Tesla Cybertruck continues to receive notable demand for its “range extender,” which is an extra battery pack that owners can utilize to boost the base range of the vehicle. As per crowd-sourced data available at the Cybertruck Owner’s Club, the take rate for this one-of-a-kind range-extending battery pack has now achieved almost a 25% take rate.
Pre-order customers lean toward range extender extra despite downsides
Tesla stimulated enormous interest among electric vehicle enthusiasts when it launched the highly awaited Cybertruck with an extra feature called “range extender.”
It is basically Tesla’s strategy to deliver its initial promise of more than 500 miles of driving range for the all-electric pickup. For comparison, the Musk-led company only managed to deliver the Cybertruck with up to 340 miles without the range extender.
Impressively, interested customers have already boosted the take rate for the range extender to nearly 25%.
Despite the accuracy of the data, it must still be noted that it only records pre-order customers who submit to the publicly available site. That said, the data may drop in terms of total numbers. Nonetheless, the percentages are highly likely close to authentic.
Advantages and disadvantages
The Tesla Cybertruck’s range extender claims to add about 130 miles of extra range to the claimed 340 miles for the AWD trim. Meanwhile, it can also boost the top-trim Cyberbeast’s 320 miles to more than 440 miles.
It can apparently increase the driving range of the electric pickup’s top two trims by 30%, as the base trim has yet to be launched.
However, this extra accessory will take approximately a third of the Cybertruck’s bed.
“Optional pack that fits in about 1/3 of the truck bed. Still room for plenty of of cargo.
It’s meant for very long trips or towing heavy things up mountains.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in an X post
In addition, it lowers payload capacity due to its weight of 600 or so pounds. Specifically, the payload declines from 2,500 pounds to 1,900 pounds.
It also sells at an estimated $16,000. Tesla must be the only one to install the extra battery accessory, making it challenging to carry things like drywall and full sheets of plywood without going to the nearest Tesla store for range extender removal.
Cybertruck key specs
Presented below are the key specifications of the Tesla Cybertruck:
Tesla Cybertruck | Rear-Wheel Drive | All-Wheel Drive | CyberBeast |
Price | $60,990 | $79,990 | $99,990 |
Range | 250 miles | 340 miles | 320 miles |
Range with extender??? | Not mentioned | 470+ miles | 440+ miles |
Acceleration 0-60 mph | 6.5 sec | 3.9 sec | 2.6 sec |
Top speed | 112 mph | 112 mph | 130 mph |
Power | – | 600 hp | 845 hp |
Torque | – | 7,435 pound-feet | 10,296 lb-ft |
Towing capacity | – | Up to 11,000 lbs | Up to 11,000 lbs |
Payload | – | Up to 2,500 lbs | Up to 2,500 lbs |
With all that said, it is interesting to see how many Cybertruck pre-order customers compromise payload capacity, efficiency, and costs just to get an extra range. It demonstrates the growing preference of customers for long-range EV models.