Best Gas Generator for Cybertruck range extender??

[Jethro]

If you're looking for a quieter running quality generator, i'd recommend the Westinghouse 5500. We own several at my dads company. have tried many different brands and none are as well built or better operating. It will charge your truck about 1/2 as fast as a wall charger
on 240v but faster than the mobile charger on 120.

I purchased mine for about $600. Its 6.5G tank that will run about 15 hours. Low oil cut off safety, 120/240 ect

If you need more, they have incremental sizes bigger and smaller

YES, i saw that looking on amazon for 240V Gennys. I saw the 6600 was less than $600 but came in at nearly 150 pounds.

Also saw the GenMax it is 120 pounds, making it less of a challenge for me to get it into the truck by myself.

I also looked at the Honda 2200 WgJenny is that can be run in parallel, but I didn’t see a 240 V option.

I camp at some pretty remote places in the Rockies often for several days. THANKS!

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[Mini2nut]

A quiet and reliable gasoline powered generator is a great way to stay charged up when you are "off the grid" and the battery pack is running low on juice. The secure bed is a great standard feature of the Cybertruck and comes in handy.

$16k for the Tesla brand range extender is crazy. I don't thing they will sell very many units.

 

[ldjessee]

Have you see The Limiting Factors take on the range extender?

I recommend this and his responses.

 

[Gigahorse]

Yep, it might be sacrilege, but I need the range in my camping/off-road vehicle.

I can get the more range than the $16K Tesla “range extender” with a $600 genny and a few gallons AND it weighs 60lbs not 800lbs…much easier to grab when needed.

I’m in the Rocky Mtn. region and most Superchargers are only on the interstate…all the great camping and off-roading are in the outback. PLUS, data is not yet available for CT off-road milage. Steep rock crawling for a few miles has got to consumer lots of power, and minimal regen on the way down.

I can just run a genny overnight to charge up.…now to find the best one. Be great if it could be DC or use 220 for maximum efficiency.

Just look at the map of the Rocky region almost all of the Superchargers are on the Interstate::

Thoughts??

OP is this you?
Looks like someone is keeping a generator and gas in the back of their CT go get the range to get from one SC to another where they are spread out. In the same neck of the woods.

Source Craig Allison fbgroup Cybertruck Owners

 

[Cyber Man]

Yep, it might be sacrilege, but I need the range in my camping/off-road vehicle.

I can get the more range than the $16K Tesla “range extender” with a $600 genny and a few gallons AND it weighs 60lbs not 800lbs…much easier to grab when needed.

I’m in the Rocky Mtn. region and most Superchargers are only on the interstate…all the great camping and off-roading are in the outback. PLUS, data is not yet available for CT off-road milage. Steep rock crawling for a few miles has got to consumer lots of power, and minimal regen on the way down.

I can just run a genny overnight to charge up.…now to find the best one. Be great if it could be DC or use 220 for maximum efficiency.

Just look at the map of the Rocky region almost all of the Superchargers are on the Interstate::

Thoughts??

I hear you. This is why I was seriously considering Ramcharger. Now my plan is to stick to wherever super chargers are and keep voting for more in Tesla website. Generator is not a viable option for me because of the noise and the overhead to maintain it.

 

[anionic1]

A 10 kW generator will use about 1.5 gal of gas per hour and generate about 20 miles of charge. if your not towing. You will get about 10 miles per hour if you are towing. Either way, That should help you figure out how much gas you are going to need.

 

[Gigahorse]

A 10 kW generator will use about 1.5 gal of gas per hour and generate about 20 miles of charge. if your not towing. You will get about 10 miles per hour if you are towing. Either way, That should help you figure out how much gas you are going to need.

So your rough math if you need to charge 100 miles of range using a generator plan on about 8 gallons of gas and 5 hours? Not ideal but I think that charge rate is faster than some charging network standalones.

 

[anionic1]

So your rough math if you need to charge 100 miles of range using a generator plan on about 8 gallons of gas and 5 hours? Not ideal but I think that charge rate is faster than some charging network standalones.

