Cybertruck Range Extender

[jahansolu]

Which brings this back to the initial post / question. If there was no connection in the beginning or a dedicated port to add on a battery pack, then was this all a ploy to basically get interest-free loan from customers to offset the loss Tesla would've faced with Cybertruck production?

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[HaulingAss]

In my opinion: if there is a port or connection somewhere under the trucks bed or by the high voltage port / connection, then we can indeed confirm that Tesla at least had the intention but the economics didn’t most likely make sense. However, if there is no port or connection for expansion (especially on the Foundation Series) it can pretty much be assumed they never had the intention of ever bringing this feature to market.

The crux of your argument is fatally flawed.

You can only tell for sure if the economics made sense by knowing how much demand there was. And you can't know how much demand there is without actually offering it for less than an inconsequential deposit. The most vocal people on this forum spoke as if a range extender was key to a functional truck. But, if enough people didn't put their money where their mouth was, it didn't make sense to actually make one, regardless of whether the install procedure involved tapping into existing terminals or plugging into an anticipatory high-voltage receptacle, installed for the purpose. Either would have worked if demand was there.

I recall seeing at least one poll, right here on forum for Cybertruck fans, showing a very low take rate. Most people thought a range extender was not needed (regardless of the vocal minority insisting it was). In the end, it comes down to how many people really needed it enough to pay for it. Turns out it was not a product the mainstream buyer wanted or needed.

 

[mongo]

Which brings this back to the initial post / question. If there was no connection in the beginning or a dedicated port to add on a battery pack, then was this all a ploy to basically get interest-free loan from customers to offset the loss Tesla would've faced with Cybertruck production?

No, the reservations would have gone into deferred income and not have been included in Cybertruck margins. Same thing that goes on with FSD.
Tesla has billions in cash, no need for such shell games.

 

[mcm4ss]

Autoline CT teardown shows the battery has an extended port, so it was intended to be added.

I personally (probably within the next year or so) plan on installing some programmable 800vdc power supplies (I'm thinking frunk right now) to be able to plug in roof top solar, my own batteries like eg4ll, or just a straight up gas generator for extended driving or towing. The parts I have picked out would be either a 300lb 14.5kw generator, a 500 lb 24kw generator, or 2x 200 lb 12kw generators. Current cost will be somewhere around 10k since I would be doing it myself. To put that in perspective, driving down the freeway not towing consumes about 30-35kw (120 kwh can usually let me drive about 3.5-4 hrs at 70 mph on a full charge). So a 24kw generator would mean that only 6-10 kw is taken from the battery resulting it a 12 (at 70 mph) hour drive time between recharge/fill up. Equivalent range of over 800 miles per charge/fill up.

Edit: it wasn't sandy munro I saw the range extender on, but autoline's caresoft

YES,,, YES YES YES. THIS I would love to have a gas generator "plug" for the bed for long trips. Making it a Hybrid of sorts or a place to plug in my solar generator while driving down the road. I have been and will be patiently waiting for a company to make a replacement aftermarket battery for one of these using solid state batteries with a lot more capacity. It can be done. It should be done. It will be fun.

 

[cyberjeff25]

I had a deposit from Tesla for the extender since last November- did other cyberbeast Foubdation buyers get a refund of their deposit already somehow? By check or deposit to a credit card? I I kind of recall $600 was the deposit or was it $500 ?

When did other deposits for this extender get refunded?

 

[SCTesla]

YES,,, YES YES YES. THIS I would love to have a gas generator "plug" for the bed for long trips. Making it a Hybrid of sorts or a place to plug in my solar generator while driving down the road. I have been and will be patiently waiting for a company to make a replacement aftermarket battery for one of these using solid state batteries with a lot more capacity. It can be done. It should be done. It will be fun.

It can't be done and won't be done. There is no port for that and Tesla would never allow that. It would be a huge implementation. Someone can make a one off mod and has before, but it's not supported by Tesla.

 

[mcm4ss]

It can't be done and won't be done. There is no port for that and Tesla would never allow that. It would be a huge implementation. Someone can make a one off mod and has before, but it's not supported by Tesla.

