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Towing tested with 6,000lb Tesla and trailer load

Bsimmer3000

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My use case is 95miles round trip performed biweekly or monthly. This puts me in the “hope the wind is blowing the right direction group”. [insert past quotes of so much tech in CT].

I think the smaller battery rationale does not work for the CT, at least if you have any utilitarian ambitions beyond that of the soccer mom.[inset Elon quote denoting pack size and efficiency equivalence of the typical Tesla sedan to the CT].

Hopefully further testing indicates better results.

Unlike some I have a lot of time before my time comes up, hopefully progress is made. I’m still in love with CT, but practical need will prevail.
That’s my hope too. mines meant to be mid summer to end of year. I’m hoping there will be some significant software updates to fix the charge speeds and stupidly low range issues. Yeah it’s easy for people to say buy another truck because the cyber truck is not for me. Why design a truck that can’t do truck things. This is partially the problem with other brands too. They have focused more on the soccer mums and grocery guys than actual people who use them as they were intended and you have a segment of people who buy them who think the vehicle should only be designed for their use case. No worse than the guys who say the CT can’t tow 14k lb 5th wheels or can’t rock crawl up ice covered slopes so won’t buy it. Even if Tesla threw in the range extender it still wouldn’t work for me as I need use of the bed.
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Woodrick

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If you slow charged on a 220v right before leaving, you could go to 100% and not do much damage. It's more the time at 100% that hurts the battery if I'm not mistaken. So I think 115 miles in the first leg is reasonable provided you're not cross country road tripping.

Luckily in CO, adventure isn't that far away from wherever you are. And I wouldn't be towing a car to adventure either. Maybe a boat. Or little camper
Yes, but ho. It is indeed the time at 100% that impacts the battery. The studies indicate that if the battery is kept at 100% for a year, then it may be a few percent loss.

Hours, days, or even weeks are irrelevant.

Tesla tells you that it okay to charge to 100% when you need it.
 

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Yes, but ho. It is indeed the time at 100% that impacts the battery. The studies indicate that if the battery is kept at 100% for a year, then it may be a few percent loss.

Hours, days, or even weeks are irrelevant.

Tesla tells you that it okay to charge to 100% when you need it.
Right. So 100+ miles on the first leg is totally reasonable.
 

Woodrick

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Come on Cybertruck is in the truck category. It's supposed to do what a truck does.

Stop making excuses for it. You are just making it more wuss.

And before accusing me of being a hater, I'm in a hook for CT-FS.

I maybe in fact in double jeopardy of having a white elepant swimming in red ink of losses in my Tesla stock portfolio.
It's not going to do everything a truck does.

At a minimum, it's not going to spew pollutants and coal all over the place!,
 

mark555055c

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I would be too, dropped the CT for towing as use case as soon as I heard it was only 123kwh.

Might want to put a deposit on the Silverado EV easily 200+ miles towing.

Highly unlikely since it is doubtful that your trailer is more aerodynamic than the Tesla on a car trailer.
Aerodynamics over weight every time.
I read a test where a minivan towed a aerodynamic trailer 2x as heavy & 2x longer than a small but boxy trailer. The double size trailer was 18% more efficient due to aerodynamics.
Funny to see all these accounts that post nothing but FUD have been created in the past 3 months. In any case....

I can't wrap my head around why people think legacy auto makers who couldn't make Tesla competitive EVs to this point, will suddenly surpass Tesla in the pickup truck market at prices that are competitive. Very unlikely.

The hummer EV can do 140 miles while towing, that is with a pack larger than the Silverado(217kwh vs 200kwh), and with no open bed to reduce efficiency.

Maybe during the recent strikes legacy automakers made some revolutionary EV efficiency breakthroughs... ??
 
