Tesla has confirmed it has given up on plans to make a Cybertruck range extender to achieve the range it originally promised on the electric pickup truck.
It started refunding deposits for the $16,000 extra battery pack.
When Tesla unveiled the production version of the Cybertruck in late 2023, two main disappointments were the price and the range.
The tri-motor version, the most popular in reservation tallies before production, was supposed to have over 500 miles of range and start at $70,000.
Tesla now sells the tri-motor Cybertruck for $100,000 and only has a range of 320 miles.
The dual-motor Cybertruck was supposed to cost $50,000 and have over 300 miles of range. In reality, it starts at $80,000 and has 325 miles of range.
Archive link: https://archive.is/CGbaE
Is it just me, or is musk profiting off of selling people tech before it’s actually ready?
Like, we don’t have the means right now to achieve what he advertises, so he lies about it and then ‘alters the deal’ after taking people’s money.
That’s exactly what he’s been doing with all his businesses. And it works. Tesla is still hugely overvalued as a company.
How about giving up on the Cybertruck
How about giving up
Why implement a new feature for a product nobody is buying?
Why the third motor? One for each of the front wheels and one for the rear?
One runs front wheels, one runs rear wheels and third one powers the mental gymnastics it takes to be a tesla owner in 2025.
LOL
Two in the back, one in the front. There’s also a two and four motor version.
Two in the back, one in the front.
The Shocker
That makes even less sense. Distributing mechanical power on non steering wheels is easy, but for steering wheels requires a more complex and expensive coupling, as well as power losses. Just… why?
I believe the three motor versions is to add extra power under load to the rear wheels. (A weight/power/range compromise between the 4 and 2 motor versions).
The motors are essentially in line with the wheels (they have gearing but it’s minimal and internal to the motor housing, not attached like an automatic transmission would be, if that makes sense.)
The “three motor” design is just the single motor design up front and the dual motor design in the back.
I’m not sure if they ever actually released the single motor version though.
extra power under load to the rear wheels
Lol like there’s enough room back there to add a load.
The load of getting this brick up to speed quickly so the driver can show off
It’s supposed to tow. In theory.
Basically they use the same size motor everywhere, and your total torque and power is dependent on how many you’ve got?
pretty much. I believe all the cars use the same motor except for the plaid versions (or maybe just the S plaid?) that has a different motor that’s designed to hit higher rpm’s
How do you figure dual front motors would alleviate any of what you said a front diff would need? Dual front motors will still be rigidly mounted to the chassis, requiring flexible couplings. The rear is also independent, requiring the same flexible couplings whether it’s a diff or motors. CV axles all around. Non-steer wheels still have vertical travel from the suspension.
You wouldn’t need a front differential, for one. But you’re right, unless they somehow made a directly wheel coupled motor that turned with the wheel, it l still needs CV couplings.
As for rear, they don’t need CV axles. Two simple cross couplings are enough. The speed variability happens significantly when the wheels turn, going up and down is a negligible issue. Cars have been using the much chapter and simple cross couplings in the rear for decades.
The CT has four-wheel steering, so yeah, it’s actually more complicated than a regular truck in that regard. I remember reading something about the mechanisms to make that possible taking up a shitload of room.
Oh yeah, forgot about that. They had to bolt that on to have any chance of having a reasonable turn radius.
How hard can it be to produce a simple battery pack, for a company that is in the business of designing and producing battery packs no less…
Think the end of the article pretty much nails it.
Tesla needed to install and remove it at a service center. Owners couldn’t remove them themselves. I think it was pretty much dead on arrival at $16,000.
But I think it could also be as simple as it’s not worth producing due to demand – both due to insufficient people reserving it and not enough Cybertruck buyers to create a market for the range extender.
Therefore, the range extender is dead for the same reason that the Cybertruck RWD now has the same battery pack as the AWD instead of a smaller pack for less money: the Cybertruck is a commercial flop, and it’s not a high-volume program enough to justify making several battery pack sizes, including a removable one.
I see he took the “Game as a Service” approach but with electric trucks.
Nice.
Ima be honest, I like the design of this thing. I’m big into brutalism and the Delorean is one of my favorite car designs of all time. I was really hoping this would be good, but it has turned out to be one of the worst products in recent history in any category. It’s up there with the humane pin.
It makes me a little bit sad because I will never be able to live out my cyberpunk fantasy of driving an electric truck made out of bare metal manufactured by a technofascist corporation.
I absolutely hated the design and feel bad for anyone who gets into an accident with this monstrosity.
up there with the humane pin.
Funny, or sad, how quickly we collective manage to forget bad grifts.
I hope the N Vision 74 will one day make it onto the streets
hydrogen-powered high performance.
It will literally never make it onto the streets in the US.
Well, they can ditch the Hydrogen part, that technology is done
Hey now, the US has multiple hydrogen stations, assuming you live in a certain area of California.
I’ve got an aluminum foil wrapped turd that I know you’re interested in buying. Ready to ship!
Grifters grifting
The dual motor was originally announced to be US$39,900, not 50,000. It is lies all the way down at Tesla.