I call bs a bit. It can be done. Just has not. And after working with RC cars and such for so long the bigger better battery would be absolutely possible. Free charging it while driving could be an issue, but I can always hope.

 

[mongo]

I had a deposit from Tesla for the extender since last November- did other cyberbeast Foubdation buyers get a refund of their deposit already somehow? By check or deposit to a credit card? I I kind of recall $600 was the deposit or was it $500 ?

When did other deposits for this extender get refunded?

Refunded to method of payment. In my case, $500 to the credit card.

 

[hemiarch]

So what is it that we think the impossible part is ? Charge while driving?

 

[mongo]

So what is it that we think the impossible part is ? Charge while driving?

Yeah charge while driving means interfacing with Tesla systems in such a way as to not cause faults.
Secondary concern is warranty impact.

Range extender via charging while parked is trivial at 11.5kW. Doable, but more complicated, for rates above that.

 

[SCTesla]

I call bs a bit. It can be done. Just has not. And after working with RC cars and such for so long the bigger better battery would be absolutely possible. Free charging it while driving could be an issue, but I can always hope.

It can't and work with Tesla's BMS, etc. Tesla is never going to deliver this. You are free to make your own solution.

 

[hemiarch]

Next best thing; our cars can do some pretty impressive dc fast charging . If you had a battery pack/solar accumulator/generator that can be charged by any fuel type you want and that same device was able to simulate what a supercharger does, you could just pull over anywhere and dump the energy in the truck without any modifications to teslas electrical system.
What if I also said, you can have the whole back third of the bed to achieve this like many of us were willing to give up for the range extender?
Doable?

 

[Bill Carlson]

Autoline CT teardown shows the battery has an extended port, so it was intended to be added.

I personally (probably within the next year or so) plan on installing some programmable 800vdc power supplies (I'm thinking frunk right now) to be able to plug in roof top solar, my own batteries like eg4ll, or just a straight up gas generator for extended driving or towing. The parts I have picked out would be either a 300lb 14.5kw generator, a 500 lb 24kw generator, or 2x 200 lb 12kw generators. Current cost will be somewhere around 10k since I would be doing it myself. To put that in perspective, driving down the freeway not towing consumes about 30-35kw (120 kwh can usually let me drive about 3.5-4 hrs at 70 mph on a full charge). So a 24kw generator would mean that only 6-10 kw is taken from the battery resulting it a 12 (at 70 mph) hour drive time between recharge/fill up. Equivalent range of over 800 miles per charge/fill up.

Edit: it wasn't sandy munro I saw the range extender on, but autoline's caresoft

I'll reach out to you, I have 800W of panels that I am mounting to the top of the truck. 12-24V basic solar config (with 100Ah battery as a bucket). Use SCC + SOC + Inverter and wall charge cable to trickle when sitting. Probably 3A-6A 120V. The premise is using when parked at work, camping or on weekends. I'll pull this config to one of my sheds when the experiment is compIete. know, I know, at 2-3 mi/hour and 8-10 hours of sunlight per day this is sub optimal but with a 20 mi daily commute I pretty much get my basic daily travel from the sun and if I'm camping for days might recoup and leave with more SOC then when I got there. I'm interested in numbers and wattage and weight efficiency yada yada.

 

[hemiarch]

I'll reach out to you, I have 800W of panels that I am mounting to the top of the truck. 12-24V basic solar config (with 100Ah battery as a bucket). Use SCC + SOC + Inverter and wall charge cable to trickle when sitting. Probably 3A-6A 120V. The premise is using when parked at work, camping or on weekends. I'll pull this config to one of my sheds when the experiment is compIete. know, I know, at 2-3 mi/hour and 8-10 hours of sunlight per day this is sub optimal but with a 20 mi daily commute I pretty much get my basic daily travel from the sun and if I'm camping for days might recoup and leave with more SOC then when I got there. I'm interested in numbers and wattage and weight efficiency yada yada.

You get it. A little becomes a lot over many hours and if the bucket is collecting both while driving and parked, that’s impactful I think.

 

[mongo]

It can't and work with Tesla's BMS, etc. Tesla is never going to deliver this. You are free to make your own solution.

Fortunately, the pack BMS doesn't care where charging power comes from as long as the limits it publishes are followed.

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