Places the Cybertruck needs a range extender

[Tinker71]

I am a huge EV electrify everything fan so when I get lectures about how more range is not required I get annoyed. I am not trying to tow a home on wheels either. I don't want a 9000 lb vehicle 95% of the time either.

Everyone has different criteria, but road trips that I dream about and are constrained by time (due to work/limited vacation) 3 hours extra charging or backtracking time or not taking the route I want to take on a weekend make these area off limits for me. And I don't want the hassle of renting an ICE for 3-4 trips per year that I couldn't use my main vehicle for.

I drew 100 mile radius and 50 radius circles assuming these are in and out trip areas. Yellow circles miles for unladen CT (no bike racks or anything) and orange circles with a bigger trailer. I would contend that any trip into these areas without very reliable destination charger near the center would be sketchy. Every destination is different. My point being that many circles can be drawn that are either difficult or impossible. I am not talking about 1-2 extra 20 minutes stops either.

Additional considerations
These areas are often mountainous.
10% remaining is probably a good rule to follow for planning.
Degradation will happen - your 300 mile CT could easily be 280 in 5 years.
Superchargers are fairly reliable , but should 100% rely in all 5? on a long day trip?
Destination chargers are less likely to be on a network and may be down or busy at a particular hotel/campground

Energy density will increase over time, cost per kWhr will improve, and charging infrastructure will improve, but right now 300 miles of BEV range will not cut it

If you don't venture 50 miles from a supercharge you don't have a problem, but people like me have a problem. I am stuck and not happy about waiting for the perpetuals 2 more years.

The harvester range extender concept that can be removed is what I want and need now until things improve.

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[SteelyMcSteelFace]

That northwesternmost one is North Cascades National Park. Beautiful place but you can’t stray from the main highway in an EV due to range concerns. I charged at Chelan to 100% then drove through the park to the supercharger on the other side. Got there with 20%.

 

[SentinelOne]

Here's where I go camping and ride dirt bikes...I live near Fort Collins (lower right)...most of the chargers are 150kw 4 or 8 stall, southern part is mountainous with huge elevation changes, all of it is 75mph+ and no traffic so speeds typically 80-90mph!

Charging Desert / Bleak Situation! We go near Walden to camp (center ish) - from 5k feet to 11k back to 6k feet - not a charger anywhere in sight, nothing out there. Not even non Tesla Chargers. I mean I understand why, few EV's or even cars of any type, but still.

"I am a huge EV electrify everything fan so when I get lectures about how more range is not required I get annoyed." 100%, NoCo / Southern Wyoming the situ is total shit.

Hence I had to keep my Diesel Truck, because regardless I still wasn't going to not get a CB (which I love, but I would still vote for more range or an ICE Range Extender)

 

[CyberBison]

Trying to make a round trip from Huntsville, AL to Carbondale, IL really pushed the truck. Turns out there is no Supercharger past Kuttawa, KY, so we had to use the destination charger at the Harrah's in Metropolis to get enough juice to nurse it back.

 

[Hunky Dory]

I go to the Riverton Wyoming area occasionally. The interstates around and through Wyoming are pretty well covered by superchargers. Between I90 and I80 to the north and south and I25 and I15 to the east and west in north central Wyoming and into Montana there are no superchargers. I drive in from the west and supercharge in Jackson. It is 160+ miles from Jackson to Riverton so 320+ round trip. Definitely over the range of the Cyberbeast.

There is a CCS charger at the GM dealer in Riverton and there are a few other CCS chargers around. I don't know how well those are maintained. I carry a CCS adapter that I have tested with the Cybertruck. There are some destination chargers but I usually just do a day trip so no overnight charging.

I will have my generator in the back on my next trip just in case. I have a range extender battery reserved but, until it is installed, I have to have other options.

 

[SentinelOne]

I go to the Riverton Wyoming area occasionally. The interstates around and through Wyoming are pretty well covered by superchargers. Between I90 and I80 to the north and south and I25 and I15 to the east and west in north central Wyoming and into Montana there are no superchargers. I drive in from the west and supercharge in Jackson. It is 160+ miles from Jackson to Riverton so 320+ round trip. Definitely over the range of the Cyberbeast.

