Elon Musk Says Cybertruck Will Be Waterproof. We Doubt It

• In the wake of Hurricane Ian, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the Cybertruck will be waterproof.
• He said it will be "waterproof enough to serve briefly as a boat."
• We seriously doubt the validity of this claim.

Another national tragedy, another opportunity for Tesla CEO Elon Musk to turn the spotlight on himself. Musk took to Twitter in the wake of Hurricane Ian to make a bold proclamation about the company's Cybertruck. You know, the hyped-up electric pickup that we're still waiting for after Tesla claimed it would enter production in late 2021. In the tweet, Elon wrote that "[the] Cybertruck will be waterproof enough to serve briefly as a boat, so it can cross rivers, lakes & even seas that aren't too choppy."

Cybertruck will be waterproof enough to serve briefly as a boat, so it can cross rivers, lakes & even seas that aren’t too choppy

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 29, 2022

Look … cars are not boats

We are exceptionally doubtful about Musk's claim and struggle to believe that a stainless-steel bodied fully electric pickup truck would float, well, at all, let alone for enough time to "briefly" serve as a boat. Bear in mind, Musk is referring to the same Cybertruck he also claimed would feature "Tesla Armor Glass," which was shattered by Tesla's own Franz von Holzhausen the night of the truck's unveiling almost three years ago.

The best the automotive industry has done before for giving us a boat-worthy thing with wheels is the Amphicar from the 1960s. Hollywood has done much better with James Bond's submersible Lotus Elise as seen in The Spy Who Loved Me. And check this out: The Guardian newspaper reported that Elon purchased the movie car in 2013. Inspiration?

If the Cybertruck ever does come to exist and you do get your hands on one — and we cannot believe we have to type this — please do not intentionally drive it into a body of water with the expectation that it will serve as a boat. It will, hopefully, be able to ford shallow, slow-moving streams, just as other trucks can, but there's a lot more to watercraft than just wading through a little water.

Naturally, Twitter was awash with memes and other users poking fun at Elon for saying something this unbelievable. It might also violate Musk's settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission from 2018 that states Tesla must "put in place additional controls and procedures to oversee Musk's communications." But we'll let the SEC decide that for themselves.

Edmunds says

Tesla's lawyers are likely working overtime to figure out how they're going to get Elon out of this one, and we wouldn't be surprised if the eventual Cybertruck comes with a legal disclaimer concerning its seaworthiness.