Shropshire Star

Elon Musk says Tesla Cybertruck can ‘serve briefly as a boat’

Tesla boss is called out over new pick-up that he says will be able to cross ‘channels’

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Tesla boss Elon Musk has said the new long-awaited Cybertruck will be capable of crossing rivers as well as seas that ‘aren’t too choppy’.

Tesla’s first attempt at a pick-up has been shrouded in mystery since its reveal in November 2019. At the time, the American EV firm said it would enter production in 2021, but as we get to the end of 2022, no versions have yet been made.

However, the model has certainly not been forgotten – at least by Musk, who reignited speculation about it by boasting about its boat-like properties on Twitter yesterday.

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

Musk added that the model “needs to be able to get from Starbase to South Padre island, which requires crossing the channel”.

Starbase is a facility of SpaceX – Musk’s private spacecraft company in Boca Rica, Texas – with South Padre Island being a small piece of land located across a stretch of water known as South Bay, next to the Gulf of Mexico.

(Tesla)

In response to the tweet, several users called him out for delays to production of the Cybertruck.

One user said: “It must be fun to be able to say whatever you want about [sic] product roadmap with seemingly no material consequence.”

Others made comments about the ’brief’ boat properties, with one user saying: “If you’re in a boat that may at any moment become not a boat, that’s not actually a boat. That’s like clinging to a piece of driftwood and calling it a boat.”

Tesla now says production of the Cybertruck will begin in 2023.

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