Took my Cybertruck on Sedona's Outlaw Trail for Offroading and Camping -- Photos & Lessons Learned

[Cybergirl]

It's classified "Moderate", but for a newbie off-roader like me it felt worse. The 11.2 mile loop included some steep rocky sections that put me to the test. The recent rains left muddy water filled holes all along the trail. Almost every vehicle on the trail was a UTV (Razors). Needless to say, my presence created a lot of interest (all positive).

I was very pleased with how the Cybertruck handled the trail. I had it in "Off Road" mode and "Very High" to clear the wicked rocky sections. I left the front and rear plastic air deflectors on, and they suffered no damage. It's not the kind of off-roading I expect to do a lot of, but I wanted to see what the Cybertruck was capable of. I don't plan to drive "Difficult" trails, but I think the Cybertruck would traverse them fine with locking differentials.

I blocked the opening a the base of the tailgate where road dust entered the vault on my Swansea trip the week before. There was no dust in the vault after driving 6 miles on the dusty F.S. road 525 at 30 mph.

We camped the first night in the Dead Horse Ranch State Park in Cottonwood, and the second night in the dispersed camping sites along F.S. 525. The area is hardly an 'out of the way' place, though. Sedona is a very popular destination for tourists.

Lessons learned on this trip:

1) Don't depend on charging at campgrounds from their electric 50/30/20 Amp pedestals. I arrived at Dead Horse with 9% battery. I connected to the campsite's 240V 14-50 outlet. The blinking green light on the NACS plug indicated that charging had begun, but the CT's display showed that only 6A (1400W) was being delivered, the same as from the 120V outlet. The park staff there had no explanation. I drove 42 miles round trip to Oak Creek to Supercharge to 60% (74 kW) to have enough battery to get through the night and to continue the trip the next day.

BTW, it turns out that the problem was not the campground network, but the Cybertruck itself. Although the CT appeared to be charging normally (green LED blinking on the NACS plug), current was not making its way into the battery (stuck relay?). The problem is intermittent. When I got home and tried to Level 2 charge with the mobile connector, it failed the same way, but the next day everything worked normally. Tesla recommended monitoring the situation and informing them of any similar failures that occur.

2) With 2 people sleeping in the vault, CO2 builds up to an unhealthy level. Just opening the tonneau cover a couple of inches gave plenty of ventilation to overcome that problem. If the rear window could be opened (it can't), I think that would also provide sufficient air exchange.
3) Charging the battery on back country, off road trips is a challenge, especially out west. I'll need multiple means of charging beyond widely dispersed Tesla Superchargers. Campground 50A electric sites are great when they work while charging from a 120V outlet at a campground is painfully slow at 1400W. My propane generator will top out at 3700W, but there's the issue of noise that limits when it can be run. Solar is quiet, but also slow and dependent on ample sunshine.

4) The efficiency and range of the CT is quite good. The round trip totalled 605 miles with an overall efficiency of 440 Wh/mi. The change in elevation was approximately 7000 feet. I limited my driving to 70 - 75 mph on the interstate. Driving temperatures ranged from 50 to 84 degrees F.

5) My Supercharging expenses totalled $81.06 for 193 kWh or $0.14/mi. I spent 2.5 hours Supercharging at an average charging speed of 77 kW.
6) Using an electric blanket to keep warm at night works great. I highly recommend this one.

7) Off roading is hard on a vehicle. Although the stainless steel exterior is impervious to trail damage, it's not true of the plastic wheel flares, mirrors, bumpers, etc. They scratch very easily, and there's no way to remedy the damage except to replaced the parts.

8) Prepare for a good cleaning of your truck after an off road trip like this one. I stopped at a car wash to get the thick mud removed from the wheels, wheel wells, bumpers, and underside using a power washer, but I spend a couple of hours at home getting the truck completely clean.

9) If you don't like people coming up to you asking questions and wanting to take pictures of your truck, you might want to consider buying a Rivian. I don't mind for the most part. It's an opportunity to correct all the misconceptions people have about electric vehicles, and particularly Tesla EVs. There are times, however, when you wish people would just stay away.

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[FutureTruck]

This kind of adventure is what many people dreamt about when buying the Cybertruck. Your report is informing and appreciate the honesty on the good and the bad.
Oh if Tesla had only put a 180kwh battery in this vehicle it would be so much better and alleviate so many issues.

 

[HyperReality]

What type of solar equipment did you bring? I see what looks like starlink on the top. This looks intriguing, like as many amenities as possible. Did you mainly bring the solar for powering other things? Or as an emergency backup?

