Somehow, the Cybertruck Is Getting Worse

But this problem could affect all of Tesla.

Photo by Yiming Ma on Unsplash

We all know the Cybertruck is Cyberfucked, right? It is the fever dream project of a ket-head billionaire, and it shows. It’s ugly, impractical, dreadful off-road, has a horrific range, is fragile, dangerous, expensive, tends to make the driver look like a “Yahtzee” sympathiser, and is, unsurprisingly, a sales flop. But owners have been holding out for the only possible upside left: unlocking super-fast charging. Sadly, even that hope has now been dashed.

Let me be clear, the Cybertruck needs super-fast charging.

For one, it was what was originally promised. Tesla guarantees 128 miles of added range for 15 minutes, and that eventually, the Cybertruck will reach a peak charge rate of 500 kW, allowing its 123 kWh battery pack to charge from 10% to 80% in under 30 minutes. This suggested that the Cybertruck’s range and charge time would be comparable to a Model 3. However, Tesla did tease an 18-minute 10% to 80% time, which would make the Cybertruck by far the fastest-charging Tesla.

Unfortunately, when the Cybertruck hit the market, these charge speeds were nowhere to be seen. Initially, charge rates were limited to 250 kW and then upped to 325 kW to match the capability of Tesla’s V3 superchargers. Even with this upgrade, 10% to 80% charges take 45 minutes. The peak rate does hit the 325 kW limit, but its average rate is just 118 kW, or just less than a base-spec Model 3 with an LFP battery.

That charge rate isn’t an issue for the Model 3, as it is a very efficient car, getting around 275 miles of real-world range, so the miles added per hour of charging are relatively high at 480. The Cybertruck, on the other hand, is woefully inefficient! Despite its giant 123 kWh pack, owners are reporting real-world ranges of 224 miles to as little as 160 miles. As such, the Cybertruck is only reaching 186 miles of range added per hour of charging, or significantly less than half of what the Model 3 gets. It also means the Cybertruck only gets 46 miles of added range per 15 minutes of charging, which is much less than half of what was promised.

With such an abysmal range and slow charge speeds, even cheap EVs like a Renault 5 (which costs the equivalent of $30,000) are better for long-range trips, as they get the same real-world range but significantly faster charge speeds — at least in terms of miles added per hour charging.

To make the Cybertruck even remotely usable in the real world, it needs to unlock that 500 kW charge rate! And owners have been holding out for it.

Now, 500 kW-capable V4 charging stations are finally being built in the US, and this mythical charging speed is becoming a reality. To show this off, Tesla posted the teaser video on X (watch it here).

In the very short clip, you can see the Cybertruck displaying that it achieved a 500 kW charge rate. Along with this, Tesla announced that a Cybertruck can “recover up to 44% in 15 mins” on a V4 stall if it comes with a low state of charge and a preconditioned battery, which is presumably what is happening in the clip.

So, problem solved, right?

Not at all…