Range Extender Battery removed from Cybertruck online configurator

[Jethro]

Will be interesting to see what range each configuration gets with Range Extender.

Long Range 362 + extender 500 miles? Will Long Range allow for the upgrade- it better.
All Wheel Drive 325 + extender 444 miles?
Cyberbeast 320 + extender 435 miles?

GREAT POST! I bought the CB just for Cybercampin in Colorado and desert SW. I HATE generators!!

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[CaymanCyr]

Not to beat a dead horse on this, but the Cybertruck marketing was updated today with the new RWD.
And guess what is on the front page.
A CT, pulling a large trailer, on the highway....................with 362mi of range directly under it.
Background looks like the SW so assume 75-80MPH posted speed, that truck in the picture is getting 110miles of range from 100-0% and most people's bladder can last more than 80-100mins before having to charge for 60mins.

Are you with the media? I love the speculation and sarcasm but don't we get enough of this from the mainstream?

 

[Jethro]

This felt like its always been Vaporware to me.. Especially when we found out how much room for Cells still exist in the current battery pack. I believe Sandy Munroe did a teardown of the battery pack and claimed it was only half full.

I thought that conclusion was later debunked, no?

I would consider upgrading the battery pack if it was an option on my existing vehicles.

Is it known how many Ranger Extender orders Tesla has? I think many are interested but didn’t want to commit to $16K AND non-refundable deposit. I DID order one!

Can I return my CB for a full refund??

 

[Jethro]

I didn’t reserve one. A non-refundable deposit without a firm price didn’t sound like a good time.

I reserved one since I thought that Tesla may restrict connections to their CT electrics for aftermarket systems.
I need the range and campsite power for AC, cooking, and electric ATV/UTVs. I am disabled and dont want to have to build a solar farm or set up and maintain a generator.
Plus a Tesla system “could” be charged at a supercharger system quickly and safely.
Potential cancellation of this critical component is very disturbing!
Why doesn’t just outsource this stuff??

 

[Virtualarry]

I reserved one since I thought that Tesla may restrict connections to their CT electrics for aftermarket systems.
I need the range and campsite power for AC, cooking, and electric ATV/UTVs. I am disabled and dont want to have to build a solar farm or set up and maintain a generator.
Plus a Tesla system “could” be charged at a supercharger system quickly and safely.
Potential cancellation of this critical component is very disturbing!
Why doesn’t just outsource this stuff??

My understanding is that it is not canceled.
The cue is significant enough to stop new orders till they can start and ramp production of the accessory for all existing orders. Yes it is no longer in the specs. The last stated spec-range was acceptable but certainly not 500 miles for Beast or Dual Motor. Hopefully when it does come out the stated miles will be more. Speculation that the Long Range rear wheel drive might get 500 with extender as the vehicle comes with 362 mile range. I would gather the accessory to extend range will also be offered for the long range variant.
Foundation series - early deliveries will of course get first installations due to being top of the Cue.

 

[PungoteagueDave]

My understanding is that it is not canceled.
The cue is significant enough to stop new orders till they can start and ramp production of the accessory for all existing orders. Yes it is no longer in the specs. The last stated spec-range was acceptable but certainly not 500 miles for Beast or Dual Motor. Hopefully when it does come out the stated miles will be more. Speculation that the Long Range rear wheel drive might get 500 with extender as the vehicle comes with 362 mile range. I would gather the accessory to extend range will also be offered for the long range variant.
Foundation series - early deliveries will of course get first installations due to being top of the Cue.

Queue? Evidence? There’s no queue for anything CT-related these days, except folks who have them for resale and are finding out the cold hard facts of life.

When I bought my ‘25 CT last month I was strongly advised by the Tesla sales advisor at the Aventura location to uncheck the box (that I had already checked) for the extender because it was vapor. He said the technical issues like cooling made the 2025 availability target quite unlikely, and with the take rate so low, a last engineering priority, maybe even behind the upgrade S and X models rumored to be coming later this year.

 

[Virtualarry]

Queue? Evidence? There’s no queue for anything CT-related these days, except folks who have them for resale and are finding out the cold hard facts of life.

