We’re slowly discovering what the inner workings of the Tesla Cybertruck look like thanks to the teardown currently being carried out by Sandy Munro and his team. In the most recent video of the teardown series, they removed the truck’s battery pack, but we didn’t see what was inside.
We were given an early look, though, thanks to a short video posted on the Munro Live X account, which gives us a sneak peek inside the Cybertruck’s 123 kWh pack. There’s nothing especially unusual about the pack with its top cover taken off, other than the fact that there seems to be a lot of unused space above the vertical battery cells.
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The Tesla Cybertruck was promised with more range
When Tesla unveiled the Cybertruck, company boss Elon Musk said it would be able to travel 500 miles on one charge, so maybe it was designed to use bigger battery cells than the 4680 cells that it ended up being equipped with.
It almost looks like it’s half empty, and the obvious free space does raise some questions. It could have been left empty so that there is room for the battery case to contort in the event of an accident and not have the cover immediately touch or pierce the cells. Another possible reason for the space is that the pack could have been designed to accommodate taller battery cells, but Tesla went with shorter ones instead.
The Cybertruck uses 4680 battery cells, which are several times bigger (significantly wider but also taller) than the 2170 battery cells that Tesla uses in some of its models. It does look like two rows of 2170 cells could fit inside the Cybertruck pack, stacked one on top of the other since they are considerably shorter than 4680 cells. It doesn’t look like there is enough space to stack 4680 cells in there, though.
Wes Morrill, the Cybertruck’s lead engineer, commented on the opening of the pack, stating that it was “half full” rather than half empty. He acknowledges that there is space there, though, and we’re curious to see what the official reason for its existence is.
Before the Cybertruck was launched, Tesla advertised it as being able to offer 500 miles of range on one charge. The production model didn't come close to matching it, even with the optional range extender battery, which doesn't cram more battery cells into the floor-mounted pack and instead adds a second battery pack that takes up part of the bed space.
The cells inside the Cybertruck battery are also split into four modules that can be linked in series or parallel, depending on whether the vehicle is running or charging. This split-pack design allows the Cybertuck to run at 800 volts but also charge via a 400-volt charger. It can also charge natively at 800 volts, but only via a Tesla V4 Supercharger or a powerful third-party charger.
