Battery Options

[RoadbossTX]

I have a reservation for the dual motor CT, but would like to upgrade to the +500 mile battery. Has there been any discussion regarding battery upgrade options?

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[Ogre]

There will be no "Battery Upgrade" options. The 500 mile range "upgrade" is part of the tri-motor trim.

When it comes to trim levels, Tesla is very much KISS. The options will be things like wheels, solar (if we're lucky), and other fairly basic add-ons.

Tesla's mantra is to do a few things very well. It's going to be a long time before you see a bunch of trims with huge option trees.

 

[Crissa]

The majority of the cost difference between the tri-motor and the dual is the battery pack.

So why piecemeal the price and make the assembly more complex?

-Crissa

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

For those who are new to Tesla, they are great and you won’t be anything but jazzed every day you drive one. But as others have mentioned they don’t play games with options. They usually have a few trims, such as front wheel drive, all wheel drive, and performance. Like the CT they are mostly differentiated by what motors and batteries they have, and sometimes suspension. Options are few: paint color (not for CT), seat color, wheels, roof rack (not for CT), trailer hitch (maybe not for CT). The CT may have some new options but we haven’t heard them yet. Perhaps a solar tonneau will be one. Then there are some add insult that have been teased: a camper, the cyberquad, a roof rack. We will see when the time comes.

 

[ajdelange]

I have a reservation for the dual motor CT, but would like to upgrade to the +500 mile battery. Has there been any discussion regarding battery upgrade options?

You might be able to change your order from AWD to Tri and it might not even change your place in the queue (I'm sure there is tons of discussion on this here) but you can't call them up and say "Hey, go ahead and put the big battery in my AWD".

 

[Mini2nut]

Yes, I think the option list for the Cybertruck will be short. Wheels, seat color, FSD, solar panel, etc. Tesla does this to help simplify the assembly process.

I believe the Tri Motor will have stacked battery packs to give it that amazing 500 mile range. This version is going to be the heaviest as well. The Electrek website speculated that the Tri will use two 125 kWH battery packs, produce 800 HP and weigh in around 8300 lbs. For comparison a Ford F250 diesel weighs in around 6500 lbs.

 

[ajdelange]

I believe the Tri Motor will have stacked battery packs to give it that amazing 500 mile range. This version is going to be the heaviest as well. The Electrek website speculated that the Tri will use two 125 kWH battery packs, produce 800 HP and weigh in around 8300 lbs. For comparison a Ford F250 diesel weighs in around 6500 lbs.

I don't think it's going to be that big. 250kWh implies EPA consumption of 500 Wh/mi and I don't think it's going to be that bad. Also 8300 lbs implies 1250 HP needed to do 0 - 60 in 2.9 sec. I'm guessing more like 225 kWh for the battery (not that much less) and 5500 lbs.

 

[Ogre]

At the launch event, in the very first paragraph of his speech Musk says it will weigh no more than the F150.

So the functionality I’m going to describe is within a space that is less than the most popular pickup truck in the United States, the F150. So we didn’t cheat in either width, height, or length, and we’re able to achieve much greater capability in the same dimensions, same weight.

The heaviest F150 is 5,700 pounds so that sets at least the target max weight for the Cybertruck.

 

[Throwcomputer]

At the launch event, in the very first paragraph of his speech Musk says it will weigh no more than the F150.



The heaviest F150 is 5,700 pounds so that sets at least the target max weight for the Cybertruck.

I find this incredibly hard to believe.

Telsa sedans are like 20-40% heavier than the avg ICE sedan weight.

Tesla Model X curb weight is 5,185 to 5,648 lbs.

Cybertruck made from SS, twice the size and much larger battery pack.. this thing will weight 20-40% more than an F150.

This brings me around to a hidden problem I have been considering regarding the eventual shift to the current proposed Tax credit cap of 50% of the market being EV vehicles. Aside from the extreme added strain on the already strained power grid, there is another potential problem from this wider adoption of EV vehicles on the road... greatly increased vehicle weight on the aging bridge network. If all EV vehicles including Semi's are 20-40% heavier curb weight on avg.. when we get to 50%+ EV's on the road.. you start to approach the designed safety limit of bridges when they were new.. nevermind when they are 50+yrs old and crumbling.

