Tesla is reeling from worldwide sales slumps, political controversies surrounding CEO Elon Musk, and protests at its facilities on several continents. The company is reportedly sitting on so many unsold Cybertrucks that it now reportedly refuses to take its own product as a trade-in.
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Now, reports say, a long-promised Cybertruck upgrade may not materialize.
The Cybertruck range extender has disappeared from Tesla’s website.
Tesla no longer operates a media relations office or answers reporters’ questions, so we can’t ask whether the company no longer plans to build the snap-on battery pack or has simply paused orders.
About the Range Extender
Before the Cybertruck’s arrival, Musk was fond of promising that it would boast a range of 500 miles or more.
When it got here, its maximum range was just 325 miles. With rivals like the Chevrolet Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV posting ranges as high as 450 miles, the numbers seemed a disappointment.
But Tesla promised owners a solution – a secondary battery they could buy and have fitted to the Cybertruck’s bed. It would take up about a third of the available bed space and weigh so much that you couldn’t install or remove it at home. Tesla technicians would have to do that for you at a repair location.
It also cost an extra $16,000 – nearly the price of a Nissan Versa.
But it would add as much as 130 miles to the truck’s range, bringing it to parity with GM’s trucks.
It’s possible that the company still plans to build the battery for those who have placed a reservation. Electrek notes, “In its specs page, Tesla still lists the achievable range of both versions of the Cybertruck with and without the range extender battery.”