Range Extender Officially Cancelled!

[SCTesla]

Both the Single Motor and the Dual Motor models exceeded the announced range, the Single Motor by a huge margin, the Dual Motor by 40 miles. Only the Cyberbeast under-delivered on range.





When did Tesla cancel Autosteer? I don't remember that ever happening (because I don't recall them ever announcing it would have Autosteer to begin with).



I've been predicting they would cancel the extra battery ever since they announced it was in development (due to low demand for such a niche product). Looks like I was right.



Rock sliders and underbody protection? I've off-roaded my Cybertruck quite a bit and can tell you that driver skill is far more important than rock sliders and underbody protection. I mean, it goes up to over 16" of ground clearance and the entire under-belly is flat, with no low-hanging differentials, transfer cases or a vulnerable center drive shaft to snag on rocks and logs. IMO, the Cybertruck is just about the last truck that needs underbody protection. Just use your head and have fun.

Even a rank beginner off-roader with an ounce of common sense should be able to cover some pretty gnarly terrain without damaging the underbody. Most ICE pickups are lucky to have 12" of ground clearance.

They cancelled Autosteer yesterday.

Autosteer was on Tesla.com and the CT manual as coming soon since the day the CT released. It was listed "Base Autopilot" on the purchase agreement as well.

Base Autipilot was listed as TACC and Autosteer on all vehicles until yesterday. All vehicles outside of the CT now.

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[CyberGus]

False. The displayed miles remaining takes into account battery degradation. My 7+ year old Model 3 can still go over 300 miles in the real world.

 

[cybercricket]

This is not the first time Tesla pivoted. Folks may remember how they were proposing battery swap stations, and then it got cancelled. Hopefully they have something lined up as a functional replacement for the cancelled Extender.

 

[Sjohnson20]

I just hope this means a bigger battery version. I dodged a bullet by not buying one initially as I was banking on the extender. I've driven the 320 range Lightning and now have the 440 range Sierra. They need to have a big battery option, it's a game changer. Keep one 320 version, and add the 440. Everyone is happy, and they can improve their ability to compete in the EV truck market. It doesn't even have to be much over 400, 400 will do; that leaves 300 actual miles of range for use.

I'd be in a CT instead of a GMC right now had that option been available.

But don't you just end up charging longer when the battery is bigger? I guess if you mostly charge at home it wouldn't be something that matters and you would have more range most of the time.

 

[Sjohnson20]

A 75kWh extender would weigh ~750 lbs and require ~15Wh/mile, that's less than a 5% efficiency hit, less than going from AWD to Beast or core to cyber wheels

A 50kWh (+100 mile) extender would be under 600 pounds.

And pay 16k for it. And take up half the bed space. I use the bed a lot. I really don't plan on towing. So for me the extra batteries would be worse.

I don't know what the official efficiency number would be but when I fill the back of the truck up and also I fill the backseat area I lose a lot of range. It's a pretty big difference when I am doing a long road trip on the interstate. I have to do an extra charging stop when I have the truck full.

 

[scottyah]

Rock sliders and underbody protection? I've off-roaded my Cybertruck quite a bit and can tell you that driver skill is far more important than rock sliders and underbody protection. I mean, it goes up to over 16" of ground clearance and the entire under-belly is flat, with no low-hanging differentials, transfer cases or a vulnerable center drive shaft to snag on rocks and logs. IMO, the Cybertruck is just about the last truck that needs underbody protection. Just use your head and have fun.

Even a rank beginner off-roader with an ounce of common sense should be able to cover some pretty gnarly terrain without damaging the underbody. Most ICE pickups are lucky to have 12" of ground clearance.

LOL I bet you go around taking random kids' helmets off as they bike around because AnY BiKeR wItH aN oUnCe Of cOmMoN sEnSe ShOuLd Be AbLe To BiKe ArOuNd WiThOuT dAmAgInG tHeIr SkUlL

 

[scottyah]

I wonder how many of us still have the wiring to connect the range extender, and what else it could be used for. I thought I remember they made some engineering decisions to keep the range extender wiring at the cost of either extra room in the sub-bed space or something.

 

[mongo]

But don't you just end up charging longer when the battery is bigger? I guess if you mostly charge at home it wouldn't be something that matters and you would have more range most of the time.

Not so much at a Supercharger, the extender would take up the extra capacity when the main pack charge curve limits power.
At home, yeah.

