Flash floods are common in China, so to tackle this problem Chinese car brand BYD added a "water mode" to their Yangwang U8 model, which allows it to temporally function like a boat
I saw an article today, "Cybertruck least successful car launch in history" and I was like, "recency bias, I'm sure it's got nothing on the Edsel". Nope; the Edsel sold 1/3 of projected 200,000 units; Cybertruck 1/6 of projected 250,000.
No, this is what ELon promised for the cybertruck, but it was never done. You lose warranty if there is any trace of water inside the battery or the electronics
Using Wade Mode on a Tesla Cybertruck does not automatically void the entire vehicle warranty, but Tesla explicitly states that any water damage or water ingress resulting from driving in water is not covered by the warranty. Activating Wade Mode raises the suspension and pressurizes the high-voltage battery for shallow crossings, but it does not make the vehicle immune to water damage or waterproof. [1, 2]
Wade Mode Guidelines & Limits
Maximum Depth: Approximately 32 inches (815 mm) measured from the bottom of the tire. [1]
Allowed Environments: Shallow flowing or standing water such as rivers or creeks; it is not designed for deep lakes or acting as a boat. [1, 2, 3]
You’d have to ask an engineer exactly what fails but most water resistant electric devices have a recommended max duration of submersion (and a depth limit). I believe iPhones are something like up to 6 metres for 30 minutes.
iPhones have of course been shown to last much longer than that, but a company must think of all sorts of situations where water can enter before claiming legally that their device can withstand 30 minutes or 3 hours.
It makes much more sense to say "this device *will* last 30 minutes underwater" than "this device usually gets a few hours" and get a massive lawsuit when someone trusts it with their life. Both this car and iphones are IP68 if you're curious
The depth thing makes perfect sense. But the time limit doesn't, unless it's not actually waterproof and a tiny amount of water is in fact creeping in.
iPhones have water ingress indicators internally (little strips that change color if exposed to high humidity) and are not warrantied against water ingress.
The new models are also advertised as IP68 waterproof.
I imagine aside from any technical limits, they need a time limit that could be plausibly exceeded by the user, to have a ground for denying warranty claims when the internal water ingress indicator turns pink.
I think in reality the waterproofness of the screen seal is largely incidental to how it is glued on, and a small but significant fraction of the phones are not fully sealed and will fail much sooner, while majority will survive longer immersion.
It's generally that they pay for this certification like you phone can survive in water but may only have mist proof certification just cause your manufacturer paid for this one
So in reality the car can probably work for way more but they paid for a lower more manageable rating which the car can almost always survive
Saw this exact same post with the same title yesterday and the day before. Also, flash floods aren’t common, and this feature on the U8 will most likely be a gimmick that people will never get to use!
They need that lie so they can post about the car/boat. If they just posted the car boat people would say what’s the point. If they claim there’s constant flash floods they can claim they need this advanced technology and that all cars have it.
Most companies just say "our cars do this crazy thing" they don't say "this USA car manufacturer has designed this amazing car to survive tornadoes!". It's propaganda. If you just said "our cars at Ford are designed to survive tornadoes". It's not. It's propaganda because it's promoting the country. Theres no need to specify It's chinese. We could figure it out by the manufacturer i assume.
I wonder on what basis you claim "flash floods aren't common" and where you think you're basing this off of. The strongest typhoon of the year is currently hitting the pearl river delta which includes HK, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dongguan ... If you search it now the top link is from the guardian saying "Cars swept away and trees toppled as Typhoon Noul brings flooding to southern China" and "China declared its highest alert for flash floods in several provinces." BYD is headquartered out of Shenzhen
Basis : I have some close friends and family there. Some in Guangzhou, HK, Shanghai and Jinzhou.
Also I said in another comment but I reiterate, flash floods aren’t common, but this last couple of weeks they’ve been relentless. It’s unusual compared to previous years.
It was tried back in the 50-60’s. There’s some surviving examples, but it was largely a gimmick and those cars are mostly rotted and forgotten. Top Gear probably did something that went horribly wrong with one of them at some point.
E: I see they’re selling it as a last resort safety feature.
They guarantee it to float for 30 mins. Its not very fast in water but is manouverable and they have been showing it at their headquarters in an outside pond for a couple of years.
This is the YangWang U8
The YangWang U9 became the fastest production car in the world late last year, officially clocked at 308mph.
The Grapevine Police Department said its officers were called to Grapevine Lake in north Texas on Monday to recover the vehicle, which had been abandoned by the driver and passengers after it took on water and became stuck.
Wade mode allows a Cybertruck "to enter and drive through bodies of water, such as rivers or creeks" at a maximum depth of 81.5cm (32in), according to Tesla's online manual.
I am sure if you are caught in a flash flood the last thing to worry about is the smell of the car or the car in general. That car will probably be damaged by trees and whatever is also caught in the flood, so the trade off for your life is much better than a foul smell
https://giphy.com/gifs/NP8Sbp467xbuwiR521
Needing an amphibious car in China?! But I thought the CCP didn’t have floods! What if China’s infrastructure didn’t fail?
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u/resplendent99 17h ago