Not necessarily.
It's towing capacity (11000lbs) exceeds the Ford Lightning (10000lb). It's able to push out 11.5kW of 240V power vs the Lightning's 9.2kW. The Lightning's payload capacity (2235lbs) is lower than the Cybertruck's (2500lbs). And the Lightning doesn't have a comparable AWD build with similar range anywhere close to $70k because the Platinum is around $90k (and you also go down to 8500lbs towing capacity...)
The R1T is a bit worse with 1764lbs payload, though they match the towing capacity of 11000lbs. Unfortunately it's like $10k more expensive.
Not what I meant - the truck is bed relatively small (especially compared to some ICE trucks. Also, good luck accessing things near the cab in the bed without having to actually get into it), and it apparently can't go up mild inclines as we saw in that video vs the lightning. Towing isn't the only thing a truck should do (although that is one thing).
Besides not being a real truck capable of offroading though, they went from 500+ miles @ $70,000 at announcement to less than 350 miles @ $100,000. That's insane, and not what Tesla promised customers that preordered.
I don't really see myself buying a pickup, much less an EV pickup, but it will be interesting to see other EV pickup makers do in response to the range extender. Supposedly, the range extender increases the AWD range to 470mi and RWD to 440mi.
I know a few people who are skeptical of EV pickup trucks because towing absolutely kills the range on EVs right now. I'd imagine an extra battery pack would make the towing range a lot more bearable.
Let's say the range gets cut by half when towing. If the range extending battery actually lives up to it's claim, that'd be 235mi range total 0-100%, or 141 miles from 20-80%. Stopping every 141 miles would be a LOT better than stopping every 80-90 for a charge.
I am looking forward to Ford and Rivian possibly building something similar with their trucks to help get rid of the towing argument.
Drew Baglino a Tesla exec said its a toolbox sized battery that goes against the back of the truck bed.
If this can be rented that would be amazing.
People don't need that extra range for the majority of their day to day use. Being able to rent it for 2 weeks when you take the camping trailer or boat on an extended trip would be amazing.
The extender is $16k and only gets you 130 extra miles. $123 per mile. This seems absolutely not worth the cost, and if you're towing it's probably only adding 60 more miles. It seems much more like a gimmick that nobody's going to buy than a useful tool.
But that means they already have quite a bit more space for more batteries that isn't being utilized for anything on the lower range models, which seems like a huge waste. If they can power more motors and get 100 miles of additional range in the same vehicle, they're really leaving a lot on the table.
The wheels are geared towards different optimal speeds. So one set is more efficient at slow speeds and the other more efficient at high speeds. So it relies on one or the other depending on driving conditions meaning it's more efficient at different speeds. Single wheel drive EVs have to have a more one size fits all gearing that is less efficient overall.
This is the case with their other cars too. With the 3/Y they use a higher capacity battery pack in AWD models vs. RWD. Maybe that's what is going on here?
Weird I guess they don't mind sacrificing range even though they apparently have the space available for more batteries. I've primarily been eyeballing Hyundai EVs and they seemingly just use a single size pack and range suffers with more motors/drive wheels.