Half Range Extender...?

[Chris9702L]

After having driven Teslas for over 5 years and pulled a boat that sucked up all my electrons in my Model Y last year, my biggest question is why?

If you are not towing anything, then honestly, you don't need it. That's range anxiety talking.

If you are towing something, then I don't think that it is enough to worry about.

So what if your vehicle had a range of only 75 miles? Yep, with my horrendously non-aerodynamic boat, that's what my Model Y got.
So that's worthless? Not really, I went from North of Atlanta to Tampa FL with the boat in tow (and back).

Without the boat, December had us going from Atlanta to Orlando to Tampa to Orlando to Atlanta to Nashville to Branson Mo and back to Atlanta through Memphis in my Model Y. That's a 3 year old car with about 290 mile range on it now.


But the most important thing is how often are you going to use it?

Wrong, you had the luxury of having superchargers along the route. Try going up into the mountains on a cold day with a camper and no chargers along the route. I wonder how far I’m gonna get. A half extender would be a great benefit to getting that little extra in range.
Im still definitely getting the truck but I’m not enthusiastic about the range. I’m banking on the fact that in the future someone will come out with a smaller battery pack with efficient batteries and/or they put in a fast charger at some critical points.

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[Woodrick]

Wrong, you had the luxury of having superchargers along the route. Try going up into the mountains on a cold day with a camper and no chargers along the route. I wonder how far I’m gonna get. A half extender would be a great benefit to getting that little extra in range.
Im still definitely getting the truck but I’m not enthusiastic about the range. I’m banking on the fact that in the future someone will come out with a smaller battery pack with efficient batteries and/or they put in a fast charger at some critical points.

Name a route where you'll need more than 150 miles between charging. And where 70 more miles will make a difference. (assuming 50% degradation when towing)
There's a BIG difference between thanking that I need it and actually needing it.

There are few routes where Tesla doesn't have chargers that close.

 

[Chris9702L]

Name a route where you'll need more than 150 miles between charging. And where 70 more miles will make a difference. (assuming 50% degradation when towing)
There's a BIG difference between thanking that I need it and actually needing it.

There are few routes where Tesla doesn't have chargers that close.

Easy.
-Colorado Springs to the Supercharger in Salida Colorado. It’s 107 miles. Will I make it there towing a 4000lb trailer?
-Colorado Springs to Breckenridge ski resort going the west route (who on earth wants to go through Denver and the madness on I70). Now of course there is no Supercharger in Breckenridge so you have to continue to Silverthorne. You are making a drive into the mountains on a below freezing day.
-LittleRock, Arkansas to Brandon, MO - for some unknown reason Branson does not have a Supercharger

Tesla still has some holes to fill. I’m confident they will get there. They filled a big gap by putting one Pueblo, CO. Southwest Colorado has a big gap because there is no supercharger in Telluride/Durango.

 

[JBee]

Drive slower.

At 25mph the CT has 600mile range, more than a MY at that speed.

Every 10mph you knock off helps.

Costs you nothing but time.

 

[Gigahorse]

I am wondering if they will sell a 2x range extender so we can get 300 miles when towing.
Slow n steady is great for range, but bad for getting rear ended.

 

[Woodrick]

Easy.
-Colorado Springs to the Supercharger in Salida Colorado. It’s 107 miles. Will I make it there towing a 4000lb trailer?
-Colorado Springs to Breckenridge ski resort going the west route (who on earth wants to go through Denver and the madness on I70). Now of course there is no Supercharger in Breckenridge so you have to continue to Silverthorne. You are making a drive into the mountains on a below freezing day.
-LittleRock, Arkansas to Brandon, MO - for some unknown reason Branson does not have a Supercharger

Tesla still has some holes to fill. I’m confident they will get there. They filled a big gap by putting one Pueblo, CO. Southwest Colorado has a big gap because there is no supercharger in Telluride/Durango.

Colorado springs to Salida at 107 miles is less than 150 miles, should be doable.
Colorado springs to Breckinridge. I'm assuming that you are stopping to ski, so plug into a wall or any of the many J-1772 in town.
Little Rock to Branson - Branson Supercharger is coming. There is a Supercharger in Springfield though. And there's 2 CCS chargers in Conway at Chris Crain Hyundai. I know, I made the trip from Branson to Memphis via Little Rock last week. We charged in Branson by plugging into a 120V outlet at the hotel.

So yea, that Branson, Memphis, Little Rock, Oklahoma City triangle has been an issue.

