Elon Musk explains how to turn the Cybertruck into a boat
The SS Cybertruck might not be in full shape just yet, but the alter ego of the electric pickup as a boat is coming together.
Elon Musk’s recent claim that the Cybertruck will be “waterproof enough to temporarily serve as a boat, allowing it to cross rivers, lakes, and even seas that aren’t too choppy,” has drawn a lot of criticism.
Many have pointed out that numerous craft can float momentarily, and the Washington State Department of Natural Resources warned its followers on Twitter: “Our abandoned ship crews ask that you understand that anything ‘briefly serving as a boat’ is not to be used as a should be a boat.”
Another issue raised is that even if the Cybertruck can swim, it’s not clear how it would move under its own power.
ELON MUSK SAYS THE TESLA CYBERTRUCK WILL BE A “DAMN FINE MACHINE”.
Elon Musk claims the Tesla Cybertruck is waterproof enough to briefly levitate.
(Nic Coury/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“One thing that is still uncertain is the speed at which the Cybertruck will be able to travel on the water, so the calculations could be wrong because of that, but I suspect it could be somewhere between 3 and 10 knots. @elonmusk, any insights into this?” RGV aerial view tweeted with a picture of the channel separating the SpaceX Starbase in Texas from South Padre Island, which Musk used as an example of a body of water that the Cybertruck could cross to save the time it would normally take to circumnavigate.
“You need an electric propeller mounted on the hitch to go faster than a few knots. There might be a creative wheel hub design that can generate meaningful thrust,” Musk replied.
Elon Musk has now suggested adding a propeller to the Cybertruck to drive it through water.
(Frederic J Brown/AFP)
Musk has made similar claims about the Tesla Model S.
“We definitely don’t recommend it, but the Model S floats well enough to turn it into a boat for a short time.” Wheel spin thrust,” he tweeted in 2016.
NEW TESLA CYBERTRUCK WITH ‘SWITCHBLADE’ WIPER INTRODUCED
As for the propeller, Musk said Tesla is working on a rocket package for the forthcoming Roadster sports car, but isn’t developing an alternative propulsion system for the Cybertruck.
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However, propellers are available for pickups, they just don’t work in the water.
Truck accessory company Bully makes a novel propeller that fits into a pickup truck’s hitch receiver, but is not powered.
(Bullying)
A number of companies, including Bully, make novelty hitch receiver covers that look like propellers and spin, but only when air flows through them.
Of course, Musk has some experience with amphibious vehicles. In 2013, he bought a Lotus Esprit-based submarine called Wet Nellie for almost $1 million, which was used in the making of the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me.
“Wet Nellie” was featured in The Spy Who Loved Me.
(RM Auctions)
At the time, he said he was disappointed to learn that it was fixed in its submarine configuration and couldn’t actually transform into a car, but that he would transform it to be able to.
A decade later, a functionally updated vehicle has yet to emerge, but the Lotus has a different connection to the Cybertruck.
Musk said the pickup’s flat, sloping windshield and hood were partially inspired by the similarly shaped Esprit.