Cybertruck Floats
Tesla’s stainless steel Cybertruck can reportedly handle a brief swim, as new owners report that the vehicle has a “wade mode” included in its offroad settings - a mode which appears to allow the electric pickup to wade across relatively deep patches of water.
On December 6th, a tesla fan on X.com posted apicture of the Cybertruck’s offroad settings.
At the very bottom we can see a toggle function which enables the “Wade Mode” - complete with a brief description which tells us that enabling this option will raise the vehicle’s ride height, and pressurize the battery to allow for a safe ride through water.
That’s a pretty simple description, so we can infer a bit about the intended use from it. Clearly if Tesla engineers thought to include raising the ride height, then they envisioned this mode being used in situations where the max height of the vehicle would allow the truck to still use its tires to propel itself along.
From the recent release of its specifications, we know that the max ground clearance of the Cybertruck is just over 17 inches in “Extract Mode” - which is the full extension. That would give the Cybertruck a pretty respectable depth capability that it could navigate - and by pressurizing its battery structure, the truck would keep its electronics safe from water, and allow for a bit of buoyancy to boot.
But it wouldn’t really help with water that’s deeper than a shallow river, or a flooded roadway - it’s absolutely not going to help with clearing a channel or pond like CEO Elon Musk said he wanted it to handle.
For the last few years Musk has been saying that the goal would be to have Cybertruck be able to navigate small waterways - going so far as to say that he wanted to be able to travel from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, to South Padre Island nearby.
Unfortunately this Wade Mode couldn’t handle that.
Without knowing the mechanics behind the battery pressurization, it’s impossible to tell whether the Cybertruck could at least act as a raft in that sort of depth - but without a propeller, the truck would lose the ability to travel more than a couple of knots once its tires leave the ground.
That doesn’t mean that this mode isn’t good to have though. With the increasing amount of dangerous weather, drivers are bumping up against hazards like flooded roadways more and more. Wade Mode would allow a Cybertruck driver to clear most of this sort of danger to get to where they’re going, and to help out drivers who often get flooded out by a deceptively sunken road.
And who knows? This mode proves that the Cybertruck can handle getting wet without damage, so maybe the internal accessories team could work out an electric propeller attachment that owners could buy if they wanted to imitate the amphibious cars of the 1960s.