Well, the day is finally here. After four long years of guessing, Telsa finally took the wraps (officially) off its Cybertruck, which means we now have firsthand information on things like price, power, and *drum roll* range.
If you’re interested in the Cybertruck even in the slightest, that last feature was probably big on your list of burning questions. And though we may have some official Cybertruck specs, Tesla hasn’t exactly made it easy to understand precisely what the max range of its hotly anticipated EV really is.
Don’t fret, we’re here to help demystify.
What exactly is the Cybertruck’s max range?
First, let’s rewind to 2019. As you may remember, Elon Musk made a lot of claims on the initial Cybertruck stage — bulletproof glass and a $40,000 price tag to name a couple.
Neither of those turned out to be fully true, and as it turns out, the equally-as-lofty 500-mile range is also, maybe, kind of true. In its most premium configuration — aptly dubbed the “Cyberbeast” — the Cybertruck is purporting an estimated range of about 340 miles on a charge.
If you’ve been following along with me, you’ll note that 340 miles is decidedly not 500 miles. So, big whiff, right? Maybe. Muddying the waters is an add-on offered by Tesla called a “Range Extender.” There’s, unfortunately, a dearth of official literature on Tesla’s range extender (shocker, I know) but according to Drew Baglino, SVP of Powertrain and Energy at Tesla, it’s a “toolbox-sized battery [that sits] against the back of the cab.”
If you’re wondering how a “toolbox-sized” battery could equate to more than 100 miles of additional range, you’re not alone. Baglino later clarified in an X thread that what he meant was a truck toolbox that sits in the back of a bed, which is notably much larger than an everyday toolbox.
Official renders of the extender suggest that Baglino may be at least partially accurate in that description, though, to me it looks a bit larger than what he’s describing. For reference, the Cybertruck’s bed is six feet long.
As noted on Tesla’s official site, with the range extender factored in, the top-tier Cybertruck is capable of churning out “470+” miles of range on a full charge. Now that’s looking more like the Cybertruck we were promised. But, brace yourself, because it’s going to cost ya.
What you need to know about the Cybertruck’s range extender
I, truthfully, can’t say either way if Tesla’s range extender will actually deliver on its promise of getting the Cybertruck close to 500 miles of range, but one thing I can almost guarantee is that it won’t come cheap.
There’s no official word on the price of the extender, but some Tesla Design Studio sleuthing suggests that it’ll run an additional $16,000 to the $100,000 you already paid for the top-of-the-line Cybertruck. Ouch.
Again, we’ll have to wait and see from Tesla just how much that “toolbox-sized” extender will cost, but right now, things are getting pretty pricey.
And if you’ve got cash to burn on a Cybertruck and the alleged 500-mile range was a big selling point for you, then I would suggest a wait-and-see approach, especially factoring in Tesla’s less-than-forthcoming attitude toward range in general.