The dual motor was originally announced at 50k
Single motor rear-wheel drive with 250 miles of range, 7,500-pound towing capacity, and 0–60 mph capabilities in under 6.5 seconds, for $39,900 Dual motor all-wheel drive with 300 miles of range, 10,000-pound towing capacity, and 0–60 mph in under 4.5 seconds for $49,900I was seriously considering it back then. My wife hated the look and wouldn’t let me even consider it, but as someone who likes Back to the Future and Tron, I didn’t hate the aesthetic, though it took some getting used to. And I want a comfortably large EV (my compact is too small for my old bones) with 500 miles to avoid range anxiety. A 100 mile distance in the middle of a midwestern winter without a charger at the other end is going to require 500 miles of range to get back home due to heating the battery and cabin, and driving at 80mph. And my longest daily commute was 212 miles round trip before someone asks how often I need to drive 100 miles away in the middle of winter.
I wouldn’t say bullet dodged because I was never really close to getting one, but charging three times the price for only 60% range compared to that announcement is fucking insane.
How good was that job for you to be commuting for 2+ hours a day?
I was transitioning from being a lotus notes developer to a java developer and I was moving back home to the Midwest from DC. As that job took a chance on me and allowed both, it was a really good fucking job for the moment. It eventually transitioned to hybrid.
We had planned to move to the area but couldn’t find a place we liked and kept living with my folks until I just said fuck it and we bought a house near them instead and I dealt with the commute. Then Covid hit and I got laid off on my two year anniversary.
Now, my commute is about 70 miles one way 1-2 times per week (and that’s still 3 hours total drive time). That’s a pretty typical drive for me. My kids also live kinda near where I work so even if it weren’t for commuting, I’d still make that drive quite often. As it is, I drive down the night before an office day, spend time with them and stay over night, and then drive back home about 2pm the next day (fucking hate rush hour in Detroit). But I can’t charge at their houses anyway so that doesn’t help.
I drive a PHEV because there isn’t an EV out yet that can get me there and back. Though I finally have a plug at work if I get in early enough.
Now that’s dedication. I’d probably have driven myself into a ditch by the 3rd month of that (but I haaaate driving)
I don’t mind driving as long as I’m not sitting in traffic. Which is why I’m in the Midwest making far less money than I could on either coast. My commute times were just as long near DC with a third of the miles traveled. There was the commuter train but that was just a different kind of stress.
I’m with you, I’ll spend a lot more on a house or accept a lower paying job to avoid commuting.
Where I live is not super uncommon for people to drive an hour into the nearest city. I don’t recommend it, though!
It really makes me envious when I see how much Europeans work: my partner already works more hours on average than the average European, and then his commute is on top of that. Why are we here? Give me mandatory vacation and a job I can bike to ANY DAY.
I hate driving so much, I moved somewhere 15 minutes from work even though I only go in like 3 times a month
$39,900? Not $40,000? Does Elon still think that old “99” trick still works?
“Thanks for all the $16k loans at 0% shmucks. We’ve kept the interest we made while rates have been up and now you can have it back while they’re dropping. Of course, your money is now worth less than it was when you gave it to us during high inflation. Suck it losers. Love, T E S L A”
EDIT: deposit was $150. Still shitty but not the same impact
The deposit for a cyberstuck was $150. The package was valued at $16k.
Being happy about lies being exposed is good, but spreading a false narrative about it is bad.
From the article in this post…
Last month, Electrek reported that Tesla has quietly removed the range extender from the Cybertruck online configurator, where buyers could reserve it with a “$2,000 non-refundable deposit.”
Ah I misread this
It started refunding deposits for the $16,000 extra battery pack.
You are correct. People make mistakes, not everything is “a narrative”.
Enjoy your overpriced truck that under delivers. At least you look COOL™.
I doubt the deposits were for the full cost, right?
If they were for any price, this is still true.
$150.
However, Tesla had devised a solution to bring the range closer to what it originally announced: a separate battery pack that sits in the truck’s bed. Tesla called it a “range extender.” It costs $16,000 and takes up a third of the Cybertruck’s bed.
You cannot make this shit up 😂
Imagine how easy it would be to be if elongated muskrat kept his mouth shut.
Is St Elmo’s Fire made of Li-Ion or Life-Po?
Only the standard range Model Y uses LFP batteries.
Tesla and unfulfilled promises… Only slightly less an iconic duo than Tesla bad news and stock price going up.
Surprised they haven’t given up on Musk
“Tesla confirms it has given up” is the headline I want
The only true PR statement they could release.
$16.000 just to get what you paid for?
Some people sure have a lot of money to spend.
Some people sure have a lot of money to spend.
It’s why everything is so expensive. So these fucks can give musk money.
Not quite.
$16k to get closer to what they promised lol Probably won’t do that much considering the added weight
Tesla now sells the tri-motor Cybertruck for $100,000 and only has a range of 320 miles.
The dual-motor Cybertruck was supposed to cost $50,000 and have over 300 miles of range. In reality, it starts at $80,000 and has 325 miles of range.
So, the cheaper model with two motors (why even) has a larger range than the full price model with three motors™®?
LMAO.
two motors (why even)
To have mechanically independent FWD and RWD, this is actually pretty standard for all AWD BEVs and not just Tesla.
I have 0 knowledge about those things but now I want to know if you can forward and backward at the same time?
No ofc not. RWD and FWD and AWD are all different things and are all used in different vehicles because of the various benefits and trade-offs
Makes sense to me. The cheaper Camry with a 4 cylinder gets better mileage than the more expensive 6 cylinder.
It’s probably more about faster acceleration. With all that battery weight, the dual motor model has to be sluggish.