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Woodrick

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That’s my hope too. mines meant to be mid summer to end of year. I’m hoping there will be some significant software updates to fix the charge speeds and stupidly low range issues. Yeah it’s easy for people to say buy another truck because the cyber truck is not for me. Why design a truck that can’t do truck things. This is partially the problem with other brands too. They have focused more on the soccer mums and grocery guys than actual people who use them as they were intended and you have a segment of people who buy them who think the vehicle should only be designed for their use case. No worse than the guys who say the CT can’t tow 14k lb 5th wheels or can’t rock crawl up ice covered slopes so won’t buy it. Even if Tesla threw in the range extender it still wouldn’t work for me as I need use of the bed.
You aren't going to get many updates that are going to change the towing range. There's a bif aerodynamics problem and that's hard to overcome.
We hopefully get some optimization of 400V charging, but the big ones come with 800V charging. If you look at some of the other cars with 800V batteries, charging rate is the reason why they went there, like the Taycan.
 

dmatthews26

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Using a relatively small 123kWh battery pack is, in my mind, just irresponsible of Tesla, and quite frankly a major design flaw IMO.

just imagine what could have been had the Cyberbeast been given a 246kWh battery like the Hummer EV. Close to 250 miles towing range, with a non-towing freeway range close to 500 miles. Almost seems like that is what Elon was originally thinking in 2019??
 

CyberTruckeeTheOne

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I would be too, dropped the CT for towing as use case as soon as I heard it was only 123kwh.

Might want to put a deposit on the Silverado EV easily 200+ miles towing.

Highly unlikely since it is doubtful that your trailer is more aerodynamic than the Tesla on a car trailer.
Aerodynamics over weight every time.
I read a test where a minivan towed a aerodynamic trailer 2x as heavy & 2x longer than a small but boxy trailer. The double size trailer was 18% more efficient due to aerodynamics.
I already ordered the CT FS.

I think it will work for me.

We drive average 150 miles a day with one stop in between campsites.

I drive at about 55 to 60 per hour for safety. Fish tails happens on my RV that can be unstable on high cross winds above those numbers. Got those close calls at I-80 and I-15.
 
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mhaze

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Here’s where we remind about the paradoxical effects of towing using an aerodynamic vehicle
...
But regardless, if you plan to instead tow a load like like this at 60°, in various mixes of conditions, you might in one of them expect to get something like these test results.
I have knowledge of aerodynamics and over 3000 hours as a pilot. I would caution attempting to apply aero arguments to cars and trucks. First of all all modern vehicles are extensively tested both in wind tunnel and CFD simulations. And the results are not intuitive.

It's largely the swirls and eddies on the surface and behind the object pushing itself into the forward wind that create drag, not the forward profile of the object.

The effect of varying temperature is well understood and can be easily computed, although with electric car one would need to also include the effects of temperature on battery performance.

The basic takeaway from 87 miles towing range is "Don't tow with a 2024 Cybertruck."
 


CybertruckRN1127

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Good thing I will never tow. Still disappointed about the overall range though. It's still limited to where my Model 3 can and can't go. Will probably get range extender v2 (lowered price or longer range than announced).
 
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Gigahorse

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I already ordered the CT FS.

I think it eill work for me.

We drive average 150 miles a day with one stop in between campsites.

I drive at about 55 to 60 per hour for safety. Fish tales and RV can be unstable on high cross winds above those numbers. Got those close calls at I-80 and I-15.
Think you should be ok if you take it nice and slow (50-60range) and have a supercharger somewhere on the 150 mile route. Hopefully it is a pull through charger so you don't have to unhook.
 

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This unacceptable range is bothering me alot. I am expecting delivery in a month and considering eating the $1000 and getting out. That much torque and hp should not result in 87 miles of range.
 
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Gigahorse

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This unacceptable range is bothering me alot. I am expecting delivery in a month and considering eating the $1000 and getting out. That much torque and hp should not result in 87 miles of range.
EVs in general do not tow well, originally was hoping for 250 miles of towing range with the 500+ tri motor, sub 100 is going to be tough but there will be more towing range tests coming out including another one today I believe. Hopefully with better battery chemistry and maybe some software tweaks tesla can make some leaps in towing and overall range in short order.
 
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Aren't these the ones that shorted Tesla?
personally I don't believe in shorting because it carries unlimited risk if the stock goes up. But as a tesla bull since 2016, I am sick of seeing my portfolio go up and down with tesla stock, so I sold 1/2 of my tesla shares and bought some puts so as tesla is dropping, my portfolio stays about the same. Some technical analysts are predicting the stock will drop to 180, so at that point I can sell the puts and buy back in. With byd and the chinese economy, IMO tesla stock is in for a rough year. The only thing that will turn things around IMO is either the M2 or FSD as I have come to the conclusion that the CT will not help the bottom line unless the price and range improve.
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