I don't know what the official efficiency number would be but when I fill the back of the truck up and also I fill the backseat area I lose a lot of range.

Did you have the vault open?
AWD at max GVWR would be 50-100 Wh/mile extra. So 320 mile range would drop to 255-285. If on cyber wheels at max GVWR, be sure to inflate to 65psi.

 

[mongo]

I wonder how many of us still have the wiring to connect the range extender, and what else it could be used for. I thought I remember they made some engineering decisions to keep the range extender wiring at the cost of either extra room in the sub-bed space or something.

There wasn't any extra wiring installed. There is one extra HV connected, but it was theoretically for inductive charging.

 

[GuyV]

they should license the tech to an aftermarket company if they are not goin to make it .

On the plus side, they designed in range extension connectivity, so something is still possible in the future. On a pessimistic note however, given the timing, that has likely been one of the things dropped from the RWD, and maybe even from all new production.

 

[mongo]

On the plus side, they designed in range extension connectivity, so something is still possible in the future. On a pessimistic note however, given the timing, that has likely been one of the things dropped from the RWD, and maybe even from all new production.

They didn't though.
There is only one extra HV connection, and it uses a lower current connector. Might work for driving, but may be two small for supercharging.

Implementing the range extender was likely either going to require a different penthouse or daisy chaining the HV bus to route through the extender on its way to a drive unit. Same thing with thermal management.

 

[GuyV]

I figured this wasn't happening when I saw the team talking about the truck soon after launch and someone said "If" we make a range extender. I wasn't getting it anyway, but I feel for those who really wanted it.

I don't think a giant built-in battery is coming, but I do think range will increase over time and we'll see a larger/more efficient battery in the not too distant future.

Not giant, but folks are rolling out 4695 cells, which is a more than 18% capacity increase alone. I've read the production jump from 4680 is moderate. Tesla left themselves some space to work with in the battery compartment, so couple that with chemistry advances, a 20-25% increase in the not-too-distant future is conceivable. 400 miles would definitely be worth shooting for.

 

[GuyV]

They didn't though.
There is only one extra HV connection, and it uses a lower current connector. Might work for driving, but may be two small for supercharging.

Implementing the range extender was likely either going to require a different penthouse or daisy chaining the HV bus to route through the extender on its way to a drive unit. Same thing with thermal management.

Whatever they had in mind, even with Tesla I'm not accepting they had no preliminary design before announcing it. Granted, not all their designs do not turn out to be practical.

 

[mongo]

Whatever they had in mind, even with Tesla I'm not accepting they had no preliminary design before announcing it. Granted, not all their designs do not turn out to be practical.

I wasn't saying they didn't have a plan, only that there isn't anything currently shown on the truck to support it.

The two potential design options in my post didn't require anything to already be installed on the truck.

 

[VAF84]

But don't you just end up charging longer when the battery is bigger? I guess if you mostly charge at home it wouldn't be something that matters and you would have more range most of the time.

I don't need the full use of the larger battery when I'm home, but there's no loss in charging time compared to a lower range truck. You get the same 320mi everything else has in the same time, but you can keep it at a lower SOC and have greater range last minute, or yes add time for added range when you know you'll need it. This happens to benefit battery longevity as I keep it half charged when at home.

However, I make a lot of long trips away from home, tow occasionally, and I DC charge nearly 50% of my ownership. So the best thing about this is that I can go anywhere anytime with little stress. I'm no longer tied to stops that have chargers. I can now go a few days without charging. I no longer have to seek a charger as soon as I get to my destination. I can take my family on day trips with few if concerns about charging locations/tops, which is great because I have 3 small kids. In warm weather I'm pretty sure I can make a round trip between Austin in Houston without stopping to charge if I push the limits, whereas it would have taken me about 3 charging stops in the Lightning. I currently charge the 10-80% in the same time it took my Lightning to charge 10-80%, except I now get 90 more miles in the same time for that one stop. I'm looking forward to redoing our Colorado trip in this truck to compare against our agonizingly long trip in the Lightning that was marked by a few stressful moments bc of charging infrastructure and related downtime.

I'll caveat all the above by saying I live in Texas where it's wide open roads with 75mph speed limits. If you're in dense urban areas where you're driving under 55mph all day, prob not as big an issue. However, out here, it's all highways, access roads, and on-ramps aka launch pads.

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