10,000+ Miles Driving a Cybertruck – Things learned: range, great sound and full love/hate list after 10k miles

[Alan]

Driving from Denver through the middle of Kansas to saint louis.

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[Crissa]

Driving from Denver through the middle of Kansas to saint louis.

So also downhill, then ^-^

-Crissa

 

[Gigahorse]

When going through Kansa this fall I was getting 25% better range because of the altitude. Have to be carefull when comparing range from different parts of the country.

Elevation is definitely a factor, but that 10,000+ miles; other than the initial 1500ish trip from TX to CA has all been out and backs. Leaving from and returning to one location will negate any elevation changes for that loop. So about 85% of that 10k miles is out/back and the other portion had a lot of elevation gain, but also a lot of decent so a fairly minimal impact on range.

 

[wanders]

I am getting cold feet; I am 11304 far away from my beast order. I hope to get better mileage by then, or I might wait a few years; I am still unhappy about losing the ramp. Unhappy about paying more for the millage they were saying we would get for the 80000.00 truck. I still love the truck, just sad they lost the 2 biggest things I want.

yeah it is somewhat disappointing. however I have faith they're going to improve the CT efficiency with software over time. Elon has already said they're planning to decrease turning radius after more testing.

 

[Modlife]

Thanks for sharing. After owning a few Teslas, and having 86k miles on my 2022 Model 3, I have a few questions… first I’ll tell you where my head is and hopefully you respond.

20% loss a big jump, but 100% likely to be because EPA rating is at 60mph and I didn’t see the largest variable in EV efficiency stated - tire pressure.

On both my last S and new 3P, I saw 18-20% loss at 38psi Vs the 43-45psi that a chalk test determined to be ideal for the contact patch. Have you determined the right pressure or just what the SC or tire shop sets?

Also, with my model 3 until I swapped wheels and tires to shed nearly 22lbs in each corner I lost roughly 16% at 75mph vs. 60-65mph. Now I get EPA range at 75-80 consistently… 86k miles on the 2022 has taught me a lot.

The last question is also valid, but were you consistently driving in the lowest ride setting (and have you observed any camber wear on tires like my S dealt with as a result?)

 

[Woodrick]

EDIT: The battery size is relevant in that charging costs for the Rivian are significantly more, not to mention the higher cost of the available networks (Electrify America and their horrible support for their network).

Sorry battery size is irrelevant to charging costs. That's like saying that if I have a smaller gas tank, the cost per gallon is cheaper.

Sure the total fill-up may be different, but per mile is the same.

 

[Crissa]

Sorry battery size is irrelevant to charging costs. That's like saying that if I have a smaller gas tank, the cost per gallon is cheaper.

Sure the total fill-up may be different, but per mile is the same.

Well, a battery pack is weight you're carrying;

But yes. Per mile would be pretty similar. But if you're choosing something because it went further - without regard to if it was doing it more efficiently...

-Crissa

 

[Ikafz001]

A better question; "How could you have gotten this so wrong?"

But keep it up, maybe you will convince 10 gulliable people who are in line ahead of me to change their mind and I'll get my Cybertruck sooner.

The Cybertruck is MORE than what was promised, with the glaring exception that the 500 mile version is delayed. Those of us who pre-ordered the Dual-Motor don't care. The owner reviews I've seen so far have me stoked!

Can you point to some? I've seen nothing but mixed reviews or YouTube rs gushing about it after spending a day with it. For people who paid hard cash for it and use it as their only car, show me someone who doesn't care abouts it's glaring faults.

 

[Gigahorse]

Can you point to some? I've seen nothing but mixed reviews or YouTube rs gushing about it after spending a day with it. For people who paid hard cash for it and use it as their only car, show me someone who doesn't care abouts it's glaring faults.

There is about 100x the content about CT as there was a month ago, and that should continue to ramp up like crazy. Hoping to see a lot more reviews from "average joes" but a lot of the time they are not going to put those on Youtube for the world to see, but there should be some.

 

[Tinker71]

Great summary. Reading between the lines of other reviews I’ve seen, all of what you said tracks. Shame the range is so low. I was hoping road noise would have been better too. I’ll be eagerly awaiting the full video review. And my VIN assignment ?

Most insightful. Thanks. Does the vault leak in the middle or just at the tracks? So if you elevate duffle bags for example on a pallet, would they get wet?

 

[Gigahorse]

Most insightful. Thanks. Does the vault leak in the middle or just at the tracks? So if you elevate duffle bags for example on a pallet, would they get wet?

All the vault leak videos I have seen it does not appear that the middle gets that wet, just around the edges.
The area that seems to get the most wet is the most forward, or closest to the cab as that area is where the last of the water/snow gets dumped before the cover fully retracts.
So if you wanted to keep something dry my guess would be to raise it up off the floor a little, like using a pallet as suggested, and then secure it in the middle of the vault AND be careful when opening to not stop the cover directly over the item you want to keep semi dry.

Pic of snow falling in vault from WIF video. Rain would have semi same principle and you can see that in the OCL video, basically the part of the vault closest to the cabin, furthest from the tailgate has the most likelihood to get snow or water when being opened.

 

[Jon Snow]

All of the above tells me there is a critical failure warning light flashing at Tesla. I am a long-time Tesla shareholder, owner of three Teslas, huge advocate of the company and all around fan. (I recently and reluctantly cancelled the CT FS because the range would not meet my needs.) But I am calling it: something is deeply broken.

We now have enough data to definitively say that Tesla blew it on the Cybertruck range (not least this post which is consistent with previous data). There is no way - with all of the very public testing done by Tesla - that the engineering team did not know (long ago) that the real-world range would suck. They knew. And Tesla has an incredible engineering and manufacturing team so they could have fixed this. No question. So it seems to me that we can conclude:
1) Range sucks
2) Team knew long before release that range sucks
3) It is a big deal for customers
4) They could have fixed it but didn't

With these facts on the table (I think they are facts at this point) one has to ask why did Tesla get this so wrong? We have seen this before. It is a symptom of an organization where everyone is afraid to tell the emperor that he is not wearing clothes. It is a symptom of a company where bad news is hidden and bad data is reformulated until it fits a pre-ordained internal narrative. If that diagnosis is correct, Tesla is in serious trouble. For all of its accomplishments and incredibly talented staff, it will collapse in on itself unless this gets fixed. I hope it is a wake-up call to the board and the leadership. Warning light flashing IMO.

Range drops at the same proportion as any other BEV .. about 20% when driving fast. I don’t see a problem at all. This generation BEV truck is not suited for towing heavy loads long distances for sure. This isn’t an issue since 75% of truck buyers never, ever tow .. and of the 25% who do tow, 1/2 never tow over 100 miles anyway. This means this generation of BEV trucks will easily meet the needs of 85% of the light truck market.

 

[SentinelOne]

Range drops at the same proportion as any other BEV .. about 20% when driving fast. I don’t see a problem at all. This generation BEV truck is not suited for towing heavy loads long distances for sure. This isn’t an issue since 75% of truck buyers never, ever tow .. and of the 25% who do tow, 1/2 never tow over 100 miles anyway. This means this generation of BEV trucks will easily meet the needs of 85% of the light truck market.

Spoken like someone not in the 15%!

 

[Penguins]

From the Cybertruck lead engineer replying to OP:

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