Tesla in Dubai Flooding Lives Up to Musk 'Float Like a Boat' Claim

Elon Musk himself once posted on X that a Tesla “floats well enough to turn it into a boat for short periods of time,” and record rain in Dubai this week provided the perfect conditions to test out this theory.

Chaal Pritam said he had “the best experience” in a Tesla Model Y as Dubai was hit with serious flooding during the worst rain seen in decades.

“We were literally floating in the car,” Pritam wrote on X, chiming nicely with Musk’s post from back in 2016. The Tesla founder said he would definitely not “recommended this” but said “thrust via wheel rotation” would propel the car. Credit: Chaal Pritam via Storyful

Video transcript

[ENGINE HUMMING & WATER SPLASHING]

- [INAUDIBLE]

- [INAUDIBLE]. I think so.

- [INAUDIBLE]

[BEEPING]

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

- No, no, no, no, no, no, no, please moving. Keep moving. Oh, my gosh.

That's [INAUDIBLE] too much. Like it's only the [INAUDIBLE]. Oh, my god. [INAUDIBLE]. Please save us. Save us [? from this. ?]

Oh, my god. Oh, my god. Oh, my god, it's floating. That is so deep. [INAUDIBLE]. Oh, my god, it's working. Going to have to [INAUDIBLE]. OK, OK, OK, OK, OK.

OK. OK, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please. Because if we're stuck here, that's [INAUDIBLE]. [SIGHS] Then [? it's ?] [? kind ?] of like [? over. ?] [INAUDIBLE].

Oh, my god. Please help me. Please help me, god. Please help me, please, please, please, please. OK, OK, OK. OK. OK. OK. OK. OK. OK.

[RUMBLING]

[INAUDIBLE]

It's crazy.

- [INAUDIBLE]

- [LAUGHS] [INAUDIBLE]

- No other car can do this. No [? one ?] [INAUDIBLE]. No other.

- Literally, we are floating for a few minutes, right?

- Yeah.

- We are floating.

- Yeah.

- It's not like something is working.

- [INAUDIBLE]. It's, like, floating on the water.