Tesla has been working on its highly anticipated Cybertruck since its debut in 2019, and now Tesla CEO Elon Musk has announced a new unique feature.
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, said on his personal Twitter account that Tesla’s Cybertruck, which is presently in development, will be waterproof enough to serve as a boat for a short time.
This new function, which Musk first discussed in 2020 when he stated that the Cybertruck could “float for a while,” appears to have been improved upon and further developed, as Musk is now suggesting that the Cybertruck may temporarily double as a boat.
Musk explains in the above tweet that Cybertruck will be able to navigate rivers, lakes, and even seas that “aren’t too choppy,” with the Tesla CEO adding that the new feature was motivated by the need for Cybertruck to be able to travel from Starbase spaceport in Boca Chica, Texas to South Padre Island.
Musk predicts that Cybertruck will be able to cross the South Bay from SpaceX’s Starbase production site to at least Isla Blanca Beach. However, no information was provided on how long Cybertruck could operate as a temporary boat or how far it might travel on water.
This isn’t the first time Musk has made lofty claims about the Tesla Cybertruck; shortly after its initial unveiling in 2019, Musk tweeted that the Cybertruck would be the “official truck of Mars,” with a special “pressurized edition” being created and transported to the Red Planet via SpaceX’s Starship launch vehicle.
Musk’s most recent estimate for when the Cybertruck would enter production at Tesla is “sometime next year,” with the Tesla CEO adding in July that the vehicle’s design is “locked” and that consumers will begin to receive their cars in the “middle of next year.” In terms of the pricing of Tesla’s highly anticipated electric vehicle, Musk altered the specifications and, as a result, the price of Cybertruck.
“I think there’s no way to have sort of anticipated quite the inflation that we’ve seen. But what I can say is that the Cybertruck will be one helluva product. It’s going to be like a damn fine machine,” said Musk.