Why spend thousands lifting and slapping a snorkel on your turbo diesel ute when a Tesla will do the same thing straight off the showroom floor?
Ok, well a Tesla Model S won't be as capable as your average off roader, but you have to admit that this is an impressive feat by the electric family sedan.
If this isn’t a commercial for Tesla then I don’t know what is. pic.twitter.com/Fid0A9L2lr
— Richard Richter (@Ricardo_Lee_) May 3, 2019
Footage recently posted on Twitter shows the Model S traversing the reasonably deep floodwaters on this Texas road quite easily, just as easily as the big American truck that's following.
Alongside the lack of a front grille, sealed drive units and batteries make for a capable water-going sedan, although we're not sure how much deeper you could actually go without doing damage. Keeping a steady pace and not displacing the water too much, the driver looks like they know what they're doing.
Last time a Tesla crossing water appeared on the internet, it came out of Kazakhstan and the car was in a little deeper than this example. Surprised by the car's ability, Elon Musk posted about it on Twitter, saying: "We *def* don’t recommend this, but Model S floats well enough to turn into a boat for short periods of time. Thrust via wheel rotation."
While this does look like fun, and the important parts are sealed, there's no telling as to what electrics could be damaged by water. You wouldn't want your Tesla to end up like this one, just because of an unfortunate short circuit.
Does this mean that we can expect to see an amphibious Tesla in the future?