Remember when Elon Musk claimed the Cybertruck could be used as a boat?
It happened more than once, in fact. Before and after the vehicle’s release to the public in November 2023. “Yes. It will even float for a while,” Musk wrote on X/Twitter back in 2020 in response to a question about the car’s wading depth.
Years later, the topic arose again. “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 wrote in a September 2022 post on X/Twitter.
After the Cybertruck’s 2023 release, Musk made a slight adjustment to his previous claims. Rather than implying boat mode would be a standard feature of the brutalist “truck,” he said it would be available in a “mod package.”
“We are going to offer a mod package that enables Cybertruck to traverse at least 100m of water as a boat. Mostly just need to upgrade cabin door seals,” Musk wrote in a December 18, 2023 tweet.
Cybertrucks Can’t ‘Wade’ Through Lakes, Guys
Well, that mod package has yet to hit the market. Cybertrucks do, however, have something called “Wade Mode.”
“Wade Mode” allows the vehicle to “enter and drive through bodies of water, such as rivers or creeks,” according to Tesla’s Cybertruck manual, which adds that drivers shouldn’t exceed 32 inches of water, measuring from the bottom of the tire.
“Wade Mode defaults the vehicle’s ride height to Very High and protects Cybertruck for up to approximately 32 in (815 mm) of water, driving at slow speeds (1-3 mph or 2-5 km/h). As water depth changes, reduce your vehicle speed accordingly. Do not disable Wade Mode until your vehicle is fully out of water,” the manual reads.
Perhaps because he conflated Musk’s 2022 tweet mentioning “lakes and even seas” with the manual’s citation of “rivers and creeks,” a Cybertruck owner decided to test the limitations of his vehicle’s “Wade Mode.”
Yesterday, GPD and GFD were dispatched to Grapevine Lake, where a Tesla Cybertruck was stranded in the water. The driver drove into the lake to use the “Wade Mode” feature when the vehicle became disabled. The passengers abandoned the vehicle and the driver was arrested. pic.twitter.com/iPJMaLzOEX
— Grapevine Police (@GrapevinePolice) May 19, 2026
That’s what he told the cops who arrested him, anyway, after they oversaw the retrieval of his half-submerged Cybertruck from Katie’s Woods Park Boat Ramp in Texas. The driver “stated he intentionally drove into the lake to use the Cybertruck’s ‘wade mode’ feature,” Grapevine Police reported.
Texas Police expanded on the tale on Twitter on May 19, citing that the incident took place the day prior. “Yesterday, GPD and GFD were dispatched to Grapevine Lake, where a Tesla Cybertruck was stranded in the water. The driver drove into the lake to use the “Wade Mode” feature when the vehicle became disabled. The passengers abandoned the vehicle and the driver was arrested,” Grapevine Police wrote.
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