 

[carpedatum]

Slate chose to dwell on the weight issue a bit when the F150 Lightning was announced:

https://slate.com/business/2021/05/ford-f150-lightning-electric-weight.html

(so technically I suppose the CT would still be lighter than an F150 if it weighed less than 6500 lbs)

I suspect higher-nickel battery chemistry and the fact that the stainless steel is an exoskeleton will probably help CT keep its weight down. Sure, it still won't be making any hummingbirds jealous. However if the problem we have due to electrification is that roads wear a bit faster, I suppose that's a better problem to have than more of said roads being underwater from global warming.

 

[Ogre]

I find this incredibly hard to believe.

I'm just quoting Musk here. That said, I don't think it's that implausible.

Tesla sedans to date use the 2170 cells and a non-structural battery pack which adds a significant weight penalty to the cars. The structural battery packs are supposed to be a lot lighter at any given battery capacity.

The SS exoskeleton was created to save weight by merging the functionality of the skin and the frame into one element.

I don't think we'll know how well all of this works until the truck ships and it's in the hands of testers. Once the Model Y with the structural battery gets out the door we'll see at least the impact of the structural battery has on weight.

 

[Ogre]

greatly increased vehicle weight on the aging bridge network

This ship has kind-of sailed. Vehicles are already much much heavier and traffic is much heavier than when these bridges were built in the 60s. The rise of SUVs and pickups as the most popular vehicles in the country has seriously beefed out vehicle size over the past 20 years.

It wouldn't hurt my feelings in the least if vehicle weight and mileage was a component of vehicle registration cost.

 

[Throwcomputer]

The SS exoskeleton was created to save weight by merging the functionality of the skin and the frame into one element.

I don't think this exoskeleton is as initially announced anymore. Given the 8k gigapress is for cybertruck rear castings, the exoskeleton isn't exactly an exoskeleton anymore, but a hybrid between an exoskeleton and body on frame. So the weight savings isn't entirely as awesome as initially announced.

https://insideevs.com/news/487355/tesla-cybertrucks-structure-unique-sandy-munro/


Also...

This ship has kind-of sailed. Vehicles are already much much heavier and traffic is much heavier than when these bridges were built in the 60s. The rise of SUVs and pickups as the most popular vehicles in the country has seriously beefed out vehicle size over the past 20 years.

Your point also proves the problem will be worse... It would be one thing if everyone was driving sedans that suddenly rose 20-40% in overall weight. Its exponentially more of a problem when everyone drives SUV's and pickups that are already 20-40% heavier than sedans.. which themselves will have become 20-40% heavier as EV versions... and all Semi's are 20-40% heavier. You can see the weight problem gets worse with our preferences for absurdly large vehicles.

Hopefully newer battery packs will be lighter, but as is, they are not. Its a problem the industry needs to work on. Its also a problem the country needs to work on... revamping infrastructure for modern vehicles. I don't have specific figures, but I imagine the structural engineers of 70 yrs ago had drastically different calculated safety margins based on much lower traffic patterns and not nearly as heavy vehicles.

 

[Ogre]

I don't think this exoskeleton is as initially announced anymore. Given the 8k gigapress is for cybertruck rear castings, the exoskeleton isn't exactly an exoskeleton anymore, but a hybrid between an exoskeleton and body on frame. So the weight savings isn't entirely as awesome as initially announced.

https://insideevs.com/news/487355/tesla-cybertrucks-structure-unique-sandy-munro/

The Cybertruck was designed around the 4680 and the structural battery, it has always required a battery pack, a front assembly (casting), and a rear casting. The only thing which has shifted is the perception people outside of Tesla have of the design. It's possible Musk's comment about weight was a slip of the tongue, but I find it unlikely there was a multi-thousand pound weight change since the initial launch.

Regardless, this is one of those things which is impossible to settle until the vehicle ships.

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