How Tesla's Roadster flips: 250kg of compressed air, 10 SpaceX-style thrusters and fans that suck it to the road
What the clip shows In a short clip posted on X after its 15 October 2026 Roadster event, Tesla shows a prototype Roadster lifting off the ground on jets of compressed air, rolling a full 360 degrees in mid-air like a skateboard kickflip, and setting back down on its wheels in a cloud of vapour.
How it works The stunt relies on the same hardware Tesla pitches for track driving: cold-gas thrusters supplied by SpaceX, fed by compressed air stored on board, which can push the car with more force than its tyres can grip. Smaller attitude-control nozzles let it rotate, which Elon Musk said means the car "can basically fly like a rocket" and do "crazy gymnastics".
More stunts promised Musk said this was not the last trick, floating a jump over Snake River Canyon in the style of Evel Knievel's 1974 attempt.
• Electric at heart: the Roadster is a battery-electric car; the stunts add no combustion engine or rocket fuel. Tesla has not yet published battery size or motor details for this version (the 2017 prototype was quoted at 200 kWh, and some reports repeat that figure).
• "Thrusters" are compressed air: according to Tesla, the jets are cold-gas thrusters, meaning they simply vent very high-pressure air through nozzles; nothing burns. Two carbon-fibre-wrapped pressure tanks (COPVs, the same type SpaceX uses) hold about 600 litres, roughly 250 kg of air, feeding 10 nozzles. Tesla engineering VP Lars Moravy gave the 600-litre figure on stage, according to TechCrunch; The Verge reports the two tanks carry about 250 kg of air.
• Tank pressure: Tesla has not stated it. Packing 250 kg of air into 600 litres means a density of about 417 kg per cubic metre, which at room temperature takes roughly 440 bar (about 6,400 psi), around 200 times the pressure in a car tyre. Some explainers quote 7,000 to 10,000 psi (Musk floated 10,000 psi in 2018), but at the top of that range 600 litres would hold closer to 300 kg, so the 250 kg figure points to the lower end. Rear nozzles push the car forward and up; smaller ones around the body rotate it, which is what made the roll possible.
• Refilling: Tesla says the car recharges its own air supply, so no special propellant is needed. Some outlets report an onboard compressor powered by the main battery that refills the tanks while driving; Tesla has not detailed this.
• Downforce fans: separate from the thrusters, battery-powered fans and a ground seal suck air from under the car (Tesla quotes up to 2g), enough to hold it upside down when stationary. That is how it climbed the near-vertical ramp before flipping off.
• Control: the thrusters use all-electric actuators that make micro-adjustments in fractions of a second to stabilise the car in flight, and the demo car was driven autonomously.
• Stunt car vs. what you can buy: full flight hardware comes only in the invite-only, single-seat "Rocket" version, which Tesla says is not approved for public roads. The "Thrust" version has rear thrusters for acceleration only; the base "Performance" car has fans and active aero but no thrusters. Tesla quotes 300+ miles of range for all three.
• What we still don't know: how long the car can fly or hover on a full tank, how long a refill takes, battery capacity and charging speed, weight, and how regulators (road authorities, and the FAA for anything airborne) will treat the Rocket version. A post Musk reshared says airspace over the McGregor test site is closed through 31 October; this has not been independently confirmed.
Caveat The demo car drove itself for safety; no human was on board during the flight.
Sources Tesla on X: "Do a kickflip!", Tesla Roadster page, Roadster Event stream, Tesla on X (COPVs), The Verge, TechCrunch, PASMAG
