɪˈɹeɪ.ʃən/, naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, incredibly /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbli/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like tesla, thrust, skirt.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: New Tesla Roadster: It’s Finally Here… And It Flies! | 4K - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?