CT being pulled, regen setup?

[Kryptek]

How do you set it up when being pulled by a buddy so that you can transfer the energy from the wheels to the battery?

I know it wont charge in Neutral gear, so do you put into drive and just get pulled, that easy?

or are there some settings to adjust?

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[yohst]

You don’t; https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/cybertruck/en_us/GUID-17ABBF87-8EB4-4FFC-8D79-B9FF53F7916D.html

 

[Kryptek]

I’ve seen a video last year around this time of year they pulled the cyber for 1 mile and gained 10 miles of charge distance

 

[Dmayo305]

The manual is very clear not to tow with any wheels on the ground.

 

[Cybertruck 1974]

Yes, put it on drive, someone has to be in front seat obviously and pull. It really does regen. But not at 10 miles per 1/10th. My truck gained in 5 miles 1 mile. Also didn't lose anything in the 5 miles. Was on hwy 108, California. Towed by a Dodge...I'm sure some idiot posted it on some platform. Yes, ran out of juice. Anyone see the post on TikTok of a CT being used working at a gas station in Santa Cruz?

 

[webspeedracer]

The manual is very clear not to tow with any wheels on the ground.

OP isn’t asking about transporting the truck (eg towing company), OP is asking if they can recoup some level of charge I the battery by being towed. @Cybertruck 1974 said he’s done it successfully, and many non-CT Tesla owners have done this over the years in emergencies.
Example would be you’re out on a long camping trip at a cabin that you *thought* would have electricity to trickle charge, but power wasn’t working so you don’t have enough to get home, but you have other friends with their trucks to help out.

You would old-school use a tow strap (best-practices to avoid killing someone with flying tow hooks), get in CT drivers seat and activate D as you would normally to drive, and have the other vehicle drag you down the road for miles with no throttle applied, thus max regen applied to the battery. It’s the same as descending out of the Rockies or Sierras on a long mountain pass, won’t hurt the truck so long as you don’t crash into your buddy or get someone caught up in the tow strap. Use at your own risk, YMMV.

 

[REM]

The onboard computer will capture the event if you attempt to do it, and give them a justified reason to deny your warranty.

Absolutely do not do this to your truck.

 

[Black306]

You would old-school use a tow strap (best-practices to avoid killing someone with flying tow hooks), get in CT drivers seat and activate D as you would normally to drive, and have the other vehicle drag you down the road for miles with no throttle applied, thus max regen applied to the battery. It’s the same as descending out of the Rockies or Sierras on a long mountain pass, won’t hurt the truck so long as you don’t crash into your buddy or get someone caught up in the tow strap. Use at your own risk, YMMV.

CT’s have Hold mode, so brakes are applied. A little throttle is needed to make sure the brakes don’t drag.



Err…I mean…bad drivers! Don’t do that!

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[Kryptek]

Yes, put it on drive, someone has to be in front seat obviously and pull. It really does regen. But not at 10 miles per 1/10th. My truck gained in 5 miles 1 mile. Also didn't lose anything in the 5 miles. Was on hwy 108, California. Towed by a Dodge...I'm sure some idiot posted it on some platform. Yes, ran out of juice. Anyone see the post on TikTok of a CT being used working at a gas station in Santa Cruz?

I knew it was plausible! Just wish you could throw her in neutral and coast down hill building regen

 

[Gaximus]

I’ve seen a video last year around this time of year they pulled the cyber for 1 mile and gained 10 miles of charge distance

The video has to be fake, there is no such thing as free energy. At most if it was 100% efficient regen, it would get one mile, being pulled one mile. Most EVs get 60%-70% efficiency so that would give you 0.6-0.7 miles range for every mile pulled.

Edit: After some more thought, you can get more since you are being pulled. You’re taking the energy from the truck pulling you, but it’s still only the weight it’s pulling, so they pull you without regen, they are pulling 6500 lbs, that’s if not braking. Then turn on regen, say 70% efficiency, the truck pulling is now pulling the weight of 11,050lbs. And that’s only getting you 0.7miles range per mile pulled brake harder more range, heavier load. To get 10 miles the truck pulling would need to pull 65,000 lbs.

 

[JimBuck333]

The video has to be fake, there is no such thing as free energy. At most if it was 100% efficient regen, it would get one mile, being pulled one mile. Most EVs get 60%-70% efficiency so that would give you 0.6-0.7 miles range for every mile pulled.

Edit: After some more thought, you can get more since you are being pulled. You’re taking the energy from the truck pulling you, but it’s still only the weight it’s pulling, so they pull you without regen, they are pulling 6500 lbs, that’s if not braking. Then turn on regen, say 70% efficiency, the truck pulling is now pulling the weight of 11,050lbs. And that’s only getting you 0.7miles range per mile pulled brake harder more range, heavier load. To get 10 miles the truck pulling would need to pull 65,000 lbs.

I would expect that regen produces significant power only when the vehicle is rapidly decelerating (converting momentum into electrical power), or coming down a steep hill (converting the potential energy of height into electrical power) at which point the vehicle would be applying the brakes itself so as to keep from going down the hill too fast. So I suppose that if you pulled a CT with the brakes strongly applied, it would be hell on the vehicle doing the towing, but could add easily more than a mile of range per mile pulled. In fact, if the CT is being pulled with, say, five times the normal force it takes to normally have the CT go down the road at that speed, then you would pick up the better part of five miles of range for every mile being towed that way.

 

[Cybertruck 1974]

I knew it was plausible! Just wish you could throw her in neutral and coast down hill building regen

Neutral wouldn't get you regin just a free fall like all ICE vehicles.

 

[CyberGus]

AFAIK the brakes only supplement deceleration when regen is degraded due to high SoC or temperature. And I believe that option is disabled by default.

There’s probably an ideal speed for max regen, above which you’re just heating the motors. The regen bar should be a good indicator.

 

[Black306]

AFAIK the brakes only supplement deceleration when regen is degraded due to high SoC or temperature. And I believe that option is disabled by default.

There’s probably an ideal speed for max regen, above which you’re just heating the motors. The regen bar should be a good indicator.

The rear brake dust I need to frequently clean off my rims says otherwise.

Quite annoying, actually. I don’t need to clean the rims on my 3s nearly as often. Those cars are on Roll mode and I typically use the brakes at ~5mph. Wish the CT had Roll mode.

 

[Kryptek]

Yes, put it on drive, someone has to be in front seat obviously and pull. It really does regen. But not at 10 miles per 1/10th. My truck gained in 5 miles 1 mile. Also didn't lose anything in the 5 miles. Was on hwy 108, California. Towed by a Dodge...I'm sure some idiot posted it on some platform. Yes, ran out of juice. Anyone see the post on TikTok of a CT being used working at a gas station in Santa Cruz?

and did they void your warranty?

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