But my numbers are all with trailer. I don't expect that you are dragging a trailer into Breckinridge.

 

[Celiboy]

How about a Frunk placement for the extender?

In an unfortunate head on collision I wouldn’t want a big a$$ battery between what I hit and my family.

 

[Chris9702L]

Colorado springs to Salida at 107 miles is less than 150 miles, should be doable.
Colorado springs to Breckinridge. I'm assuming that you are stopping to ski, so plug into a wall or any of the many J-1772 in town.
Little Rock to Branson - Branson Supercharger is coming. There is a Supercharger in Springfield though. And there's 2 CCS chargers in Conway at Chris Crain Hyundai. I know, I made the trip from Branson to Memphis via Little Rock last week. We charged in Branson by plugging into a 120V outlet at the hotel.

So yea, that Branson, Memphis, Little Rock, Oklahoma City triangle has been an issue.

But my numbers are all with trailer. I don't expect that you are dragging a trailer into Breckinridge.

The Breck trip should be ok but it’s in the middle of winter and there are multiple mountain passes.
The Salida with a camper is gonna be a nail biter but there will be some test runs to try it out. I definitely want the truck and I just know future developments will make it ok. Some superchargers in Woodland Park, Hartsel, and Canyon City will do wonders! And there are bound to be better battery extender packs in the future.

 

[deema]

Drive slower.

At 25mph the CT has 600mile range, more than a MY at that speed.

Every 10mph you knock off helps.

Costs you nothing but time.

will it start charging itself if I put it in reverse? Harder with the trailer, though

 

[Diveflyfish]

In an unfortunate head on collision I wouldn’t want a big a$$ battery between what I hit and my family.

I would argue it’s outside the occupant compartment and would be better than inside.

 

[Woodrick]

The Breck trip should be ok but it’s in the middle of winter and there are multiple mountain passes.
The Salida with a camper is gonna be a nail biter but there will be some test runs to try it out. I definitely want the truck and I just know future developments will make it ok. Some superchargers in Woodland Park, Hartsel, and Canyon City will do wonders! And there are bound to be better battery extender packs in the future.

The nice thing about mountain passes is that what you lose going up, you gain going down. I go over the Smokies and can see my 15 minute average go up to 999+ miles on the way down, and indeed, my range increases. As long as the ranges aren't at the end of the journey, they shouldn't be a problem.

And don't forget to look for CCS locations, they can do a great job of filling in gaps at times.

When I got my Model 3 over 5 years ago, I could easily make it from Atlanta to Orlando. I would stop at each of the 3 Superchargers along the way. Today there are over 20 Superchargers along that route.

Honestly, I wouldn't even guess at what your camper will do to your range yet. Behind my Model Y I pulled a badly aerodynamic boat and my range decreased to 75 miles. Some heavy trailers get much better range. It really depends on the aerodynamic of your trailer behind the Cybertruck.

 

[Celiboy]

I would argue it’s outside the occupant compartment and would be better than inside.

I agree it’s better outside but I’m happy with the current placement. I do understand it doesn’t work for folks that need the additional range and bed space and agree with having multiple options to fit different needs.

 

[JBee]

will it start charging itself if I put it in reverse? Harder with the trailer, though

Yes it will.

But you have to push it, so you will only get walking speeds.

The CT is less aerodynamic and has a larger frontal area than a MY, so it's much more sensitive to high speeds than the MY.

Meaning you need to drive slower to get the range. Just physics.

But for the few times you actually "need" the range extender, this costs nothing except some extra time when you use the technique and is available to use whenever you like, without having to pay for and drag around a RE.

Easy peasy.

 

[Woodrick]

In an unfortunate head on collision I wouldn’t want a big a$$ battery between what I hit and my family.

You'd rather have a chunk of metal that's nearly red hot and gallons of water at the boiling point ahead of you?

A Tesla battery is pretty impenetrable.

The real issue is the amount of weight ahead of the front wheel and relatively high position. The position in the bed is right where it needs to be, centered between the wheels.
In the front, it would really mess up performance.

 

[Celiboy]

You'd rather have a chunk of metal that's nearly red hot and gallons of water at the boiling point ahead of you?

A Tesla battery is pretty impenetrable.

The real issue is the amount of weight ahead of the front wheel and relatively high position. The position in the bed is right where it needs to be, centered between the wheels.
In the front, it would really mess up performance.

I’m ok with having in front of me what the engineers designed to be in front of me and at this moment it’s not a battery.

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