Range Extender Officially Cancelled!

[scottf200]

I think you also need to add payload and towing limits. Then payload assuming 10% tongue weight of standardized trailer.
It's also iffy to use the same Wh/mile with trailer when the base vehicles have different Wh/mile. Ignoring truck-trailer specific aerodynamic interaction, the trailer should add the same Wh/mile to each vehicle.

I do have payload in columns farther on the right but I was just giving the basics that clearly show for towing what way better mileage options there are than the CT. The payload of any of them seems pretty sufficient for most use cases (campers). Work trailers may be different.

The "Towing miles/kWh" column was just picked up from different forum examples and seemed pretty consistent for moderate speed / driving.

The trailer adding the same Wh/mile is an interesting point since the air drag and tire friction would be the same ... assumes that the different truck (open bed/tonneau) airflow doesn't impact the front of the trailer.

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[Choosing Wonder]

Seems there are only a couple of genuine towing options ...

Impressive! I did my pros and cons list and biggest issue for us was we have to have Pet Mode, and only Tesla and Rivian have this option currently. So, GM, Ford, and Ram are out for us. I had a Rivian R1-T Max (loved it) but when Telsa came out with Free Supercharging AND has the Extended Battery Pack, it added about 50 miles more of real world towing of the Lightship RV (these are my own educated guessing numbers) over the Rivian R1-T Max pack. HOWEVER, now with the cancelation of the Extended Battery Pack, I am about 50 miles LOWER than the R1-T Max Pack. When you tow the Lightship, the range loss is minimal as it is very aero and self propels. So, now I am only able to route plan 200 miles instead of 300+ miles (leaving 50 miles of room for error)! That is a HUGE difference and Elon/Tesla really screwed me over with this cancelation. I would have kept my Rivian Max pack and preferred 250 miles of route planning (leaving 50 miles of room for error) and that is more doable than 200! The cost to switch back to the Rivian R1-T Max is too much to switch now with the huge depreciation of the Cybertruck (the Free Supercharging can't be transferred to the new owner and has really trapped me!).

 

[scottf200]

Thanks!

biggest issue for us was we have to have Pet Mode, and only Tesla and Rivian have this option currently. So, GM, Ford, and Ram are out for us.

It is odd that the others don't have Pet Mode yet. Seems like a popular feature. Hard to imagine that they won't all get it.

I have seen on the Silverado EV that some pet owners are just making sure AC is on, leave the vehicle with the pet inside, and then do a remote start (keeping the truck locked).

 

[BannedByTMC]

There's a model S with a custom battery pack, but with this you need a custom software solution to predict range, charging, bms. It's possible, but not really for most consumers.

A guy built some trailers using Tesla packs and he hooked them up to a RAV4 and a Model X.

 

[Pops]

A guy built some trailers using Tesla packs and he hooked them up to a RAV4 and a Model X.

He is a brave man. I contacted him directly to ask if he wanted to start a business on this idea, but he declined. Imagine connecting a 800v battery pack directly to the Cybertruck high voltage lines. I am sure you could avoid death if you take the proper battery disconnect steps when you hook it up, but I would be very afraid of it burning to the ground at some point. Like what if road debris hits and shreds the cable, you now have 2 live 800v conductors flopping around.

I can imagine a future where there is an industry standard for trailer mounted batteries to extend EV range. Until then this is a hack.

EDIT: A hack I would gladly pay for if anyone wants to develop the solution.

 

[mongo]

A guy built some trailers using Tesla packs and he hooked them up to a RAV4 and a Model X.

I only see one video connecting it to a Model S without any real usage (no driving or charging).

 

[Pops]

I only see one video connecting it to a Model S without any real usage (no driving or charging).

He has a few videos showing him driving around a F150 lightning with this hooked up. The dash was showing extremely low kWh per mile usage, because the system didnt know its battery capacity was dramatically increased.

 

[mongo]

He has a few videos showing him driving around a F150 lightning with this hooked up. The dash was showing extremely low kWh per mile usage, because the system didnt know its battery capacity was dramatically increased.

My biggest concern is throwing a fault when known usage doesn't match known power draw.

System happiness wise, the easiest route might be to take an LR truck and add an AWD front drive unit + pack. Control SW to blend would be some effort.

Though I do wonder what a dual-motor would think if they had different power sources. Probably error on mismatched voltage.

 

[BannedByTMC]

I only see one video connecting it to a Model S without any real usage (no driving or charging).

He has many videos, I thought I linked a playlist, but you can find them all on his channel. I think he documented some of it on the TMC forums. I don't remember him ever sharing the connection details but I assume he wired the pack in parallel through the pack high voltage connection.

 

[mongo]

He has many videos, I thought I linked a playlist, but you can find them all on his channel. I think he documented some of it on the TMC forums. I don't remember him ever sharing the connection details but I assume he wired the pack in parallel through the pack high voltage connection.

Yeah, I read through the Playlist in that video's description, but it might not have been part of the t-rex's main evolutionary path. I feel like paralleling batteries is sort of the easy part (having done that at lower voltages for a living). Whereas not triggering a HV or Supercharger disabling fault is the hard part (at least for people that don't work at Tesla...)

 

[PungoteagueDave]

Don't you need equipment to produce vehicles? And isn't that what depreciates? So what definition are you applying for gross margin profitable? Some assumed volume (would be profitable at X volume)? General Motors' variable costs only (sales price > BOM + labor)?

Price of actual sale paid by consumer including shipping, net of any incentives, less warranty reserve, less actual marginal cost of production - materials, labor, shipping associated with only that vehicle. Tesla has never sold a vehicle at a loss on that measure. Rivian has never beaten $30k per vehicle loss on that measure. Gross sales margin, calculated legitimately, specifically excludes sunk costs, R&D, any form of investment in production, any capex or corporate-level financing costs. Eg variable costs - can I make money on an incremental sale today? And at what margin? This is why Rivian uses the term "gross magin - so they can hide the fact that other revenues, unrelated to selling vehicles, gives them a positive gross margin. That number is completely meaningless and they know it. But they also know that it allows them to hide the pea with unknowledgeable public and media.

 

[BannedByTMC]

Yeah, I read through the Playlist in that video's description, but it might not have been part of the t-rex's main evolutionary path. I feel like paralleling batteries is sort of the easy part (having done that at lower voltages for a living). Whereas not triggering a HV or Supercharger disabling fault is the hard part (at least for people that don't work at Tesla...)

Here's a video of it connected to a Model X and he Supercharges it

 

[mongo]

Here's a video of it connected to a Model X and he Supercharges it

Cool! Maybe there are less sanity checks than I feared.

 

[YDR37]

...I literally cannot see any of his posts. Not because I’ve muted him or anything like that, but because either he requested or admin (on their own) decided that we we’re too volatile of a combination - so, he literally does not exist on this forum for me!

I think they got tired of seeing this GIF, followed by a whole bunch of fighting!

I guess this forum is technically: "Cybertruckownersclub.com (Supervised)"

 

[Nexus6]

Finally got my Deposit back on 5/17.

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