Photo: Tesla, chankdelia via Reddit
Tesla announced disappointing range for the Cybertruck during Delivery Day 2023. To compensate, it also promised that a range extender would be offered in late 2024. However, this has been delayed to early 2025, with the skyrocketing price unlikely to make it a popular accessory.
After a huge delay, Tesla finally delivered the Cybertruck to its first owners on November 30, 2023. People waited four years to get their hands on the futuristic pickup truck, only to be disappointed. The Cybertruck was significantly more expensive than announced in 2019. To add insult to injury, Tesla decided to increase the price even further with the Foundation Series markup.
The price may have been an unpleasant surprise, but the real disappointment was the range. Instead of the 500 miles (805 km) of range that Tesla had promised for the top-of-the-line Cybertruck in 2019, the Cyberbeast delivered with just 320 miles (515 km). The fact that the All-wheel drive the variant could travel 340 miles (545 km) instead of “over 300 miles” It didn't matter much, especially to those who wanted the tri-motor Cybertruck.
Tesla knew the 320-mile Cyberbeast would piss off customers, so it announced a range extender that could add 120 miles (195 km) to the Cyberbeast’s range (130 miles/210 km for the AWD model). Little information was provided at the launch, other than an image showing a massive contraption taking up more than a third of the Cybertruck’s cargo bed. Even with the range extender, the Cyberbeast failed to reach its promised 500-mile range, at just 440 miles (710 km). That’s still less than the AWD Cybertruck with the same range extender, which can go up to 470 miles (755 km) on a charge.
In a previous article, I explained why the range extender was a bad idea. In addition to these drawbacks, Tesla recently confirmed that the piggyback battery would not be user-removable. Instead, it will be “structurally assembled” in the Cybertruck’s bed to increase safety in the event of a crash. It makes sense, considering the range extender weighs more than 500 pounds. Tesla will also need to connect it to the Cybertruck’s high-voltage system and ensure proper thermal management, possibly connecting cooling lines as well.
This means that the installation and removal of the range extender will be performed at a Tesla service center, increasing the cost of ownership and making the Cybertruck much less useful. This is on top of the range extender's $16,000 price tag, which Tesla officially confirmed with the Cybertruck's revised web page. If you're wondering why so much, keep in mind that this is a pretty large battery pack, about 50 kWh.
Even if you're willing to sacrifice bed space and shell out $16,000 for a range extender, you won't be able to buy it anytime soon. Tesla has announced plans to start production of the infamous contraption. “early 2025”, several months later than previously announced. On the one hand, this makes sense, given the high production costs and relatively small addressable market. With few Cybertrucks on the road and even fewer owners willing to pay $16,000 for a battery extension, it makes little sense to rush it to market.
Until the range extender finally goes into production (if it ever does), most Cybertruck owners may find they don’t need the extra range. A recent software update significantly improved the truck’s DC fast-charging performance, meaning range is less of an issue as long as it takes less time to charge. I suspect many people will voluntarily waive the $500 reservation deposit on the range extender to save the remaining $15,500.