Tesla is working to increase the Cybertruck's range beyond 800 km

On November 30, Tesla revealed the official range of the two Cybertruck versions currently on sale, with figures slightly below what was initially promised. This left some of the brand’s customers in the United States somewhat disappointed, as they are used to driving long distances in a country as vast as theirs. 340 miles (547 km) for the dual-motor version and 320 miles (515 km) for the Cyberbeast tri-motor version is, however, a considerable range for an electric pickup of these dimensions and weight, in our opinion.

To get closer to the 500 miles of range announced by Tesla when the first prototype was presented in November 2019, the American manufacturer announced on November 30 the availability of an optional battery pack that will be installed in the Cybertruck’s cargo area. With this pack, which acts as a range extender, Tesla promises a range of more than 470 miles (757 km), thus not falling far short of the company’s initial promise.

However, the commercialization of this optional battery pack does not mean that Tesla has given up on offering 500 miles of range in its electric pickup. In a recent video published by Sandy Munro on his YouTube channel Munro Live, in which he talks with Drew Baglino, one of the main people responsible for developing the Cybertruck’s propulsion system, the latter has assured that Tesla’s engineers are still working to increase the Cybertruck’s range to reach the promised 500 miles rather than settling for the little over 470 that can currently be achieved with the optional battery pack.

Although Baglino has not explained how they intend to achieve this, there are two possible paths to reach this goal. The first would be through software improvements that increase the vehicle’s efficiency, something we have already seen on previous occasions in other electric vehicles from the American manufacturer, such as the Model S and Model X. A second possibility would obviously be increasing the number of cells in the optional battery pack.

Some critics’ obsession with range makes no sense

What Baglino did explain in his conversation with Munro is the reason that led them to offer a range of between 320 and 340 miles on the Cybertruck depending on the version, and the explanation is not at all illogical. First of all, it must be taken into account that the vast majority of drivers only make such long trips on rare occasions. It is therefore absurd to continuously carry a certain number of cells that will not actually be used, penalizing the vehicle’s efficiency and range due to the additional weight they entail.

On the other hand, as Baglino explained, Tesla’s goal is to sell as many electric vehicles as possible in the coming years in order to promote the transition to electric and sustainable mobility. Given that cell production capacity is limited, it would not make much sense to equip its vehicles with an excess of cells that most of its customers will not make use of, thereby limiting the manufacturer’s vehicle production volume.

For those who will make use of extended range, the optional battery pack is precisely aimed at them, thus solving the problem for these specific cases with a smaller total number of cells.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alDoxPuXRFQ