Where we're going, we still need roads. Just not all the time.

Oct 16, 2026 · 4 min read

"Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads." Doc Brown said it in 1985, and a flying DeLorean took off for the future. The new Tesla Roadster isn't quite there. It still needs roads, but now, for a few seconds at a time, it doesn't. And this time it's real.

The DeLorean time machine from Back to the Future with its gull-wing doors open, at the Petersen Automotive Museum — The real screen-used "A" car from the movies, now at the Petersen Automotive Museum. Photo: TaurusEmerald, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Tesla dropped the hint itself

This comparison isn't ours alone. In September 2026, Tesla's "Go for launch" teaser for the Roadster hid faint text you could only see by turning up the brightness: "WHERE WE'RE GOING…" (autoevolution, EV Wire). Every Back to the Future fan knows how that line ends.

And Musk had been hinting for years. In January 2019 he shared an animation of the flying DeLorean from Back to the Future Part II and wrote: "The new Roadster will actually do something like this." When a follower said they felt he wasn't joking, he replied: "I'm not." He said it would use a "SpaceX cold gas thruster system with ultra high pressure air" (TimesLive, duPont Registry).

Nearly eight years later, that's exactly how the 2026 Roadster flies.

Tesla's kickflip: the Roadster leaves the ground, flips over a row of five Teslas and lands. Tap to watch.

Great Scott: the numbers

The time machine needed two magic numbers: 88 miles per hour and 1.21 gigawatts of power, pronounced "jigowatts" in the film (Wikipedia). So how does the Roadster stack up? According to our calculations:

⚡

~2%

of a flux capacitor

Blasting air at Tesla's claimed 80 kN, the Roadster's thrusters put out about 24 megawatts. A flux capacitor wants 1.21 gigawatts. It would take about 50 Roadsters firing at once.

🕰️

1.2 s

to 88 mph

At the pace of Tesla's 0.81-second run to 60, the Roadster would hit 88 mph in about 1.2 seconds. It would use about 160 kg of its 250 kg of air doing it.

🐢

~13×

quicker than a DeLorean

A real DeLorean took about 10.5 seconds to reach 60 in Road & Track's test. The Roadster showed 0.81 on stage (Tesla's timing).

🛣️

flights so far

The ramp flip, the kickflip and a final flip by a red tower, all live on stage. Doc's DeLorean flew for a whole movie. The Roadster gets a few seconds per tank, so yes, it still needs roads.

Our math: jet power = ½ × thrust × exhaust speed = ½ × 80,000 N × about 600 m/s ≈ 24 MW (20–28 MW for 500–700 m/s). The 88 mph figure assumes the 0.81-second run's average push continues: 26.8 m/s ÷ 0.81 s = 33 m/s², and 88 mph = 39.3 m/s, so about 1.2 s. Not Tesla figures. Full thruster math here.

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The real DeLorean

Before it was a time machine, the DeLorean DMC-12 was a real car. It was built in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, from January 1981 to December 1982, about 9,000 in all (Wikipedia, NPR). It had gull-wing doors, an unpainted brushed stainless-steel body designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, a 130-horsepower V6 in US trim, and a price of about $25,000 (Wikipedia). The company collapsed in 1982.

A regular silver DeLorean DMC-12 seen from the rear — A regular DMC-12: stainless steel, louvers over the back window, no flux capacitor. Photo: TTTNIS, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

There's a Tesla link here too. The DeLorean was on the inspiration board for the Cybertruck, Tesla's other stainless-steel vehicle, according to Walter Isaacson's Musk biography (Not a Tesla App). When the Cybertruck came out, Giugiaro himself told NPR: "When you step outside the norms, it's almost always seen as a provocation" (NPR). The new Roadster isn't stainless, though. It's painted "Ano White" (Electrek).

Time machine vs. Roadster

The glowing Y-shaped flux capacitor prop behind the seats of a DeLorean time machine — The flux capacitor: "what makes time travel possible." Photo: Steve, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

	DeLorean time machine (movie)	Real DeLorean DMC-12	2026 Tesla Roadster
How it flies	"Hover conversion" (fiction)	It doesn't	Real: air-thruster hops (Rocket version)
Power	Plutonium, then lightning, then Mr. Fusion	2.85-liter V6, 130 hp	Battery electric, plus about 250 kg of compressed air
Magic number	88 mph and 1.21 gigawatts	Speedometer stopped at 85 mph	0–60 in 0.81 s on stage (Tesla's timing)
Body	Stainless steel plus props	Unpainted stainless steel	Painted "Ano White"
Doors	Gull-wing	Gull-wing	Open upward
Price	Priceless	About $25,000 in 1981	Not announced; $50,000 to reserve
Road legal when flying?	Great Scott, no	Doesn't fly	Tesla says the Rocket version isn't approved for public roads

Movie details from Wikipedia. Roadster details from Electrek and TechCrunch; Tesla's numbers are Tesla's claims.

The future arrived a little late

Back to the Future Part II sent Marty to October 21, 2015. When that day came, Fortune checked the predictions and admitted "we haven't made much progress toward levitating autos" (Fortune). Eleven years later, on the night of the reveal, the line was: "Turns out the future does have flying cars" (Fox Business).

So, do we still need roads? For about 300 miles at a time, yes. For a few seconds over a row of Teslas, not anymore.

Back to the Future is owned by Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment. DeLorean and DMC are trademarks of the DeLorean Motor Company. Roadster Flies isn't affiliated with or endorsed by them or Tesla. All photos are of real cars and replicas, credited to their photographers.

Sources:

Roadster Flies is an independent fan site, not affiliated with Tesla. Tesla's numbers are marked as Tesla's claims until someone tests them. Spot a mistake? Tell us.