Tesla boss Elon Musk (51) has been making global headlines for months. First, confusion about the intention to buy the online service Twitter for $44 billion. Last week, the eccentric South African angered much of the western world, notably Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, 44, with a Kremlin-friendly peace proposal he spread on Twitter, along with a poll among his 100 million followers. .
And now Musk has announced his cutting-edge plans for the soon-to-be-released electric pickup Cybertruck via Twitter. These plans are not about an ordinary range extension of the Cybertruck, which already has a range of up to 850 kilometers. No more power comes from the already powerful commercial vehicle with up to four electric motors. It’s also not about other improvements to the “Crab Mode” announced last year, where the Cybertruck can “crawl” diagonally forward and backward thanks to all-wheel steering.
swims to starbase
No, the latest announcement seems so far from reality that it might sound like a bad April Fools’ joke to any other auto executive. Not so with Elon Musk. According to the announcement, the cyber truck weighing several tons should be able to cross rivers, lakes and seas if the sea is not too rough. In another tweet, Musk states that the Cybertruck should be able to float along the channel from the Starbase rocket launch site, where space company SpaceX launches satellites into space, to South Padre Island, an offshore island off the Texas US coast. Instead of crossing a bridge and circumnavigating a canal, which takes about 45 minutes, the much shorter route crosses the waters of South Bay.
How exactly Musk wants to transform the Cybertruck for this—whether an additional propeller will guarantee progress, or how exactly the truck should be made completely waterproof—the Tesla boss leaves it open. At least the stainless steel body of the turntable should not rust. As crazy as the announcement is, Musk’s intentions are clear: While the competition for electric pickup trucks is the Ford F-150 Lightning, GMC Hummer EV or Rivian R1T is being bought by customers like the hot Weggli, the 2019 Cybertruck is still not ready for mass production. The first models should be delivered to eagerly awaiting US customers in early 2023 at the earliest. Until then, communications specialist Musk has to keep his fan base happy with new tech features.
Fans had the idea of swimming
Why did the 50-year-old come up with such an unusual idea as a floating pickup truck? Well known: Musk is a fan of classic cars and owns, among other things, the original Lotus Esprit S1, which gained worldwide fame for its diving and swimming abilities in the 1977 James Bond movie “The Spy Who Loved Me.” Musk displayed the same lotus at the entrance of the event hall in Los Angeles at the launch of Cybertruck 2019. During the show, Musk’s suggestion of a floating pickup truck echoed in the hall when he asked his fanbase what features they would like to see in the latest Tesla. Musk said he wanted to think about it. It looks like she’s made up her mind now. It is not yet clear whether the Cybertruck will actually be able to float if it launches next year. When it comes to Elon Musk, whose ideas constantly oscillate between genius and madness, at least it cannot be ignored.