When I bought my ‘25 CT last month I was strongly advised by the Tesla sales advisor at the Aventura location to uncheck the box (that I had already checked) for the extender because it was vapor. He said the technical issues like cooling made the 2025 availability target quite unlikely, and with the take rate so low, a last engineering priority, maybe even behind the upgrade S and X models rumored to be coming later this year.

Cue for range extender. They have been taking range extender pre orders-deposits with configuration for over a year. Thus Tesla has a list-cue for extender orders.
Yes they have taken the option off the web page. No need to keep adding to the cue until they start production of the accessory.
Your evidence will be when they start refunding deposits/officially cancel the product or when they start delivering the accessory this summer to us Foundation Series early owners.

I have owned Tesla vehicles since my February 2013 model s. I can tell you the delivery-sales people should be taken with a grain of salt. Lucky if they know much about the product in front of them.

Regarding Engineering cooling system for the accessory. You don't engineer a major part of a product after it is publicly available for pre order.
Tesla is not Nikola Corporation.

 

[area51]

Cue for range extender. They have been taking range extender pre orders-deposits with configuration for over a year. Thus Tesla has a list-cue for extender orders.
Yes they have taken the option off the web page. No need to keep adding to the cue until they start production of the accessory.
Your evidence will be when they start refunding deposits/officially cancel the product or when they start delivering the accessory this summer to us Foundation Series early owners.

I have owned Tesla vehicles since my February 2013 model s. I can tell you the delivery-sales people should be taken with a grain of salt. Lucky if they know much about the product in front of them.

Yup another example: a Tesla salesperson I spoke to when I had gone in to test drive a CT had no idea about the frunk power setting and was googling it when I told him about it.

 

[cybercricket]

While it's possible that Tesla is trying to do some kind of damage/PR/production nightmare control by removing the Extender from the ordering page, it is a quite puzzling problem nonetheless. From the technical and production standpoints the Extender is a very basic product - some battery cells, some control electronics, some plumbing. Order of magnitude simpler than the truck itself, and it doesn't require development of any new specialized components.

Then some people theorize that battery production is where the constraint is... but we know the CT production is now significantly ahead of the demand. ~2.5 Extenders can be made with the equivalent cells of 1 truck, and there aren't all that many orders for the Extenders anyway. So then really, what's the deal with it ?

 

[scottf200]

From the technical and production standpoints the Extender is a very basic product - some battery cells, some control electronics, some plumbing. Order of magnitude simpler than the truck itself, and it doesn't require development of any new specialized components.

That seems grossly oversimplified because you have to charge, cool, and deal with different degradation (cell voltages) in relationship with the *varying* main battery ages and miles (degradation) from new to old and getting older by the day.

Will a RE, if comes, just be a battery that is not connected at all except thru a DC-to-DC conversion.

How does a BMS deal with cells that don't charge to 4.2v any more and only charge to 4v or 4.1v?

 

[PungoteagueDave]

Cue for range extender. They have been taking range extender pre orders-deposits with configuration for over a year. Thus Tesla has a list-cue for extender orders.
Yes they have taken the option off the web page. No need to keep adding to the cue until they start production of the accessory.
Your evidence will be when they start refunding deposits/officially cancel the product or when they start delivering the accessory this summer to us Foundation Series early owners.

I have owned Tesla vehicles since my February 2013 model s. I can tell you the delivery-sales people should be taken with a grain of salt. Lucky if they know much about the product in front of them.

Regarding Engineering cooling system for the accessory. You don't engineer a major part of a product after it is publicly available for pre order.
Tesla is not Nikola Corporation.

I am aware of the deposit list. The take rate was apparently quite low according to several sources. This may be the reason it is probably going away, along with the dismal overall CT sales pace - so the extender becomes a niche within a niche - plus the technical hurdles are apparently way bigger than anticipated - battery compatibility & leveling issues, among many others. Interesting analysis here by the out-of-spec guys on exactly this topic. They come down on both sides of teh question, but conclude it is a bad idea in any case - worth listening to the details.

