Historians will study the Cybertruck. It is such a uniquely bad product that it is basically the poster boy for the final death throes of capitalism. And that little fact is reflected in its woeful sales. Musk initially claimed that they had $1 million in reservations for the Cybertruck and that production would scale quickly to 250,000 per year, with Musk expecting it to peak at 500,000 per year. Yet, by the end of 2024, Tesla had delivered just 39,900 Cybertrucks and unsold Cybertruck inventory began to seriously pile up. In other words, well over 96% of reservations were cancelled. This year, Tesla has desperately tried to stop this ongoing car crash but has failed every time. And now, the death of the Cybertruck seems inevitable.
One of the biggest gripes people had with the Cybertruck was actually its woeful range. Musk originally promised ranges of over 500 miles. But the longest-range Cybertruck on launch (the AWD version) only had an estimated range of 325 miles, and real-world testing found the actual figure to be more like 224 miles, which is more than 100 miles short of the estimation! Some owners have even reported real-world ranges as low as 164 miles. Who would buy an $80,000 EV with such little range?
Musk’s first solution was a battery extender.
This was a $16,000, 47 kWh battery that slotted into the truck bed, designed to boost the range to promised levels. Sounds great, right? Well, in reality, it was dead on arrival.
Such a battery pack would weigh around 500 kg and take up more than half the space in the bed. So, it would be a nightmare for people to install, it would take up half the truck’s payload, and it would make carrying any long or square loads impossible. Then there is the challenge of plugging it into the 800V main battery and making that connection safe.
Practically speaking, it wouldn’t solve the issue either way. This only increases the battery size by 38%, taking the real-world range to a maximum of 301 miles, or more realistically, closer to 250 miles.
Meanwhile, for significantly less money than a Cybertruck plus this silly accessory, you could buy a Rivian R1T Dual Motor Max, which has a real-world range of well over 350 miles, while still having use of the entire truck bed, twice the payload of a Cybertruck with the battery in the bed, and overall a much more usable truck.
The battery extender was a terrible idea that didn’t solve the problem. So Tesla killed it earlier this year before it had even been launched.
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