Tesla Model 3 Submerged In Flood Keeps Its Electronics Working

Featured Image Credit: @ray4Tesla/Twitter

A Model 3 was spotted submerged underwater after some torrential rainfall in Southern China in Guangzhou. The frunk of the vehicle was wide open and its headlights were clearly on, despite being underwater. 

According to @ray4tesla, the picture of the submerged Model 3 was shared on Weibo a couple of days ago and no further details were given about the vehicle. So the state of the Model 3 after the flood is unknown. 

Based on the past, however, there's a good chance that the Model 3, or at least some of its electronics, may have survived the flood. In 2018, Tesla rebuilder Rich Benoit of YouTube's Rich Rebuilds channel conducted an experiment where he tried to jumpstart a Model S that was submerged underwater for at least 10 days.

Recent torrential rainfall in Southern China caused serious flooding in Guangzhou. Here is the image of a flooded #Model3, with blinker lights still flashing. pic.twitter.com/Xn9sItSZVc

— Ray4️⃣Tesla⚡️🚘☀️🔋 (@ray4tesla) May 26, 2020

After recovering the vehicle and cleaning it up a bit, the host of Rich Rebuilds jumpstarted the drowned Model S to see if it would still work. Surprisingly, some of the Model S' electronics still functioned somewhat. It still had LTE service and could connect to the internet. Some of its lights were still working as well. 

However, some functionality was still lost after the Model S was drowned. The car also advised Benoit to take it in for service, which is probably the best thing to do after a Tesla is submerged in water--even for a short time. 

Ever further back in 2016, Elon Musk shed some light on this subject after another video of a Model S "swimming" through a flooded tunnel surface on the internet and received attention.

We *def* don't recommended this, but Model S floats well enough to turn it into a boat for short periods of time. Thrust via wheel rotation.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 19, 2016

He asserted that Tesla doesn't recommend driving their vehicles through floods, but said that the Model S does float well enough to turn into a boat. He also explained that the drive unit and batteries in a Model S were sealed. 

Tesla most likely followed the same design with the Model 3. It would explain why the Model 3 submerged in water after a flood in China still had functioning lights despite being underwater. 

According to CNBC report in 2016 about the Model S "swimming" in a flooded tunnel, Elon Musk had noted that he was planning on making a submarine-like sports car. Interestingly enough, Elon Musk unveiled the Tesla Cybertruck in 2019, a vehicle that he claimed could float for a while under the right conditions.