When deliveries of the controversial Tesla Cybertruck finally started late last year, everyone’s eyes were on the specs. Specifically, the targeted driving range, which turned out to be less than what was initially advertised when the angular electric pickup debuted in 2019.
Tesla’s answer was a yet-to-be-released drop-in range extender battery that would fit in the bed of the truck and extend the maximum driving distance on a full charge to roughly 500 miles. The range extender is still not available to order and there are a lot of unknown details, but at least we know what you’ll need to do to get it fitted.
The drop-in range extender for the Tesla Cybertruck will supposedly offer around 130 miles of extra range for the all-wheel drive version of the angular electric pickup for an extra $16,000.
To install the optional battery pack, Tesla Cybertruck owners will need to schedule a service appointment, so that it’s safe in a crash, according to Wes Morrill, the truck’s lead engineer, who turned to X to make the announcement.
We still don’t know how much the extra battery will weigh, although some napkin math we did last year suggested the bolt-in box would tip the scales at approximately 500 pounds, making it almost impossible to handle at home unless you have a lift.
Furthermore, this is still a high-voltage battery we’re talking about, so going down the official service route is probably the best course of action if living your life is something you cherish. That said, the solution–if it will ever reach production status–seems like it will only entail more problems down the road.
First, the added weight means owners will be limited to how much stuff they can carry, an issue that will only be exacerbated by the fact that the battery box will take up roughly a third of the space in the bed.
Second, while the price of the optional range extender has never been published on Tesla’s website, the source code did at one moment hint at an MSRP of $16,000, which isn’t exactly cheap and only adds to the already high price tag of the truck itself.
Then, there’s the issue of charging. The Cybertruck is known for its less-than-stellar recharging speeds, especially at Tesla’s own Supercharger stations that don’t currently have 800-volt stalls to take advantage of the truck’s high-voltage pack (the rest of Tesla’s passenger EV portfolio has 400V batteries). Adding more batteries will only prolong the charging sessions, while the efficiency will drop because of the added weight.
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Elon Musk said that the optional pack is “meant for very long trips or towing heavy things up mountains,” but owners would have to haul around the heavy box in the bed for most–if not all of the time just to take advantage of the extra range offered by it on specific occasions.
This issue is not just with the Cybertruck but with all electric trucks. The more you need to tow and the higher driving range you need, the bigger the battery needs to be. The bigger the battery, the higher the weight, which leads to lower efficiency and longer charging stops.
But what’s your take on this? Let us know in the comments below how you would handle the Cybertruck’s optional range extender.
