Tesla is gearing up to launch an over-the-air (OTA) software update for the planned Cybertruck charging technology upgrade, addressing most owners’ concerns over the stainless steel pickup’s mediocre charging speed.
Tesla revs up Cybertruck charging
Tesla Cybertruck lead engineer Wes Morrill has just confirmed on popular social media platform X that his team is currently working on an OTA software update to enhance the electric pickup’s somewhat unimpressive charging curve.
Tech enthusiast @Stew_JStew asked the Tesla engineer for an update on the Cybertruck’s charing curve improvement, with the latter responding, “Coming soon via OTA.”
The impending OTA software update is good news for Cybertruck owners who often go to Supercharger stations with very low state of charge (SoC).
Upcoming OTA update
Former Tesla Powertrain and Energy SVP Drew Baglino was the first to disclose the planned software update for the Cybertruck. In April, Baglino teased that the software update would boost the electric pickup’s average range replenishing rate to up to 154 miles in 15 minutes.
However, the former Tesla executive omitted to share whether the OTA software update would include the dual-motor AWD variant or the tri-motor Cyberbeast.
For reference, the current software version adds up to 128 miles of driving range using a DC fast charger in 15 minutes to the top-tier Cyberbeast. It adds up to 136 miles for the AWD version.
Therefore, increasing the additional range to up to 154 miles would equate to a 13% charging speed improvement for the Cybertruck’s dual-motor variant and 20% for the Cyberbeast.
Addressing initial charging limitation concerns
The Tesla Cybertruck is the brand’s first-ever model that comes with an 800v charging architecture, which should allow it to support extremely fast charging speed.
However, previous testing showed that the Cybertruck’s 123 kWh battery pack does not even exceed the Rivian R1T’s charging speed despite only having a 400v battery.
It is apparently due to Tesla’s lack of 800v stalls in its Supercharger network and to several software bugs that Morrill’s team will “soon” fix.
Apart from boosting the charging speed, it will also address the issue of reduced fast-charging speeds for the Cybertruck when its battery is at an extremely low SoC.
However, the planned OTA update would not be sufficient to fix the issue with the disparity between the Cybertruck’s 800V battery voltage and the nominal 500v voltage of the majority of Tesla Supercharger stalls.
Nonetheless, it indicates that the Cybertruck can still heat at an even faster charging speed once Tesla updates its charging infrastructure to allow it.
