Took my Cybertruck on Sedona's Outlaw Trail for Offroading and Camping -- Photos & Lessons Learned

[Cybergirl]

@Cybergirl, can you show how you " blocked the opening a the base of the tailgate where road dust entered the vault"?

I simply placed a sheet of cardboard on the bed pushed up tight to the gate, thus blocking the gap where dust can enter. The cargo in the bed holds the cardboard in place. I cover the vault floor with cardboard when camping to smooth the bed floor and keep the air mattresses clean.

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[TwilightHan]

Yes. That trail has some of the most ATV’s out there. I came in from the opposite direction and it was like a salmon swimming upstream. The photos won’t do it justice. Videos are only a little better. Many of Sedona trails are not great at all for passengers, but it’s beautiful. I noticed lots of folks renting lifted land cruisers on the trail. Since it wasn’t their vehicle they would go through the trail at a much faster speed.

I found some video of the start of the trail after the ruins.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Carlos Thomas]

If you only had one person, you could sleep inside the cabin.

 

[MGresham]

It's classified "Moderate", but for a newbie off-roader like me it felt worse. The 11.2 mile loop included some steep rocky sections that put me to the test. The recent rains left muddy water filled holes all along the trail. Almost every vehicle on the trail was a UTV (Razors). Needless to say, my presence created a lot of interest (all positive).

I was very pleased with how the Cybertruck handled the trail. I had it in "Off Road" mode and "Very High" to clear the wicked rocky sections. I left the front and rear plastic air deflectors on, and they suffered no damage. It's not the kind of off-roading I expect to do a lot of, but I wanted to see what the Cybertruck was capable of. I don't plan to drive "Difficult" trails, but I think the Cybertruck would traverse them fine with locking differentials.

I blocked the opening a the base of the tailgate where road dust entered the vault on my Swansea trip the week before. There was no dust in the vault after driving 6 miles on the dusty F.S. road 525 at 30 mph.

We camped the first night in the Dead Horse Ranch State Park in Cottonwood, and the second night in the dispersed camping sites along F.S. 525. The area is hardly an 'out of the way' place, though. Sedona is a very popular destination for tourists.

Lessons learned on this trip:

1) Don't depend on charging at campgrounds from their electric 50/30/20 Amp pedestals. I arrived at Dead Horse with 9% battery. I connected to the campsite's 240V 14-50 outlet. The blinking green light on the NACS plug indicated that charging had begun, but the CT's display showed that only 6A (1400W) was being delivered, the same as from the 120V outlet. The park staff there had no explanation. I drove 42 miles round trip to Oak Creek to Supercharge to 60% (74 kW) to have enough battery to get through the night and to continue the trip the next day.

BTW, it turns out that the problem was not the campground network, but the Cybertruck itself. Although the CT appeared to be charging normally (green LED blinking on the NACS plug), current was not making its way into the battery (stuck relay?). The problem is intermittent. When I got home and tried to Level 2 charge with the mobile connector, it failed the same way, but the next day everything worked normally. Tesla recommended monitoring the situation and informing them of any similar failures that occur.

2) With 2 people sleeping in the vault, CO2 builds up to an unhealthy level. Just opening the tonneau cover a couple of inches gave plenty of ventilation to overcome that problem. If the rear window could be opened (it can't), I think that would also provide sufficient air exchange.
3) Charging the battery on back country, off road trips is a challenge, especially out west. I'll need multiple means of charging beyond widely dispersed Tesla Superchargers. Campground 50A electric sites are great when they work while charging from a 120V outlet at a campground is painfully slow at 1400W. My propane generator will top out at 3700W, but there's the issue of noise that limits when it can be run. Solar is quiet, but also slow and dependent on ample sunshine.

4) The efficiency and range of the CT is quite good. The round trip totalled 605 miles with an overall efficiency of 440 Wh/mi. The change in elevation was approximately 7000 feet. I limited my driving to 70 - 75 mph on the interstate. Driving temperatures ranged from 50 to 84 degrees F.

5) My Supercharging expenses totalled $81.06 for 193 kWh or $0.14/mi. I spent 2.5 hours Supercharging at an average charging speed of 77 kW.
6) Using an electric blanket to keep warm at night works great. I highly recommend this one.

7) Off roading is hard on a vehicle. Although the stainless steel exterior is impervious to trail damage, it's not true of the plastic wheel flares, mirrors, bumpers, etc. They scratch very easily, and there's no way to remedy the damage except to replaced the parts.

8) Prepare for a good cleaning of your truck after an off road trip like this one. I stopped at a car wash to get the thick mud removed from the wheels, wheel wells, bumpers, and underside using a power washer, but I spend a couple of hours at home getting the truck completely clean.

9) If you don't like people coming up to you asking questions and wanting to take pictures of your truck, you might want to consider buying a Rivian. I don't mind for the most part. It's an opportunity to correct all the misconceptions people have about electric vehicles, and particularly Tesla EVs. There are times, however, when you wish people would just stay away.

Really informative, thanks for sharing

 

[Tinker71]

@Cybergirl and all overland dreamers. This would be the ultimate camper. I call it the ROCC. Roll over Cab Camper. Mattress area for 2 adults or 3 playing footsies, or 2 adults and 2 small children, 400lb-ish, 700 watts solar (could extend range over a single battery charge) works with the range extender, occupies very little bed volume, custom colors without a wrap, 20' roof rack potential, enclosed tent area for cooking, changing, toilet storage, hot water for remote shower/toilet pop up. Heat pump to cool the sleeping area and make hot water. Completely removable in 10 minutes. Full deployment (partially electric) in <10 minutes with crack...I mean a crack team.

Option to remove hard tonneau and use space for aux battery or grey water.