 

[Cybergirl]

What type of solar equipment did you bring? I see what looks like starlink on the top. This looks intriguing, like as many amenities as possible. Did you mainly bring the solar for powering other things? Or as an emergency backup?

No solar. Some have suggested using a 1000W solar panel and solar generator as a supplemental energy source. It might make sense if you're camping for longer periods in sunny climes. I use Starlink to have internet/phone connectivity when cellular service is absent.

 

[HyperReality]

No solar. Some have suggested using a 1000W solar panel and solar generator as a supplemental energy source. It might make sense if you're camping for longer periods in sunny climes. I use Starlink to have internet/phone connectivity when cellular service is absent.

Yeah I understand it's slow and best used over longer trip time. Was thinking you maybe used a solar kit that some people put on RVs. I've been looking at a setup similar to this video here, because it uses extremely light components.

Also comes to mind that something could be created to attach them via the roof rack mounting arrays the CT has. Perhaps also having sliding and the ability to collapse the panels when not in use.

Even if the CT only trickle charges a few miles here or there each day... It does add up. I think if something turn key could be created then people would realize how underrated that is. But perhaps just putting the equipment in the bed, if it's light enough, shouldn't take too much time to set up while camping or parking the CT for a while.

 

[MorseCode]

Just FYI, the best solar panels now are about 22.8% efficient. The energy from the sun that makes it to earth is around 1000 W/m^2. That puts the best solar panels at about 228 W/m^2. The average panel size is around 1.6 m^2 making the best solar panels capable of producing around 365 W for a single side. If you brought 9 panels around with you and placed them at the correct angle in the sun all day you would realistically make about 21 kWh per day. At 440Wh/mile that would get you about 47 miles per day of range for a stack of solar cells that would realistically take up the entire bed of the truck between the panels, basic stands, cables, and an inverter required to deliver power to the truck.

 

[Cybergirl]

Just FYI, the best solar panels now are about 22.8% efficient. The energy from the sun that makes it to earth is around 1000 W/m^2. That puts the best solar panels at about 228 W/m^2. The average panel size is around 1.6 m^2 making the best solar panels capable of producing around 365 W for a single side. If you brought 9 panels around with you and placed them at the correct angle in the sun all day you would realistically make about 21 kWh per day. At 440Wh/mile that would get you about 47 miles per day of range for a stack of solar cells that would realistically take up the entire bed of the truck between the panels, basic stands, cables, and an inverter required to deliver power to the truck.

That's my concern. A 3700W propane generator and 30 lb propane tank will produce 30 kWh of battery energy in 8 hours, day or night, for 60+ miles of range. The 100 lb generator and 50 lb propane tank takes up 4 of 26 sq ft of bed space.

 

[Crissa]

That's my concern. A 3700W propane generator and 30 lb propane tank will produce 30 kWh of battery energy in 8 hours, day or night, for 60+ miles of range. The 100 lb generator and 50 lb propane tank takes up 4 of 26 sq ft of bed space.

And how much space vertically? And can do this without impacting your sleep or without being coddled?

They're just different ways of doing things.

-Crissa

 

[happy intruder]

It's classified "Moderate", but for a newbie off-roader like me it felt worse. The 11.2 mile loop included some steep rocky sections that put me to the test. The recent rains left muddy water filled holes all along the trail. Almost every vehicle on the trail was a UTV (Razors). Needless to say, my presence created a lot of interest (all positive).

I was very pleased with how the Cybertruck handled the trail. I had it in "Off Road" mode and "Very High" to clear the wicked rocky sections. I left the front and rear plastic air deflectors on, and they suffered no damage. It's not the kind of off-roading I expect to do a lot of, but I wanted to see what the Cybertruck was capable of. I don't plan to drive "Difficult" trails, but I think the Cybertruck would traverse them fine with locking differentials.

I blocked the opening a the base of the tailgate where road dust entered the vault on my Swansea trip the week before. There was no dust in the vault after driving 6 miles on the dusty F.S. road 525 at 30 mph.

We camped the first night in the Dead Horse Ranch State Park in Cottonwood, and the second night in the dispersed camping sites along F.S. 525. The area is hardly an 'out of the way' place, though. Sedona is a very popular destination for tourists.