There is a CCS charger at the GM dealer in Riverton and there are a few other CCS chargers around. I don't know how well those are maintained. I carry a CCS adapter that I have tested with the Cybertruck. There are some destination chargers but I usually just do a day trip so no overnight charging.

I will have my generator in the back on my next trip just in case. I have a range extender battery reserved but, until it is installed, I have to have other options.

Agree with interstate charging, they're reasonable (Cheyenne is still 4 stall 150kw)...I could drive 125 to i80 and head to California no prob....it's leaving the interstate to enjoy the great outdoors that hurts...

 

[TJCJr9999]

I am a huge EV electrify everything fan so when I get lectures about how more range is not required I get annoyed. I am not trying to tow a home on wheels either. I don't want a 9000 lb vehicle 95% of the time either.

Everyone has different criteria, but road trips that I dream about and are constrained by time (due to work/limited vacation) 3 hours extra charging or backtracking time or not taking the route I want to take on a weekend make these area off limits for me. And I don't want the hassle of renting an ICE for 3-4 trips per year that I couldn't use my main vehicle for.

I drew 100 mile radius and 50 radius circles assuming these are in and out trip areas. Yellow circles miles for unladen CT (no bike racks or anything) and orange circles with a bigger trailer. I would contend that any trip into these areas without very reliable destination charger near the center would be sketchy. Every destination is different. My point being that many circles can be drawn that are either difficult or impossible. I am not talking about 1-2 extra 20 minutes stops either.

Additional considerations
These areas are often mountainous.
10% remaining is probably a good rule to follow for planning.
Degradation will happen - your 300 mile CT could easily be 280 in 5 years.
Superchargers are fairly reliable , but should 100% rely in all 5? on a long day trip?
Destination chargers are less likely to be on a network and may be down or busy at a particular hotel/campground

Energy density will increase over time, cost per kWhr will improve, and charging infrastructure will improve, but right now 300 miles of BEV range will not cut it

If you don't venture 50 miles from a supercharge you don't have a problem, but people like me have a problem. I am stuck and not happy about waiting for the perpetuals 2 more years.

The harvester range extender concept that can be removed is what I want and need now until things improve.

So, I do 3-4 hour trips all the time in my beast, I find the nearest Tesla chargers on the route and stop once or twice during the trip with no problem (charging times are no more then 30 minutes). Every time I check there are one or two more Tesla charging stations that pop up. Every Tesla charger I used worked just fine, ever time.

 

[mcm4ss]

harvester range extender isn't removable. I also have worries about one of those areas as I travel through there as well. Waiting for the range extender battery as well.

 

[scottf200]

Additional considerations
These areas are often mountainous.
10% remaining is probably a good rule to follow for planning.
Degradation will happen - your 300 mile CT could easily be 280 in 5 years.
Superchargers are fairly reliable , but should 100% rely in all 5? on a long day trip?
Destination chargers are less likely to be on a network and may be down or busy at a particular hotel/campground

Energy density will increase over time, cost per kWhr will improve, and charging infrastructure will improve, but right now 300 miles of BEV range will not cut it

If you don't venture 50 miles from a supercharge you don't have a problem, but people like me have a problem. I am stuck and not happy about waiting for the perpetuals 2 more years.

The harvester range extender concept that can be removed is what I want and need now until things improve.

Your additional considerations are valid and degradation is real and often ignored.

Here is another way of looking at the open areas. Circles are 50 mile radius but a 100 mile show good coverage for 95% of the USA.

ABetterRoutePlanner (ABRP) seems pretty accurate. I pointed out some issues and they fixed it a while back. (#7 in my sig)

Here is one of the major reasons I'm not considering any of the other EV trucks although some of them have various pros compared to the CT. It sure sucks that the ~50 kWh Range Extender/RE takes up 1/3 of the CT bed. These other trucks can only operate on the V3+ Tesla Superchargers. The CT by comparison does both v2 and v3+. I updated this GIF 2024-10-24.