Yes. that is a safe estimate. The Tesla Wall connectors uses max 11kW at 48 amps. Tesla claims that will add 44 miles per hour, but we all know the real world range is much less than what Telsa uses. Generators are fairly inefficient. Less efficient than a ICE car. That 20 mi of range per hour with a 10kW generator is probably realistic. That assumes the CT is getting about 500W/mi which seems to be average from the data coming in in winter. A 10kW generator is pretty big. People seem to think somehow magically they will plug their Teslas into a 2500 watt generator while camping and pour a cup of gas in and somehow get a full charge by the morning. At 2500W you're going to get 5 miles of charge per hour with a small generator. And it will use around .4 gal per hour. So you want to get 100 miles of charge it will need to run for about 20 hours and about 8 gallons of gas.

 

[anionic1]

So your rough math if you need to charge 100 miles of range using a generator plan on about 8 gallons of gas and 5 hours? Not ideal but I think that charge rate is faster than some charging network standalones.

I think, if priced right, the RamCharger is going to be a very popular vehicle. They are trying to say it isnt, but it really is a very powerful hybrid truck. They are saying that its not technically a hybrid because the V6 engine only ever runs as a generator and never directly powers the wheels like most hybrids. So essentially you are always carrying around a huge 130kW V6 generator. That would charge the CT battery in an hour. And the 92 kWh battery even at a very innefficient 650W/Mile that would still get 140 ish miles of range before the generator kicked on. So for many the ev range will do most of their driving but for longer hauls that generator will kick in and basically give you 600 miles plus in range and you can just fill up with gas and never worry about down time charging because the generator has a mode to keep charging the battery and to run the EV motors at the same time. But, i bet that truck with those specs starts around $100k. They will probably offer one with a smaller battery or smaller generator. Either way, I think a lot of people are looking around at these low range EV trucks and getting turned off. Many people get trucks for hauling long distances. That RamCharger may fill a really nice niche if priced accordingly.

 

[Gigahorse]

I think, if priced right, the RamCharger is going to be a very popular vehicle. They are trying to say it isnt, but it really is a very powerful hybrid truck. They are saying that its not technically a hybrid because the V6 engine only ever runs as a generator and never directly powers the wheels like most hybrids. So essentially you are always carrying around a huge 130kW V6 generator. That would charge the CT battery in an hour. And the 92 kWh battery even at a very innefficient 650W/Mile that would still get 140 ish miles of range before the generator kicked on. So for many the ev range will do most of their driving but for longer hauls that generator will kick in and basically give you 600 miles plus in range and you can just fill up with gas and never worry about down time charging because the generator has a mode to keep charging the battery and to run the EV motors at the same time. But, i bet that truck with those specs starts around $100k. They will probably offer one with a smaller battery or smaller generator. Either way, I think a lot of people are looking around at these low range EV trucks and getting turned off. Many people get trucks for hauling long distances. That RamCharger may fill a really nice niche if priced accordingly.

Yea I looked at those when the rugpull range on the CT was announced, just SO many more things to break in those hybrids it seems. Seems that for the price of the hybrids why not just go ICE. The other option is a BIG battery pack like the Silverado will have. My guess is once the Instagrammers get their Cybertrucks that Tesla will offer one with a 150kwh battery that will get a real world 350+ miles and 175 towing which is far from 500 but doable for most truck people.

 

[Woodrick]

Yes. that is a safe estimate. The Tesla Wall connectors uses max 11kW at 48 amps. Tesla claims that will add 44 miles per hour, but we all know the real world range is much less than what Telsa uses. Generators are fairly inefficient. Less efficient than a ICE car. That 20 mi of range per hour with a 10kW generator is probably realistic. That assumes the CT is getting about 500W/mi which seems to be average from the data coming in in winter. A 10kW generator is pretty big. People seem to think somehow magically they will plug their Teslas into a 2500 watt generator while camping and pour a cup of gas in and somehow get a full charge by the morning. At 2500W you're going to get 5 miles of charge per hour with a small generator. And it will use around .4 gal per hour. So you want to get 100 miles of charge it will need to run for about 20 hours and about 8 gallons of gas.

