china flood
Tourists take pictures near a pavilion flooded by the swollen Yangtze River in Wuhan, Hubei province.
Reuters/China Daily
  • Multiple videos of Teslas driving through flood zones in China have gone viral on social media.
  • In 2016, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that some Tesla models can function as a sort of "boat."
  • It is not advised to drive cars through flood zones. The floods in China have already claimed dozens of lives.
  • See more stories on Insider's business page.

Drivers are taking to social media to post videos of Teslas making their way through flooded streets in China.

One video on Twitter shows a Tesla powering through a flood zone that appears to have left other cars stranded. In the video, which has been widely circulated online, the murky flood water laps at the car's windshield.

The Twitter user said the video was taken from a flooded highway in China. Other videos that were posted on social media were recorded in Henan, a Chinese province that has been inundated with historic rainfall that has killed dozens of people.

It is extremely dangerous for drivers to take cars through flooded zones, as the vehicles could become stranded or severely damaged. Most car insurance also does not cover driving through flooded areas. Tesla CEO Elon Musk claimed in 2016 that the Model S can function as a sort of "boat" after a Tesla owner drove the model through a flooded tunnel in Kazakhstan.

Driving in flooded zones can severely damage a car's engine, whether it's electric or gas-powered, as the vehicle's undercarriage is not designed to sustain prolonged periods of submersion in water. Though, Musk said on Twitter that the Model S has a sealed battery and drive units and does not require an oxygen supply like most combustion engines to keep the car running.

While the vehicles in the videos are the Model 3, customers speculated they could be equipped with the same technology as the Model S, calling it "boat mode." Tesla's Chinese factory has also reportedly established a special testing area in Shanghai that simulates floods for Model 3 and Model Y Teslas. A YouTube video from 2019 appears to show workers testing the Chinese version of the Model 3 in flood conditions.

Another flood video has over 1.4 million views. Several videos of the Teslas in action in flood zones were posted and reposted across Twitter. Of the at least seven different videos posted online, none of the Teslas appear to be stalling in the water.

The Austin Tesla Club also posted another video of a car driving in flood zones up to its hood.

Read the original article on Business Insider