Range Extender Battery Pack increases range to 470+ miles and costs $16K 🔋

[C3y3ber]

I could do with out the backseat so be nice to slide it back there and have a 2 seater with full bed.

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[Tinker71]

The range extender is freaking awesome. It is like beating physics and chemical limits 90% of the time. The hacking opportunities are endless with a high amp connection directly to the main pack.

For the naysayers wining about not getting 500 miles out of the gate I say Tesla probably had 1000 engineers trying to get to 500 miles of range without replicating the 10000 lb Hummer.

This is the best they came up with.

 

[Broski]

So will a pair of snow skis fit in the bed with the range extender? Is their room on top of it and still close the vault?

 

[Tinker71]

I want to know if this will need to be voltage matched to the main pack. I suspect it will. You will need get the voltages really close and then a BMS will match it exactly with the main pack. Is that BMS function on the CT already or will it be part of the range extender? I started a new thread for hacking this thing before we even know what it really does.

 

[AustroTom]

Wow a lot of upset folks around here, let's try and look on the bright side of things.
A separate pack that is added into the bed to extend range does some very cool things.
Some thoughts.

1 - Shows everyone else how to do it.

If there is a battery extender and presumably some kind of interface to allow the extension, people can study both and figure out how to make their own third party extenders and safely integrate them into the Cybertruck or other Tesla systems, more opportunities for hacking and modding.

2 - The march of progress

As battery technology improves, you could replace your range extender with a new one containing newer cells and upgrade its performance. This is also true of the main battery but replacing the extender should be a lot easier.

3 - Use Case

Anyone who needs this is probably towing, and if you are towing something you are towing more storage space in whatever you are towing than what space you give up in the back of the bed.
And if you are towing something you live in it gives you extra power to your home.

4 - It's not mandatory

It's at least somewhat clear that lack of progress in increasing 4680 energy density is responsible for the less than predicted range from the initial reveal, which is disappointing for many. But this extra module is a bone being thrown to those people who really need that missing range.
"Sorry we goofed up but if you still need this, it's not ideal but here you go."
If you don't want the extra range enough to pay the extra 16,000 or give up the bed space, maybe you didn't really need it in the first place? And you can save some money by not paying for the extra value the extender presents, which if it had fit in the trucks battery pack would have been a mandatory price rise. But the people who do need it can get it and will appreciate it.

5 - This bickering is pointless

Battery capacity is accelerating so fast in the last decade and there are so many corporations, scientists and research institutions paying attention to the space now that it's impossible to think it won't continue to improve at that same pace or faster. In a few years this pack may well be an hilarious relic like those laptop battery extenders of the 90's 00's. I hade one for my Creative Zen Vision W that made it twice as fat. Now 12 years later and a standard phone battery could have made it last 4 times as long in half the size. It's an interim step towards the future. Which is better than nothing.

I'll get one if I can afford it.

great points. And maybe the upside of an extender is that should battery efficiency develop rather quickly it might make it more powerful, cheaper, and smaller therfore giving more options for future extenders

 

[kbolt]

Why is this so humorous? Don't most people who want a truck need it for more serious endeavors like hauling and towing?

No. Most truck owners use their truck for "truck" stuff only once a year.

 

[AustroTom]

No. Most truck owners use their truck for "truck" stuff only once a year.

Statistically? Don't most people who buy a strong truck have a purpose in mind, like for business?
But I get it. After having seen Jason Cammisa's video I have to admit I fell in love again and have to realize that I will have to take a Lambo to the jobsite

 

[Bkb13]

I expect the majority of the use case here is not truck stuff. It’s people who drive longer distances regularly and don’t want to deal with the issues related to smaller range.

 

[firsttruck]

I could do with out the backseat so be nice to slide it back there and have a 2 seater with full bed.

Yes, use the back seat area.
1 or 2 Modular stack-able swappable modules would be great.