I believe that the 44 mph is for the cars, the Cybertruck seems to be using about 30% more energy, so that's more like 30 mph.

There have been a bunch of posts over the years of people coming up with generator ideas for the vehicles, but most seem to finally realize that it just isn't needed.

When you look at the map that @Jethro posted, charging options look slim. But let's look at Plugshare, slightly more options. @Jethro 's map had 12 Superchargers. This one has over 50 charging locations.
And I suspect that there are a number of camprgrounds that you could use as well.

 

[Spacenoddle]

I believe that the 44 mph is for the cars, the Cybertruck seems to be using about 30% more energy, so that's more like 30 mph.

There have been a bunch of posts over the years of people coming up with generator ideas for the vehicles, but most seem to finally realize that it just isn't needed.

When you look at the map that @Jethro posted, charging options look slim. But let's look at Plugshare, slightly more options. @Jethro 's map had 12 Superchargers. This one has over 50 charging locations.
And I suspect that there are a number of camprgrounds that you could use as well.

If for long distance towing, the generator is not needed but if you go for boondocking, the generator is really handy not just for the range extension but for camping itself. You can run the generator charging your CT while drawing from your CT to supply your RV. when you ready to sleep, you can turn off the generator for a quite night knowing your CT is having more juice than you just arrived a few hours prior.

 

[Woodrick]

If for long distance towing, the generator is not needed but if you go for boondocking, the generator is really handy not just for the range extension but for camping itself. You can run the generator charging your CT while drawing from your CT to supply your RV. when you ready to sleep, you can turn off the generator for a quite night knowing your CT is having more juice than you just arrived a few hours prior.

I just saw what I believe is the Cybertruck charge rate and it's 18 mph 240V@32A, the max of the mobile connector.
So yes, run the generator during the day, filling it a number of times with Jerry cans and you can indeed get the Cybertruck charged back up in 18 hours and maybe 25 gallons of gas.
The Hinda 10kW generator is only 400 lbs. And running a generator at 100% capacity for long times isn't the best idea.

So go smaller. 120V@15A will add 3 mph. A 3,000 watt generator would be suited for that. You can get about 50 miles added during the day. You'd be charged in a week.

I'm not saying that carrying a generator is a bad thing. I'm just trying to make sure that everyone understands the reality of how much power is needed.

 

[HaulingAss]

I can get the more range than the $16K Tesla “range extender” with a $600 genny and a few gallons AND it weighs 60lbs not 800lbs…much easier to grab when needed.

I’m in the Rocky Mtn. region and most Superchargers are only on the interstate…all the great camping and off-roading are in the outback. PLUS, data is not yet available for CT off-road milage. Steep rock crawling for a few miles has got to consumer lots of power, and minimal regen on the way down.

I'm trying to understand the use case you envision:

You want to use a Cybertruck to do multi-day trips of steep rock crawling in remote areas with a gasoline generator in the bed and a bunch of jerry cans of gasoline well-secured in the bed so you can stay out there for extended periods? Even empty, the Cybertruck is not well-suited to steep rock-crawling, that's not what it was designed for.

Why not just buy a gas powered rig more suited to steep rock crawling and extended back-country travel (like a Jeep or a Landcruiser) and some jerry cans with extra gas bolted on the back and a funnel that fits your truck? I mean, this should be obvious.

There is no way I would want to camp anywhere near my truck listening to a generator all night, humming away in the background. Half the reason going to such remote areas is so special is you're in the wildeness, with no background noise. I could hear a generator from a mile away if it was that remote. And when I got home I would have to service the generator and fill my empty jerry cans, they live hard lives and are pretty crude technology. It's not going to save you money over using an ICE vehicle, nor will it have a lower total carbon footprint, so what's the point? Just do it the way people have been doing it since there were Jeeps. This is not what the Cybertruck was designed for (it's a very small market relative to the overall pickup market).

I don't use an elephant gun to hunt squirrels either.

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