Elon Musk has long insisted that Cybertrucks are bulletproof, prompting some people to test this theory out for themselves.
Famously, in 2019, when Musk debuted the futuristic-looking electric truck, he bragged to the crowds that the Cybertruck was pretty much indestructible.
To prove this, he had Tesla’s chief designer to throw a metal ball at one of its armored windows, but embarassingly, it smashed into pieces.
Adding to the awkwardness, they then tried again with a different window, for that one to smash too.
Musk then quipped that the ball may have been thrown ‘a little too hard’.
Since the incident, the Tesla CEO and his chief designer have tried again, to better success. Watch here:
Fast-forward to November 2023, and the first fleet of Cybertrucks were released. To date, just short of 30,000 of the unique vehicles have been sold.
Tesla’s website states that its Cybertrucks are made out of ‘ultra-hard stainless-steel exoskeleton’, which ‘helps to reduce dents, damage, and long-term corrosion’.
“Armor Glass can resist the impact of a baseball at 70 mph or class 4 hail. Acoustic glass helps make the cabin as quiet as outer space,” it adds.
The website also insists that repairs are ‘simple and quick’, and I’m sure Cybertruck owner Dante Colle will be pleased to know this.
One Cybertruck owner put his vehicle to the test (X/@HippieGQ_)
On October 16, Dante took to Twitter to share video of him firing a gun at his truck, and it’s safe to say he regretted his decision pretty quickly.
Realizing that the bullet penetrated the stainless steel, a disappointed Dante put his hands on his head.
That didn’t deter Dante from trying again though. Moving to the side of the truck, he shot another bullet at it, and this time, it didn’t pierce the metal.
Warning: Video contains strong language
Dude shoots his own Cybertruck, and is shocked to learn it’s not bulletproof pic.twitter.com/tJNaiRobdx
— Hamish Mitchell (@H_MitchellPhoto) October 16, 2024
Basically, there seems to be a 50/50 chance that a bullet might or might not penetrate the car‘s stainless steel and, I’m sure about you, that’s not really a chance I’m willing to take.
Away from the Cybertruck’s supposed bulletproof abilities, before its release, Musk said that the car could be ‘briefly used as a boat’.
“Cybertruck will be waterproof enough to serve briefly as a boat, so it can cross rivers, lakes and even seas that aren’t too choppy,” he penned on Twitter in September 2022.
Oops (X/@HippieGQ_)
Musk added: “Needs to be able to get from Starbase to South Padre Island, which requires crossing the channel.”
While he described the truck as being able to turn into a boat (albeit for a short period), Cybertrucks actually have something called ‘Wade Mode’ that allows it to drive through shallow bodies of water.
This raises the ride heigh and pressurizes the car’s battery when traveling through water. It can only be used for 30 minutes.
So, saying that the truck could turn into a ‘boat’ might have been a bit a far-fetched…