Cybertruck will float like a boat: Musk

“Cybertruck will be waterproof enough to serve briefly as a boat, so it can cross rivers, lakes and even seas that aren’t too choppy,” Musk said in a tweet posted earlier today.

In a follow-up post to Twitter, Musk said the Cybertruck “needs to be able to get from Starbase [Musk’s Texas-based satellite production hub] to Padre Island [a barrier island on the Texas coast facing onto the Gulf of Mexico], which requires crossing the channel”.

Padre Island is a heavily populated beachside community. The Starlink plant is located in a remote, swampy area south of the island, with the only access via a 70-kilometre round trip that dives inland and then out to cross a causeway.

As the crow flies, the distance that Musk suggests the Cybertruck will need to cover is only about 5.0 nautical miles, but the route the Cybertruck will need to take crosses the Brazos Santiago Pass close to where the channel flows out into the gulf.

One company has already envisaged that the Cybertruck’s platform makes it an ideal candidate to transform into a boat, with the US-based Cybercat developing attachable pontoons and a series of outboard motors to help the battery-powered ute transform into a sports fisher.

The Cybertruck was revealed in concept form in 2019, featuring unbreakable armoured windows (that broke when being demonstrated) and a stainless steel body that is highly resistant to rust.

Its design includes a one-piece “exoskeleton” shell that mean the only voids on either side of the vehicles are where the doors open and close.

The electric drivetrain that will power the Cybertruck will be powerful enough to launch it along the road from rest to 100km/h in around 3.0 seconds, meaning it should have plenty of performance on tap to power it on the water.

No information was given on how the Cybertruck would power itself through the water. Most conventional amphibous vehicles use a PTO-driven propeller, although the Cybertruck could potentially use some form of electric sterndrive or outboard motor.

The risk, though, for Cybertruck owners who want to hit the water are the banks of batteries that hold the electricity used to turn the Cybertruck’s wheels on land.

While the batteries are designed to be watertight, if something unexpected shorts out in saltwater it could start a fire inside the vehicle.

Electric car makers generally show high-voltage components in a vehicle by colouring the cables that carry power to them in orange.

If an electric vehicle is ever swamped, the recommendation is to keep it at least 15 metres clear of anything flammable so that if it does spontaneously catch fire, it will not set anything else around it alight.