Tesla will livestream its second-generation Roadster event on Thursday, October 15, at 7:55 p.m. Central, which is 8:55 p.m. Eastern. The company announced the stream on X on Tuesday evening, two weeks after weather pushed the outdoor demo off its October 1 date.
When Tesla first set that October 1 date, it had not confirmed a livestream for anyone outside the invitation list. Now anyone with a screen can watch.
The image attached to the announcement carries a second message. Tesla printed three words in dark lettering on the car’s rear, just above the red light bar: “Where we’re going…”
Tesla’s Poster Hides a Back to the Future Line Above the Taillight
The three words come from Back to the Future. At the end of the 1985 film, Doc Brown tells Marty McFly “Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads,” and the DeLorean lifts off the street. Tesla prints the first half on a car shown with four thruster plumes.
The start time may be part of the same joke. 7:55 p.m. is 19:55 on a 24-hour clock, and 1955 is the year Marty travels back to. Tesla’s post does not explain either reference.
Roadster event streaming live this Thursday at 7:55pm CST pic.twitter.com/AbsmpVucui
Tesla (@Tesla) October 14, 2026
The post says CST, although Texas stays on daylight time until November 1. Outlets including Teslarati read it as local Central time, which puts the start at 8:55 p.m. Eastern and 5:55 p.m. Pacific.
The Waco Demo Is Reported to Hover on SpaceX Thrusters
Electrek reports that the demo car is remote-operated and built for a short hover on SpaceX cold gas thrusters, scaled back from the flying demo Musk teased in August. Tesla has not confirmed it. Musk has talked about a thruster option for the Roadster since 2018.
Invitations for the original date put the event in Waco, Texas, beside SpaceX’s McGregor rocket test site, and Tesla said on September 28 that the show can only be held outdoors. According to Teslarati, Tesla has also said the event will include pricing, specifications and production targets.
October 15 is at least the fifth date for this demo since November 2025. Musk’s habit started earlier than that. In July 2025 he promised the most epic demo ever by the end of that year, and it never happened.
Roadster Deposit Holders Have Waited Since 2017
Founders Series buyers paid $250,000 each in 2017, and regular reservations cost $50,000, for a car promised for 2020. Its 2017 targets are still the only official numbers: 0 to 60 mph in 1.9 seconds, over 250 mph (402 km/h) and 620 miles (998 kilometers) of range for $200,000.
That range figure was never certified under any test cycle, because no production car exists to test. Musk now puts production at 2027 or 2028, at Giga Texas, and has said the car will differ from the 2017 prototype.
EVXL’s Take
I give Tesla credit for streaming it. Whatever happens in Waco on Thursday will happen in front of everyone, not only a crowd of invited fans, and that matters for a demo that has now had at least five dates.
The movie line is a good joke and an awkward choice. Doc Brown’s car didn’t need roads because it was a time machine in a film. A Roadster buyer needs roads, current specs, a final price and a delivery month, and nearly nine years after taking deposits Tesla has published none of the last three. If Tesla really has promised pricing and production targets for Thursday, the stream is where it pays up. If it ends with a car hovering on SpaceX thrusters and still no production date, deposit holders will have watched a very expensive teaser for a car they already paid to reserve.
Sources: Tesla on X, Electrek, Teslarati
EVXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo.
