The Cybertruck Needs a Giant Extra Battery in Its Bed to Get the Range Elon Promised

No, it's not included in the price.

Range Anxiety

The Cybertruck is finally here — and it's a far cry from what was originally promised by CEO Elon Musk just over four years ago.

The stainless steel pickup's disappointing range, in particular, highlights the many compromises Tesla had to make to get its truck onto the show floor.

In fact, Musk didn't even make any mention of the truck's pricing and range at the extremely chaotic delivery event on Wednesday.

But on paper, the Cybertruck's entry-level $60,990 trim has a measly 250-mile range. Even the $100,000 top trim "CyberBeast" has a range of just 320 miles.

That's just over half of what Musk initially promised on stage back in 2019. At the time, the mercurial CEO promised a top trim tri-motor variant with a 500-mile range for just $69,900.

In a half-hearted attempt to appease sticker-shocked and disappointed fans, Tesla came up with an awkward workaround, offering customers an entirely separate battery pack that takes up a large portion of the truck's bed, pushing the top trim's range to a more-respectable 440 miles — at the expense of its already-small bed, of course.

Sysyphus' Cybetruck

Considering real-world ranges will likely be less than that, it's not exactly a good look, highlighting yet again that Musk should never be taken by his word.

Tesla's range extender is an "optional pack that fits in about 1/3 of the truck bed," according to Musk. "Still room for plenty of cargo."

"It’s meant for very long trips or towing heavy things up mountains," he added.

As for how much the extender will cost on top of the Cybertruck's already inflated asking price remains to be seen. Tesla also didn't announce a date for when it'll be made available, which means customers who want some half-decent range out of their Cybertrucks will have to wait even longer.

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