Tesla confirms Cybertruck’s range extender has to be mounted by service

Tesla has confirmed that the Cybertruck’s upcoming range extender. a battery that sits in the pickup truck’s bed, will have to be mounted and removed by Tesla’s service.

When Tesla unveiled the production version of the Cybertruck last year, many were disappointed by the range and pricing.

Tesla has underdelivered on pricing in the past, but it tends to deliver on spec – making the significant range miss compared to the previously announced Cybertruck disappointing to many.

However, the automaker argued that it did deliver on range, albeit with a big caveat.

Tesla announced that it will make a “range extender” available for the Cybertruck. The Cybertruck’s range extender is an extra battery pack that sits in the truck’s bed – taking about 33% of the vehicle’s bed.

The automaker disclosed that the battery pack would increase the range of the dual motor Cybertruck from 340 miles to over 470 miles and the Cyberbeast from 320 miles to over 440 miles.

Tesla has yet to launch the range extender or confirm the price, but the code for the configurator on Tesla’s website briefly showed a $16,000 price.

Regardless, people were disappointed in the fact that you are going to have to pay more money and lose bed space to get the range that Tesla originally announced.

The only potential upside was the possibility that the owner could install and remove the range extender. It would allow Cybertruck owners to only install it when they need it for long-distance travel or towing and not carry around the extra weight when they don’t need the energy.

However, that was always a long shot because a battery capable of adding over 100 miles of range to a large truck would be extremely heavy and it is unlikely that it could be easily installable and removable by a customer.

Now, Tesla’s Cybertruck lead engineer, Wes Morrill, has confirmed that Tesla has to be the one to install the range extender for safety reasons.

He wrote on X:

“Any range extender offered by Tesla will be structurally mounted so it’s safe in a crash.”

Tesla has yet to confirm the availability of the Cybertruck’s range extender.

Electrek’s Take

It’s a bummer, but it’s hardly surprising. I guess it’s not impossible to make a removable battery pack for an electric pickup, but it would be incredibly difficult for one of that size and weight.

You’d basically need a lift in your garage to put it in and out of the bed as well as a very secure mounting system to make sure this thing doesn’t move at all.

But now Tesla has confirmed that it needs to be done by service, which makes sense.