Tesla CEO Elon Musk did not announce a water-powered car

Social media claims of a new Tesla car with a revolutionary energy source don’t hold water. 

A Facebook post claimed the electric car company’s CEO Elon Musk recently announced a water-powered car, claiming it could “reshape the automotive industry.”

“Elon Musk is taking sustainable technology to the next level with the Tesla Water Engine,” the Nov. 4 post said. “This dives into how this revolutionary engine could reshape the automotive industry, offering a clean and efficient alternative to traditional fuels and electric batteries.” 

The post includes images that show Musk standing next to cars that appear to have a water-filled engine inside. Both images appear to be generated with artificial intelligence — the wrinkles around Musk’s eyes are unnatural and so are the lighting and colors; his facial features are inconsistent and the Tesla logo on his shirt is not the real company logo. AI image detection sites SightEngine and Hive both registered the image as likely AI generated. 

The post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Threads and Instagram.)

We found other Facebook posts and YouTube videos making the same claim.

PolitiFact found no official announcements from Tesla, news stories from credible sources or any other information that supports the post. Musk hasn’t posted about it on X, either.

A Tesla spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. 

And despite the post’s claims, the laws of thermodynamics mean a water-powered car is unlikely. Extracting energy from water molecules requires more energy than it produces, making it an impractical way to power a car, an article from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Engineering said.

This isn’t the first post we’ve checked with misleading claims about marvelous Tesla products. We fact-checked a claim the company debuted a $12,000 tiny house and a claim Musk had launched a robot that can carry a pregnancy, rating them both False.

We rate this claim that Tesla debuted a water-powered engine False.

By

Caleb McCullough

Staff writer

November 12, 2024

Truth-o-meter Ruling

False

IF YOUR TIME IS SHORT

• There are no credible sources saying Tesla unveiled a water-powered car. 

• Water is an impractical power source for a car because extracting energy from water requires more energy than the car produces.

Statement

“Elon Musk is taking sustainable technology to the next level with the Tesla Water Engine.”

Context

a post

Speaker/Target

Speaker: Facebook posts

Statement Date

November 4, 2024