You comment here is literally hilarious - you claim to have been around since 2013, yet still say "Regarding Engineering cooling system for the accessory. You don't engineer a major part of a product after it is publicly available for pre order.
Tesla is not Nikola Corporation."

Teh salesperson insistence that I not check the range extender pre-order box (for which I was fully prepared to plop down $2k) was presented as corporate guidance, not the typical Tesla sales advisor being in the dark. It was quite convincing as presaging it being withdrawn soon, which it was in the next week. So evidently both accurate and Tesla avoiding a sales deferral liability.

Almost every product Tesla has ever released hasn't been fully engineered upon initial delivery and has required substantial development and modification for at least the first year, and many have never been solved (see MX front axle shafts, which are on their fourth part number and still fail within 25k miles today - Tesla has thrown in the towel and accrues the warranty cost separately for continual MX axle replacements). And don't even get started with announced software announced that was either never delivered or never met its stated characteristics at order time. It took 15 months for my '13 P85D (my second new Tesla) to get the promised AP, and it was worse than a drunk teenager - and ultimately had to be abandoned because of incompatible hardware updates - Tesla offered me a mea cupla upgrade into my first MX as a result of that unmet promise. Maybe you are joking but it doesn't come through the internet as such?

 

[Virtualarry]

I am aware of the deposit list. The take rate was apparently quite low according to several sources. This may be the reason it is probably going away, along with the dismal overall CT sales pace - so the extender becomes a niche within a niche - plus the technical hurdles are apparently way bigger than anticipated - battery compatibility & leveling issues, among many others. Interesting analysis here by the out-of-spec guys on exactly this topic. They come down on both sides of teh question, but conclude it is a bad idea in any case - worth listening to the details.

You comment here is literally hilarious - you claim to have been around since 2013, yet still say "Regarding Engineering cooling system for the accessory. You don't engineer a major part of a product after it is publicly available for pre order.
Tesla is not Nikola Corporation."

Teh salesperson insistence that I not check the range extender pre-order box (for which I was fully prepared to plop down $2k) was presented as corporate guidance, not the typical Tesla sales advisor being in the dark. It was quite convincing as presaging it being withdrawn soon, which it was in the next week. So evidently both accurate and Tesla avoiding a sales deferral liability.

Almost every product Tesla has ever released hasn't been fully engineered upon initial delivery and has required substantial development and modification for at least the first year, and many have never been solved (see MX front axle shafts, which are on their fourth part number and still fail within 25k miles today - Tesla has thrown in the towel and accrues the warranty cost separately for continual MX axle replacements). And don't even get started with announced software announced that was either never delivered or never met its stated characteristics at order time. It took 15 months for my '13 P85D (my second new Tesla) to get the promised AP, and it was worse than a drunk teenager - and ultimately had to be abandoned because of incompatible hardware updates - Tesla offered me a mea cupla upgrade into my first MX as a result of that unmet promise. Maybe you are joking but it doesn't come through the internet as such?

I am aware of the deposit list. The take rate was apparently quite low according to several sources. This may be the reason it is probably going away, along with the dismal overall CT sales pace - so the extender becomes a niche within a niche - plus the technical hurdles are apparently way bigger than anticipated - battery compatibility & leveling issues, among many others. Interesting analysis here by the out-of-spec guys on exactly this topic. They come down on both sides of teh question, but conclude it is a bad idea in any case - worth listening to the details.

You comment here is literally hilarious - you claim to have been around since 2013, yet still say "Regarding Engineering cooling system for the accessory. You don't engineer a major part of a product after it is publicly available for pre order.
Tesla is not Nikola Corporation."

Teh salesperson insistence that I not check the range extender pre-order box (for which I was fully prepared to plop down $2k) was presented as corporate guidance, not the typical Tesla sales advisor being in the dark. It was quite convincing as presaging it being withdrawn soon, which it was in the next week. So evidently both accurate and Tesla avoiding a sales deferral liability.