 

[CyberTW]

Eleven pages into this thread, I finally see somebody framing one of the most important use-cases for a range extender. Much appreciated! Seems like half this thread is just people expressing disappointment that it could have reason to exist, might cost real money, and take up room. I'd like to encourage anyone who has those concerns to elaborate, specifically on why they need more range and also can't compromise on price or cargo space. Just being disappointed doesn't count, you adult child you .

Towing a camping trailer is a use-case. You plan to do that, or you don't. When you read that the truck you'd hoped to do that with has a 320 mile range, know you'll get a fraction of that while towing, and the whole point of towing is to go camping in comfort far from home, you have to go "oh, well, why bother then". Absent this accessory I'd probably have to say that CT is not for me.

I'm old. I grant that most of the pickup market doesn't look at towing three tons of camping trailer a couple of hundred miles in a day as a priority. I gotta pick a truck that can do that, though, and am grateful that this fix may exist so I can still dump the ICE, and get the most important job I need done, done.

So if an in-bed range extender won't solve your problem, what the heck is your problem? That would actually be interesting. Sharing only that you're just down in the dumps over Elon once-again simply over-promising is a lot less so, IMHO.

If you have a trailer you are towing, add your range extender, now you are dialed. Do you really need that extra 1/3 of the bed, if you have a Trailer?!

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

I think having the range extender firmly divides the use of the Cybertruck into 2 camps, with barriers to switch between them. First, as others have mentioned, I don't think it's a home installation thing. Weight, wiring into the HV lines, and tying into the cooling will limit this to a service center job.

It feels like you'll either be an urban (access to charging) truck user that wants to preserve the 4x6 bed for use, and will never wander far from supercharging for occasional trips, or you want the truck for trail adventures or long distance towing/hauling where fewer charging opportunities exist. There's a little overlap since you can haul a trailer long distances if superchargers exist on the route, and you can still use the bed w/extender installed and have more cargo space than any other Tesla vehicle, but both use cases will come with some inconveniences. I would have loved to have a 400-500 mile do it all truck, but we'll have to wait for better battery technologies. For now, I'll love my truck I can take on family trips with all the family crap, while still being able to haul sheet goods and roughcut lumber for my woodworking hobby, while being quicker than my P90D Model X and preserving the turn radius for suburban driving.

It would be nice/convenient to be able to lump everyone into 2 camps but it just isn't that simple. Think instead about what it would take for people to convert their entire household over to BEVs. Many people hang onto a long-distance capable ICE vehicle so that they 'can' take that family vacation, go hunting/fishing/hiking in the back country, tow the boat to the lake, etc. Some here have even mentioned it. But cutting the ICE cord altogether requires a vehicle that can do it all. If, in the short term, a range extender can support this conversion to all-BEV then it fits both Elon's desire to move away from ICE and toward BEV, but it also frees the population to sell its ICE vehicles.

Personally I want to know a lot more about the range extender (beyond size and price) to seriously consider it. How does it charge, can it be removed from the car (and, if so, how and by whom), can it be used as a power wall when not in the car, can it be charged outside of the car, what battery chemistry will it use, how long does it take to charge it, ...?

 

[BenH]

reserved Aptera 600mi version more than a year ago. no clue when it will come.

 

[SentinelOne]

If you have a trailer you are towing, add your range extender, now you are dialed. Do you really need that extra 1/3 of the bed, if you have a Trailer?!

yes - for dirt bikes/ bikes...or for when I dont have the trailer and need to put dirt bikes in the back, or a big ass tv or.....

Iim good with a range extender if it isn't a perm addition - if it is, you no longer have a truck and that's what I'm concerned about...

 

[Tinker71]

So will a pair of snow skis fit in the bed with the range extender? Is their room on top of it and still close the vault?

Yes

 

[CyberTW]

yes - for dirt bikes/ bikes...or for when I dont have the trailer and need to put dirt bikes in the back, or a big ass tv or.....

Iim good with a range extender if it isn't a perm addition - if it is, you no longer have a truck and that's what I'm concerned about...

I am with you on that. If they can engineer it in a way that it can be added the 2-3 times a year I truly need it.. I doubt this will happen, but…

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