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Tesla Cybertruck braves substantial rainfall and standing water amid massive storms

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A Tesla Cybertruck was seen braving it out in substantial rainfall and standing water amid massive storms moving through the Southeastern United States.

Massive storms affected the Northeast last week, as several inches of rainfall, tornadoes, and even an Earthquake were reported as a storm cell moved throughout the country.

Now, the Southeast U.S. is getting a taste of a separate storm cell, and in various states in the region, rainfall is coming down in massive amounts. It has started to move out of the country and over the Atlantic Ocean, but several inches fell in major metropolitan areas yesterday on April 10.

One of the cities that felt a massive part of the storm was New Orleans, Louisiana.

According to a report from USA Today, more than 118,000 homes and businesses were without power from Texas to Georgia on Wednesday night. At least one person in Mississippi passed away.

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New Orleans experienced between five and eight inches of rainfall during the storm. Winds of up to 80 MPH were also reported.

While officials in New Orleans warned people of flooding and advised them to stay off of the roads to avoid any danger, a Tesla Cybertruck apparently did not get the memo:

Initially, Tesla had big plans for the Cybertruck, and CEO Elon Musk said it would be able to cross bodies of water like rivers, lakes, and seas as it wanted to equip the pickup with the ability to be waterproof in certain conditions.

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Musk wanted the vehicle to get from Starbase to South Padre Island in Texas, a roughly 6.5-mile float.

As a result, Tesla equipped the Cybertruck with Wade Mode, a feature that aims to protect the battery pack by pressurizing it. It also raises the vehicle’s ride height:

Tesla Cybertruck has a feature to help with driving through water

We saw a few instances of the Cybertruck making its way through some bodies of water as it drove through the ocean on the shoreline and also took on a pretty tall task in deep water test.

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

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Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Tesla has best month ever in Turkey with drastic spike in sales

Tesla managed to sell 8,730 Model Y vehicles in Turkey, outpacing almost every competitor by a substantial margin. Only one brand sold better than Tesla in August in Turkey, and it was Renault.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla had its best monthly performance ever in Turkey in August, thanks to a drastic spike in sales.

Tesla saw an 86 percent bump in sales of the new Model Y in Turkey in August compared to July, dominating the market.

The performance was one of Tesla’s best in the market, and the company’s sales for the month accounted for half of all EV sales in Turkey for August, as it dominated and led BYD, which was the second-best-selling brand with just 1,639 units sold.

Tesla managed to sell 8,730 Model Y vehicles in Turkey, outpacing almost every competitor by a substantial margin. Only one brand sold better than Tesla in August in Turkey, and it was Renault.

Electric vehicles are, in some ways, more desirable than their gas counterparts in Turkey for several reasons. Most of the reasoning is financial.

First, EVs are subject to a lower Special Consumption Tax in Turkey. EVs can range from 25 percent to up to 170 percent, but this is less than the 70 to 220 percent rate that gas-powered vehicles can face. The tax is dependent on engine size.

Elon Musk courted to build a Tesla factory in Turkey

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Additionally, EVs are exempt from the annual Motor Vehicle Tax for the first ten years, providing consumers with a long-term ownership advantage. There are also credits that can amount to $30,000 in breaks, which makes them more accessible and brings down the cost of ownership.

Let’s not forget the other advantages that are felt regardless of country: cheaper fuel costs, reduced maintenance, and improved performance.

The base Model Y is the only configuration available in Turkey currently.

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Tesla is upgrading airbag safety through a crazy software update

“This upgrade builds upon your vehicle’s superior crash protection by now using Tesla Vision to help offer some of the most cutting-edge airbag performance in the event of a frontal crash.”

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(Credit: Tesla)

Tesla is upgrading airbag safety through a crazy software update, which will utilize the company’s vision-first approach to enable better protection in the event of an accident.

Over the years, Tesla has gained an incredible reputation for prioritizing safety in its vehicles, with crash test ratings at the forefront of its engineers’ minds.

This has led to Tesla gaining numerous five-star safety ratings and awards related to safety. It is not just a statistical thing, either. In the real world, we’ve seen Teslas demonstrate some impressive examples of crash safety.

Everything from that glass roof not caving in when a tree falls on it to a Model Y surviving a drive off a cliff has been recorded.

However, Tesla is always looking to improve safety, and unlike most companies, it does not need a physical hardware update to do so. It can enhance features such as crash response and airbag performance through Over-the-Air software updates, which download automatically to the vehicle.

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In Tesla’s 2025.32 Software Update, the company is rolling out a Frontal Airbag System Enhancement, which aims to use Tesla Vision, the company’s camera-based approach to self-driving, to keep occupants safe.

The release notes state (via NotaTeslaApp):

“This upgrade builds upon your vehicle’s superior crash protection by now using Tesla Vision to help offer some of the most cutting-edge airbag performance in the event of a frontal crash. Building on top of regulatory and industry crash testing, this release enables front airbags to begin to inflate and restrain occupants earlier, in a way that only Tesla’s integrated systems are capable of doing, making your car safer over time.”

The use of cameras to predict a better time to restrain occupants with seatbelts and inflate airbags prior to a collision is a fantastic way to prevent injuries and limit harm done to those in the vehicle.

The feature is currently limited to the Model Y.

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Elon Musk says this Tesla project will make up vast majority of company value

“~80% of Tesla’s value will be Optimus,” Musk said.

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(Credit: Ryan Lash/TED)

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has not shied away from the idea that the company’s value is not reliant on its performance as an automaker.

That idea is even more prudent in today’s landscape than ever, especially as Tesla leans more on its prowess as an AI, autonomy, and robotics company rather than one that just makes electric cars.

Musk solidified that point on Monday, as he revealed that he believes the vast majority of Tesla’s valuation will rely on a project that the company has been developing for several years.

The CEO has long discussed how robotics will revolutionize the labor landscape in factories, households, and other workplaces.

He believes Optimus, as it is rolled out in the coming years, will truly take over as the main contributor to Tesla’s valuation, being worth about 80 percent of the company’s total market cap:

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This is a point Musk has previously discussed, but he has never listed a specific number in terms of what Optimus could mean to Tesla. In the past, he’s mentioned Optimus’s ability to generate long-term revenue potential, its value to the company, and its impact on the market overall.

Musk has said Optimus has the potential to be worth over $10 trillion in revenue:

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“It’s one of those things where I think long term, Optimus will be — Optimus has the potential to be north of $10 trillion in revenue, like it’s really bananas. So, that, you can obviously afford a lot of training compute in that situation. In fact, even $500 billion training compute in that situation would be quite a good deal.”

Optimus has been a main point of discussion amongst analysts who cover the company. Piper Sandler recently released a note that said “Optimus should be moving/staging parts within Tesla’s facilities” by this time next year.

Analysts also said that Optimus could be a major benefit for companies to bring in to handle tedious tasks in manufacturing settings. If it is able to work 18-hour shifts, the firm believes Tesla could price it at $100,000 per unit.

Tesla talks Semi ramp, Optimus, Robotaxi rollout, FSD with Wall Street firm

Other firms, like Morgan Stanley, have said Tesla could replace its own staff by 10 percent with Optimus, saving the company $2.5 billion.

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