Lessons learned on this trip:

1) Don't depend on charging at campgrounds from their electric 50/30/20 Amp pedestals. I arrived at Dead Horse with 9% battery. I connected to the campsite's 240V 14-50 outlet. The blinking green light on the NACS plug indicated that charging had begun, but the CT's display showed that only 6A (1400W) was being delivered, the same as from the 120V outlet. The park staff there had no explanation. I drove 42 miles round trip to Oak Creek to Supercharge to 60% (74 kW) to have enough battery to get through the night and to continue the trip the next day.

BTW, it turns out that the problem was not the campground network, but the Cybertruck itself. Although the CT appeared to be charging normally (green LED blinking on the NACS plug), current was not making its way into the battery (stuck relay?). The problem is intermittent. When I got home and tried to Level 2 charge with the mobile connector, it failed the same way, but the next day everything worked normally. Tesla recommended monitoring the situation and informing them of any similar failures that occur.

2) With 2 people sleeping in the vault, CO2 builds up to an unhealthy level. Just opening the tonneau cover a couple of inches gave plenty of ventilation to overcome that problem. If the rear window could be opened (it can't), I think that would also provide sufficient air exchange.
3) Charging the battery on back country, off road trips is a challenge, especially out west. I'll need multiple means of charging beyond widely dispersed Tesla Superchargers. Campground 50A electric sites are great when they work while charging from a 120V outlet at a campground is painfully slow at 1400W. My propane generator will top out at 3700W, but there's the issue of noise that limits when it can be run. Solar is quiet, but also slow and dependent on ample sunshine.

4) The efficiency and range of the CT is quite good. The round trip totalled 605 miles with an overall efficiency of 440 Wh/mi. The change in elevation was approximately 7000 feet. I limited my driving to 70 - 75 mph on the interstate. Driving temperatures ranged from 50 to 84 degrees F.

5) My Supercharging expenses totalled $81.06 for 193 kWh or $0.14/mi. I spent 2.5 hours Supercharging at an average charging speed of 77 kW.
6) Using an electric blanket to keep warm at night works great. I highly recommend this one.

7) Off roading is hard on a vehicle. Although the stainless steel exterior is impervious to trail damage, it's not true of the plastic wheel flares, mirrors, bumpers, etc. They scratch very easily, and there's no way to remedy the damage except to replaced the parts.

8) Prepare for a good cleaning of your truck after an off road trip like this one. I stopped at a car wash to get the thick mud removed from the wheels, wheel wells, bumpers, and underside using a power washer, but I spend a couple of hours at home getting the truck completely clean.

9) If you don't like people coming up to you asking questions and wanting to take pictures of your truck, you might want to consider buying a Rivian. I don't mind for the most part. It's an opportunity to correct all the misconceptions people have about electric vehicles, and particularly Tesla EVs. There are times, however, when you wish people would just stay away.

why didn't you use the camp mode to keep air clean......

 

[Speedr]

@Cybergirl, can you show how you " blocked the opening a the base of the tailgate where road dust entered the vault"?

 

[scottf200]

2) With 2 people sleeping in the vault, CO2 builds up to an unhealthy level. Just opening the tonneau cover a couple of inches gave plenty of ventilation to overcome that problem. If the rear window could be opened (it can't), I think that would also provide sufficient air exchange.

why didn't you use the camp mode to keep air clean......

@happy intruder , you question is confusing because there is no cabin airflow from the cab to the tonneau covered area as she indicated (and have been discussed in a lot of threads).

I've used camp mode in my TMX several times when sleeping in the back.

 

[jditom]

This kind of adventure is what many people dreamt about when buying the Cybertruck. Your report is informing and appreciate the honesty on the good and the bad.
Oh if Tesla had only put a 180kwh battery in this vehicle it would be so much better and alleviate so many issues.

That is what the range extender is for although it will ruin your sleeping area. Only a few, like less than 10% need a battery that size.

 

[scottf200]

Fantastic effort and write up. Well done on all accounts of enjoying your CT and sharing information!

6) Using an electric blanket to keep warm at night works great. I highly recommend this one.

That is a really cool and versatile blanket.

 

[Cybergirl]

And how much space vertically? And can do this without impacting your sleep or without being coddled?

They're just different ways of doing things.

-Crissa

I understand the drawbacks, Crissa. There will be situations in which running a generator is not possible. I will avoid running it overnight in consideration of others and my own sensibilities. I can see having a solar solution at hand, as well, for those situation where it makes the most sense.

 

[Cybergirl]

why didn't you use the camp mode to keep air clean......

I don't understand what you mean. Camp Mode controls cabin temperature. We slept in the vault.

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