The longer the Tesla Cybertruck is on the market, the more confounding the stainless steel pickup gets. Last week, Tesla closed order books for the least expensive Cybertruck grade, a rear-driver which cost $61,000, taking the lineup’s base price to $99,990 for a dual-motor AWD grade. Another $20,000 gets the tri-motor Cyberbeast. Remember, last November, the dual-motor AWD Cybertruck launched with an MSRP of $79,990, the Cyberbeast started at $99,990, meaning both have gone up by $20,000 in less than nine months. That fact is not merely breathtaking, it should come with a ventilator. Range estimates, on the other hand, drove the opposite direction; the dual-motor AWD was meant to go 350 miles on a charge, is now advertised at 318 miles, while various owners report real-world driving yields something in the 200s.
To address the range deficiency and perhaps get close to the 500-mile range touted at launch, Tesla previewed a range-extending battery that would sit in the pickup bed. Electrek reports the truck’s lead engineer wrote on X (ex-Twitter) that this supplemental battery needs to be installed a Tesla Service Center, “structurally mounted so it’s safe in a crash.” Tesla’s site is now taking — get this — $500 non-refundable deposits for the pack. The price? An “estimated $16,000.” If the “estimated” here means the same as it does for the pickup’s price, you’ll want to get that reservation in immediately, or start saving more money.
The automaker still isn’t coming clean about battery capacity, either. One description says the pack will provide “470+ Total Mi. Range (Est.),” another says, “Enable more than 450 miles of range without impacting accessory capability.” The 470 miles applies to dual-motor truck, 450 miles means the Cyberbeast; however, those distances were from when the dual-motor truck was rated at an estimated 350 miles on a charge and the Cyberbeast at 320 miles, so who knows where final numbers will end up. Inside EVs tried to work the math based on the Cybertruck’s traction battery efficiency, figuring the bed-mounted pack would be good for 130 miles from roughly 47 kWh. Oh, and it takes up one-third of the six-foot by four-foot bed. And it could weigh about 660 pounds, which means it’s never coming out — what truck owner is going to want to pay for removal and reinstallation, and more importantly, where would they store more than a quarter ton of battery when it’s out of the truck?
The pack won’t enter production until early next year. Potential takers would be handing over $500 for the chance to find out how much the pack will cost and how much range it will actually provide, information divulged at some point in maybe five to seven months from now. So if Tesla says the pack costs $20,000 and only adds 110 miles, well, thank you for your deposit, good day, sir. We rarely happen upon circumstances that so perfectly define the world “flabbergasting,” but we think we’ve hit it here. Stay tuned.