 

[Fabville]

That northwesternmost one is North Cascades National Park. Beautiful place but you can’t stray from the main highway in an EV due to range concerns. I charged at Chelan to 100% then drove through the park to the supercharger on the other side. Got there with 20%.

We charged at Entiat before heading through Winthrop and back west along the North Cascades Highway a few years back in our Model X. I don’t think that trip would’ve been possible with the older 75kWh MX we had previous to that one - not without relying on L2 charging or worse. Not long after that trip Tesla had a survey on where their next Superchargers should be installed, I sent a destination or 2 along that route. Doesn’t seem they have it on their radar at all. Definitely not a route you’d want to tow anything unless your camping over night and have 240v access at a campground.

 

[Crissa]

First off, Superchargers are not the only kinds of charging.

Secondly, in a couple of these there's not highways at all.

-Crissa

 

[dalton108]

I am a huge EV electrify everything fan so when I get lectures about how more range is not required I get annoyed. I am not trying to tow a home on wheels either. I don't want a 9000 lb vehicle 95% of the time either.

Everyone has different criteria, but road trips that I dream about and are constrained by time (due to work/limited vacation) 3 hours extra charging or backtracking time or not taking the route I want to take on a weekend make these area off limits for me. And I don't want the hassle of renting an ICE for 3-4 trips per year that I couldn't use my main vehicle for.

I drew 100 mile radius and 50 radius circles assuming these are in and out trip areas. Yellow circles miles for unladen CT (no bike racks or anything) and orange circles with a bigger trailer. I would contend that any trip into these areas without very reliable destination charger near the center would be sketchy. Every destination is different. My point being that many circles can be drawn that are either difficult or impossible. I am not talking about 1-2 extra 20 minutes stops either.

Additional considerations
These areas are often mountainous.
10% remaining is probably a good rule to follow for planning.
Degradation will happen - your 300 mile CT could easily be 280 in 5 years.
Superchargers are fairly reliable , but should 100% rely in all 5? on a long day trip?
Destination chargers are less likely to be on a network and may be down or busy at a particular hotel/campground

Energy density will increase over time, cost per kWhr will improve, and charging infrastructure will improve, but right now 300 miles of BEV range will not cut it

If you don't venture 50 miles from a supercharge you don't have a problem, but people like me have a problem. I am stuck and not happy about waiting for the perpetuals 2 more years.

The harvester range extender concept that can be removed is what I want and need now until things improve.

? AND I’m not talking guff about it from apologists here (and elsewhere) or being red-pilled by people like RJ and Elon who have a vested interest in convincing people that 300mi is enough for anyone. IT ISN’T!

Overlanding/Camping are not edge cases! Towing with an SUV or truck is not an edge case!

Come now the sycophants with whatever BS good pet nonsense you will. Facts don’t cease to exist simply because you ignore them. ?

 

[Tinker71]

If you have lots of time to go slower and backtrack then you might be ok with 300 miles and these areas become doable. The route planning limitations is worse than the 30 minute stops.

 

[sylboy]

We charged at Entiat before heading through Winthrop and back west along the North Cascades Highway a few years back in our Model X. I don’t think that trip would’ve been possible with the older 75kWh MX we had previous to that one - not without relying on L2 charging or worse. Not long after that trip Tesla had a survey on where their next Superchargers should be installed, I sent a destination or 2 along that route. Doesn’t seem they have it on their radar at all. Definitely not a route you’d want to tow anything unless your camping over night and have 240v access at a campground.

Yeah my biggest disappointment is it doesn’t have the 500+ mile range as originally promised. Range is a big issue for camping and towing especially in rural areas in the west.

 

[Fabville]

Yeah my biggest disappointment is it doesn’t have the 500+ mile range as originally promised. Range is a big issue for camping and towing especially in rural areas in the west.

I was looking forward to the 500+ range as well, especially for towing and back country trips. That estimated range quickly drops in colder weather when towing and going through large elevation climbs.

Not enough pull through supercharging stations make it a pain if you have to unhitch for more frequent supercharging too.

Seeing the Munro video opening up the CT battery pack to find it half full definitely gives hope for future models to offer that 500+ mile range. I’m not willing to give up bed space for a battery extender either.

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