A Tesla Cybertruck sinks in a Southern California harbor

A Tesla Cybertruck took an accidental swim in the Ventura Harbor on Monday, prompting a multi-agency response to carefully retrieve the electric vehicle from the water without sparking a toxic battery fire.

Tesla founder Elon Musk tweeted in 2022 that the Cybertruck “will be waterproof enough to serve briefly as a boat, so it can cross rivers, lakes & even seas that aren’t too choppy.” This truck, however, quickly sank in 8 feet of water, said Carson Shevitz, captain of TowBoatUS Ventura, who helped coordinate the rescue.

Ventura Port District Harbor Patrol officers spotted the truck bobbing by the boat launch ramp shortly before 11 a.m. , Shevitz said. The driver told Shevitz that he meant to put the vehicle in drive after launching a Jet Ski but accidentally threw it in reverse, causing it to slide down the ramp and into the water.

Shevitz dived into the water himself and attached the front of the submerged vehicle to a tow truck that hauled it ashore. He said he worked with Tesla and fire officials to plan the mission carefully because of the dangers posed by lithium-ion batteries.

“When I first heard that it’s a Cybertruck, I immediately thought of the batteries,” he said. “It wasn’t an ‘oh cool,’ it was an ‘oh great,’ because there’s a lot of unknown things we have to figure out.”

Fortunately, the truck’s electronics did not appear to be severely damaged by the dip. Shevitz’s team did not spot any bubbling or hissing — signs that Tesla’s engineers warned could indicate the batteries were releasing gas.

Damaged lithium-ion batteries are at high risk of catching fire and releasing toxic gases such as hydrogen fluoride and carbon monoxide. Exposure to salt water can also lead to battery failure and potentially start a fire.

Once these batteries ignite, they cannot be put out using water and must be left in a secure area to gradually release gas.

“Tesla advised that the best thing to do was to set up a perimeter of about 45 feet of defensible space around the vehicle once we pulled it out,” Shevitz said. “They sent out a couple field engineers who were able to confirm that the truck was in a safe enough condition to be transported back to their service center.”

The Cybertruck is seen submerged during Monday’s incident in Ventura County.

(TowBoatUS Ventura)

The entire mission took less than two hours and attracted a large response from regional agencies, including the Ventura City Fire Department, Ventura Harbor Patrol, U.S. Coast Guard and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Shevitz said.

“It’s a rare thing to see, so I’m guessing everyone just wanted to see what was going on,” he said.

Shevitz said TowBoatUS Ventura frequently responds to calls to rescue damaged boats and, on rare occasions, vehicles. This was the third submerged vehicle his team had helped retrieve in the last 12 months — and definitely the first Cybertruck.