The CT Geometry and 2MM SS for connection inserts make this concept easy and efficient.

$20k suggested retail.

I would love to see this built and would partner with the right folks. I am not greedy, I would just like one of my ideas to come to fruition. Send me a message.

 

[happy intruder]

@happy intruder , you question is confusing because there is no cabin airflow from the cab to the tonneau covered area as she indicated (and have been discussed in a lot of threads).

I've used camp mode in my TMX several times when sleeping in the back.

oh man....I was think of my new MY....Sorry for confusion.....

 

[Cybergirl]

Yeah I understand it's slow and best used over longer trip time. Was thinking you maybe used a solar kit that some people put on RVs. I've been looking at a setup similar to this video here, because it uses extremely light components.

Also comes to mind that something could be created to attach them via the roof rack mounting arrays the CT has. Perhaps also having sliding and the ability to collapse the panels when not in use.

Even if the CT only trickle charges a few miles here or there each day... It does add up. I think if something turn key could be created then people would realize how underrated that is. But perhaps just putting the equipment in the bed, if it's light enough, shouldn't take too much time to set up while camping or parking the CT for a while.

That's very interesting. I'm a fan of solar power generation. I have rooftop solar on my house in Illinois which generates all the power I need over the summer. I've been thinking about using solar to supplement my CT battery on camping trips, but haven't come up with a practical solution. 1000 watts (more like 850W in practice) is not much power for the effort involved in setting up the array and securing it against the wind when staying one or two nights at a campsite.

My RV style (closed frame) Westinghouse iGen4500 dual-fuel generator will output 1500 watts at a noise level of 58 dbA at 50' which is 2 dbA less than what most national park campgrounds permit at that distance outside of stated quiet hours when running a generator is prohibited. This generator will output 30A, but when charging the CT, it's limited to 24A or 2.8 kW using the mobile connector and TT-30 adapter with an increase in noise level. So, running for just an hour will put 2.5 kWh in the battery for an additional 5 miles of range at 500 wH/mi. By experiment, I found that on a 20 lb propane bottle, this generator will deliver 20 kWh of charge to the battery in 8 hours which is 40 miles of added range.

I always ask nearby campers for permission to run a generator for some period of time before doing so, and stop if asked. It's common campground courtesy.

 

[Woodrick]

@Cybergirl what was the voltage showing at the campground? To only charge at 6A, I'm assuming that it was really low.

Have you verified the NEMA 14-50 adapter anywhere else?

 

[Cybergirl]

If you only had one person, you could sleep inside the cabin.

I haven't tried sleeping inside the cab, but I'm sure it's doable. The chief drawback is not being able to stretch out. The width of the back seat floor is just 56". Camp Mode is far more practical for camping in a Model Y than it is for the CT. I've found that using an electric blanket in the vault is a very efficient use of battery if you cover the electric blanket with a regular blanket to retain heat.

 

[Cybergirl]

@Cybergirl and all overland dreamers. This would be the ultimate camper. I call it the ROCC. Roll over Cab Camper. Mattress area for 2 adults or 3 playing footsies, or 2 adults and 2 small children, 400lb-ish, 700 watts solar (could extend range over a single battery charge) works with the range extender, occupies very little bed volume, custom colors without a wrap, 20' roof rack potential, enclosed tent area for cooking, changing, toilet storage, hot water for remote shower/toilet pop up. Heat pump to cool the sleeping area and make hot water. Completely removable in 10 minutes. Full deployment (partially electric) in <10 minutes with crack...I mean a crack team.

Option to remove hard tonneau and use space for aux battery or grey water.

The CT Geometry and 2MM SS for connection inserts make this concept easy and efficient.

$20k suggested retail.

I would love to see this built and would partner with the right folks. I am not greedy, I would just like one of my ideas to come to fruition. Send me a message.

Interesting concept.

 

[Cybergirl]

@Cybergirl what was the voltage showing at the campground? To only charge at 6A, I'm assuming that it was really low.

Have you verified the NEMA 14-50 adapter anywhere else?

The voltage was 236V. Using the same mobile connector and 14-50 plug at home, I had the same problem, but 0A instead of 6A. Again, the NACS plug showed blinking green lights meaning that charging was taking place. The next day I tried to Level 2 charge again (240V 14-50 outlet) and everything worked fine. I have not had a problem since. It seems like maybe a contactor relay was not operating properly for some reason.

 

[Woodrick]

The voltage was 236V. Using the same mobile connector and 14-50 plug at home, I had the same problem, but 0A instead of 6A. Again, the NACS plug showed blinking green lights meaning that charging was taking place. The next day I tried to Level 2 charge again (240V 14-50 outlet) and everything worked fine. I have not had a problem since. It seems like maybe a contactor relay was not operating properly for some reason.

Also make sure that the adapter is plugged all the way in. You may even remove it and put it back in.

The mobile connector gets its speed information from a resistor in the adapter. It sounds as if it wasn't reading the correct value. The resistors are on the smaller pins.
I haven't heard of any issues except recently. It wasn't working correctly and the user got it swapped at a service center. New one worked perfectly.

 

[Cyber_Skerple]

This kind of adventure is what many people dreamt about when buying the Cybertruck. Your report is informing and appreciate the honesty on the good and the bad.
Oh if Tesla had only put a 180kwh battery in this vehicle it would be so much better and alleviate so many issues.

exactly! imagine, going back in time...the looks on the faces of those in covered wagons. what a thrill to read of this.

 

[CyberGus]

The chief drawback is not being able to stretch out. The width of the back seat floor is just 56".

Ever since paying for my Cybertruck, I sleep in the fetal position

 

[electricAK]

With 2 people sleeping in the vault

How did you feel about the amount of space/headroom sleeping in the vault?

(Thanks for writing up your experience)

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