Almost every product Tesla has ever released hasn't been fully engineered upon initial delivery and has required substantial development and modification for at least the first year, and many have never been solved (see MX front axle shafts, which are on their fourth part number and still fail within 25k miles today - Tesla has thrown in the towel and accrues the warranty cost separately for continual MX axle replacements). And don't even get started with announced software announced that was either never delivered or never met its stated characteristics at order time. It took 15 months for my '13 P85D (my second new Tesla) to get the promised AP, and it was worse than a drunk teenager - and ultimately had to be abandoned because of incompatible hardware updates - Tesla offered me a mea cupla upgrade into my first MX as a result of that unmet promise. Maybe you are joking but it doesn't come through the internet as such?

once again quite simply…
Wait till we get deposit refund emails.
I would gather if they have made a final decision to cancel we should have an email by end of this year re deposits returned.
Vs
They moved production from early 2025 to mid 2025. Wait for first deliveries this summer.

 

[PungoteagueDave]

once again quite simply…
Wait till we get deposit refund emails.
I would gather if they have made a final decision to cancel we should have an email by end of this year re deposits returned.
Vs
They moved production from early 2025 to mid 2025. Wait for first deliveries this summer.

Once again, watch the out-of-spec video I linked above. Faith in Tesla's commitments and date projections has rarely paid off. I stay in the Tesla fold as a loyal customer because the products are so unbelievably good despite this fact, and some of the issues come from the good side of being so cutting edge and groundbreaking - but they are nonetheless true.

 

[mongo]

That seems grossly oversimplified because you have to charge, cool, and deal with different degradation (cell voltages) in relationship with the *varying* main battery ages and miles (degradation) from new to old and getting older by the day.

Will a RE, if comes, just be a battery that is not connected at all except thru a DC-to-DC conversion.

How does a BMS deal with cells that don't charge to 4.2v any more and only charge to 4v or 4.1v?

Degradation should only impact energy vs voltage, not voltage vs SOC.
BMS issues occur when a cell (or parallel cell group) in the series chain has different leakage or capacity versus the others. If paralleling a 50kWh pack with a 123kWh pack of the same chemistry and series count, the extender only needs to keep its cells in relative balance. The wiring from main pack to extender forces the two to be at the same total voltage.

Pairing a dissimilar chemistry or voltage range extender via DC-DC can work, but requires power handling in proportion to the pack sizes and highest Supercharging rate to maximize usefulness.

 

[Speedr]

I am aware of the deposit list. The take rate was apparently quite low according to several sources. This may be the reason it is probably going away, along with the dismal overall CT sales pace - so the extender becomes a niche within a niche - plus the technical hurdles are apparently way bigger than anticipated - battery compatibility & leveling issues, among many others. Interesting analysis here by the out-of-spec guys on exactly this topic. They come down on both sides of teh question, but conclude it is a bad idea in any case - worth listening to the details.

You comment here is literally hilarious - you claim to have been around since 2013, yet still say "Regarding Engineering cooling system for the accessory. You don't engineer a major part of a product after it is publicly available for pre order.
Tesla is not Nikola Corporation."

Teh salesperson insistence that I not check the range extender pre-order box (for which I was fully prepared to plop down $2k) was presented as corporate guidance, not the typical Tesla sales advisor being in the dark. It was quite convincing as presaging it being withdrawn soon, which it was in the next week. So evidently both accurate and Tesla avoiding a sales deferral liability.

Almost every product Tesla has ever released hasn't been fully engineered upon initial delivery and has required substantial development and modification for at least the first year, and many have never been solved (see MX front axle shafts, which are on their fourth part number and still fail within 25k miles today - Tesla has thrown in the towel and accrues the warranty cost separately for continual MX axle replacements). And don't even get started with announced software announced that was either never delivered or never met its stated characteristics at order time. It took 15 months for my '13 P85D (my second new Tesla) to get the promised AP, and it was worse than a drunk teenager - and ultimately had to be abandoned because of incompatible hardware updates - Tesla offered me a mea cupla upgrade into my first MX as a result of that unmet promise. Maybe you are joking but it doesn't come through the internet as such?

FYI, there are LITERAL connections for the extended battery in the Cybertruck already. Monroe found them when they first tore it down. Now plans can change, but the intention was always there...

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