Elon Musk’s Tesla Cybertruck adds sportfishing to its feature list

Cybercat is a pair of inflatable pontoons that its makers say will slip underneath the stainless steel-bodied Cybertruck – it will be made from highly corrosion-resistant 300-series grade stainless – to convert it into a full-blown amphibious vehicle capable of heading offshore to chase a trophy fish. 

The pontoons can even incorporate a set of optional foils that, once you plug the Cybertruck’s battery into the up to five 50kW electric outboard motors that power the floating bits, will allow the Cybertruck to rise up out of the water.

“Your Cybertruck has more versatility than you ever imagined,” the group behind the patent-pending idea declares. 

“With its large battery, tough construction, and adaptive air suspension, the Cybertruck is just a few components away from transforming into a capable all-electric amphibious watercraft.”

The idea is that the Cybercat will be easy enough for a single person to rig “in less time than it takes to launch a boat”, which in our experience is not that long.

“All components fold or collapse into parts that can be easily stowed in the Cybertruck vault, preserving EV range during transport,” it said.

“An integrated suite of frame interconnect sensors, power/data connections, and pontoon pressure transducers digitally verify that every aspect of the Cybercat is assembled correctly before you ever touch the water, while built-in actuated jacks make contact with the vehicle lift points and automatically pre-tension the frame to the correct specification every time.”

The idea is that once rigged, the Cybertruck enters the water, and the pontoons fold down. At this stage the entire rig has around 30cm of clearance largely due to the Cybertruck jacking its adaptive air suspension up to its highest setting.

“Once in the water, the electric outboard motors, pontoons, and hydrofoils fold down, and the wheels retract out of the water for quick takeoff,” Cybercat said.

“In shallow water or around docks, Cybercat can precisely maneuver propelled by the wheel rotation of the Cybertruck.”

So an electric truck in saltwater with inflatable pontoons and just an accelerator and a steering wheel to manage.

Cybercat’s makers claim the foiling pontoon will be capable of carrying the potentially 3.0-tonne Cybertruck along at a top speed of around 22 knots, and cover a distance of up to 44 nautical miles at 13 knots. Slow down to 5.0 knots and the range leaps to around 100 nautical miles, or 20 mind-numbing hours behind the wheel.

According to its makers, the Cybercat can take advantage of the Cybertruck’s electronics to help it with low-speed maneuvers in tight places such as in marinas. To help it turn, the pontoon’s maker claim the Cybertruck will be able to drop down and spin its free-hanging wheels in one direction on one side, and in the opposite direction on the other, turning the vessel in a tight circle.

In “Sport” mode, the pontoons fold down to help the Cybertruck to cut through swell and stay up on the foils, although taking a top-heavy lump of metal out in anything above a one-metre sea is likely to be for the brave alone.

In “Cruise” mode the pontoons fold up and in to create more clearance when the Cybercat is up on its foils, particularly while turning. The pontoons will automatically lower as the speed drops, or if conditions out on the water become so rough that the Cybercat can’t stay up on the foils.

After several production hiccups, Tesla’s Cybertruck should start rolling in customers’ driveways from early in 2023. However, if the Cybercat is a must-have, you can order one now; a pontoon-only package with a single 50kW engine starts from around $A32,000 while going for the full quint serve will set you back around $A46,000.

If you want to add foils to the mix, the price leaps by around $A5000 for the single-engine model and by almost $A30,000 for the range-topper, although the foiling version’s top speed leaps to around 35 knots and the range to around 65 nautical miles at 22 knots.

Cybercat’s creators don’t stop at just boating. They suggest you can use the Cybertruck’s tailgates to support a large platform and crate a floating island, and even use a camper conversion to create a battery-powered cruiser.

The whole project to convert the Cybertruck into a boat started with Musk, who tweeted shortly after the Cybertruck’s reveal that he saw no reason why the electric pick-up truck could not be used as a boat for short periods of time.

“Clean and comparatively inexpensive access to the recreational boating experience has the potential to massively expand the size of the market while providing responsible stewardship of the environment through reduced water, air, and carbon pollution,” the Cybercat’s creator, Anthony Diamond, said.

“The Cybercat and Cybercat Foiler opens up a new and exciting front in the mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”