WADE MODE will let Cybertruck drive through water by raising ride height and pressurizing battery 🤿 💦

[FutureBoy]

I'm not an amphibious automotive engineer, so there's that ?

I used to teach swimming. Let me know if you want some help.

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[android04]

Battery packs are not completely sealed off. They have vent ports to relieve pressure from temperature fluctuations and in case of thermal runaway. The ports have valves that are supposed to close off there's any moisture, but they are not perfect.

Think of this battery pressurization kind of like biodefense mode on the HVAC, pressurizing the cabin to keep "contaminated" outside air from leaking in through door seals and cabin vents.

 

[JBee]

One could partially close the outflow valve for the battery coolant. That would leave the pump pushing coolant into a fixed volume.

That would mean that the coolant circuit has a leak, if you are trying to use it to pressurize the battery pack?

You have an infinite supply of air with a compressor, but only so much coolant. Plus you don't want to run out of coolant if there was a leak, neither would you want to mix the coolant with say see water.

Further displacing water with coolant does nothing for maintaining buoyancy, which is sort of the point of wade mode?. So there's no meaningful way to use the coolant for pressurization.

 

[FutureBoy]

displacing water with coolant does nothing for maintaining buoyancy

Not to nitpick... But wouldn't that depend on the specific gravity of the coolant as compared to the water being waded in?

Probably not much of a difference and I'm guessing that the coolant is water based so the actual difference might be miniscule. But still... I used to have fun making layered drinks so your comment made my fingers tickle.

 

[Rutrow]

Not to nitpick... But wouldn't that depend on the specific gravity of the coolant as compared to the water being waded in?

Probably not much of a difference and I'm guessing that the coolant is water based so the actual difference might be miniscule. But still... I used to have fun making layered drinks so your comment made my fingers tickle.

Pousse Cafe?

 

[tmeyer3]

Not to nitpick... But wouldn't that depend on the specific gravity of the coolant as compared to the water being waded in?

Probably not much of a difference and I'm guessing that the coolant is water based so the actual difference might be miniscule. But still... I used to have fun making layered drinks so your comment made my fingers tickle.

You can swim AND you make drinks? Teach me, sensei!

 

[JBee]

Not to nitpick... But wouldn't that depend on the specific gravity of the coolant as compared to the water being waded in?

Probably not much of a difference and I'm guessing that the coolant is water based so the actual difference might be miniscule. But still... I used to have fun making layered drinks so your comment made my fingers tickle.

Sure.

But even though some coolants contain alcohol I wouldn't recommend using it for your specific gravity drinks.

But air is vastly lighter and relatively dry.

Just like some peoples humor...

 

[FutureBoy]

Pousse Cafe?

Nothing so fancy as to require French.

This was college cafeteria experimentation as entertainment for the table. It all started when I bought a battery powered blender to bring to dinner for making triple-chocolate shakes: (1/3 chocolate ice cream, 1/3 chocolate milk, 1/3 chocolate pudding). From there my friends and I expanded into other food experiments.

 

[Jow]

dumb.

- jow

 

[PilotPete]

How to do you "pressurize the battery" without an air compressor?

Well, there IS a compressor on board for the air suspension. Just because there isn't an outlet you can use, doesn't mean there isn't one on the truck. But when it comes to you getting to use it, just like my first marriage, you are DENIED!

 

[cvalue13]

Further displacing water with coolant does nothing for maintaining buoyancy, which is sort of the point of wade mode?. So there's no meaningful way to use the coolant for pressurization.

I don’t think the point of wade mode is to maintain buoyancy. I think it’s just to keep water out of the pack.

relatedly, I think that’s as close as we’ll ever come to hearing anything about ‘boat mode’

Short of being a boat, and assuming there’s no water in the pack, buoyancy doesn’t seem like what you want when wading

“wading” is to walk an the bottom through water. Seems you’re thinking of a “swim” mode

 

[anionic1]

How to do you "pressurize the battery" without an air compressor?

I was thinking the same thing. It must have a line from the suspension systems air tank. The way those structural packs are built though doesn’t seem to lend itself to pressurization. It’s filled with essentially expanding foam.

 

[JBee]

I don’t think the point of wade mode is to maintain buoyancy. I think it’s just to keep water out of the pack.

relatedly, I think that’s as close as we’ll ever come to hearing anything about ‘boat mode’

Short of being a boat, and assuming there’s no water in the pack, buoyancy doesn’t seem like what you want when wading

“wading” is to walk an the bottom through water. Seems you’re thinking of a “swim” mode

Agreed. You will only start floating once you reach the cabin though, so you'd attempt to wade with the suspension all the way up. But it's just as important to keep water out of the pack when you do float away, boat mode or not?

Point being that one doesn't necessarily exclude the other?

I still think we'll see a variation of boat mode in time. These are features that no other 4x4 or EV vehicles have, and are really not necessary for temporary wading through a stream.

 

[Rutrow]

I do not want my truck to float. When fording a stream, things get exponentially more dangerous the moment your vehicle starts to float. Unless you have a 20 hp boat motor deployed before you enter the water, you want to stay firmly connected to the bottom unless the water is DEAD STILL. Rather than things to make my truck more bouyant, I'd rather have a way to temporarily make my truck heavier! Maybe a pump to fill the bed with water as I enter the stream. Adding a quick ton of weight above the waterline would prevent me from floating downstream or out to sea in a rip-tide.

 

[davelloydbrown]

I'm not the first nor the only one to refer to the cladding on the rear bumper as that.

yes I have wondered about that myself it is quite large and unexplained.

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