1 gallon of generator fuel gets me how many miles?

[Uncle Paul]

Capt, Understand your situation and desire to use a Cybertruck to do your fun trips. You could try it in warmer and nicer weather to see exactly how much reserve you will have coming home. Then use that data to determine suitability for winter exploration.

Previous reports have shown others having difficulty using small generators as range extenders. Seems like the current draw for a Tesla often caused challenges with the little generators. They have come up with several work arounds, but still getting an efficient charge can be iffy.

If you are able to restrict the amount of "driving around" at your destination, it might work out, but it seemed from the tone of your OP that your CyberTruck needs to do "real truck stuff". My answer is that it will depend on just how much you are going to push it.

Since the Truck is yet to be produced, it makes it a challenge to give you a real positive answer. Don't believe that reliance on a small generator will give you the extra kick you are looking for.

 

[jerry33]

Why not just get the solar panel options. The basic solar panel will add 105 miles a week and the extensions another 210 miles a week. Saves the weight of a generator (and note that you need a generator that delivers computer grade electricity--most do not) and fuel.

 

[LCR1]

This is a perfect time to plug that I really companies would just offer the range without all the performance. I don't want a 3 second truck to 60mph, I do want the 500 mile range though.

 

[Capt Starbucks]

I really do appreciate the feedback and interest in this post by you all. For the most part, it seems most of you have EV experience. I really don't have any unless you count driving a borrowed Leaf around for a weekend (loved the EV part, but the car was a Turd) so thanks for bringing up some good points to a novice future EV'er.

I don't want to bring an electric truck up in the Montana mountains and have to defend why I can't drive it with a bunch of anti-EV'ers. I don't even own an EV and I'm already sick of anti-EV'ers! I'm sure you have a name for them?

 

[Capt Starbucks]

This is a perfect time to plug that I really companies would just offer the range without all the performance. I don't want a 3 second truck to 60mph, I do want the 500 mile range though.

I agree! Anything under 4 seconds makes people sick anyway. I test drove the I-Pace (forgot to mention that above) and floored it. A second later I hear the window in the back seat going down. I look in the rear view mirror to see sweat beading on my buddies forehead.

 

[jerry33]

I really do appreciate the feedback and interest in this post by you all. For the most part, it seems most of you have EV experience. I really don't have any unless you count driving a borrowed Leaf around for a weekend (loved the EV part, but the car was a Turd) so thanks for bringing up some good points to a novice future EV'er.?

I have over 130K miles on my S (about 50% are trip miles). When I bought it, there were three (count 'em three) Superchargers and they were in California (I'm in Texas). But we still went on trips. If you planned back then, it wasn't a problem. RV parks with 50 amp outlets are pretty much everywhere (rvparking.com). It takes a bit of planning to not have long waits if you are relying only on RV parks. Now that there are almost 800 Supercharger locations in North America plus about 70 more locations under construction (four of those are in Montana) now it's just load up the car and drive. I still use RV parks for overnight sleeping because the rate of charge doesn't matter.

 

[LCR1]

I really do appreciate the feedback and interest in this post by you all. For the most part, it seems most of you have EV experience. I really don't have any unless you count driving a borrowed Leaf around for a weekend (loved the EV part, but the car was a Turd) so thanks for bringing up some good points to a novice future EV'er.

I don't want to bring an electric truck up in the Montana mountains and have to defend why I can't drive it with a bunch of anti-EV'ers. I don't even own an EV and I'm already sick of anti-EV'ers! I'm sure you have a name for them?

ICEhole is a common name. But I also have a straight piped Superduty so I laugh just as much at the people drinking the Tesla/EV kool-aid.

 

[LCR1]

You also need to realize that a 300 mile range is calculated for 100-0% in something like 65-70 degrees and driving at 60 or 65mph. I'll commonly get 120 actual miles from 170 or so rated miles when driving normal Texas speeds of 75-80mph and sometimes 85-90+ in some areas. So your 300 miles rated on the truck could be like 240ish when driving "normally" in the summer and even closer to 200 in the dead of Montana winter. You'll also have to realize that the battery will degrade. I'm sure buy the time the Truck comes out it'll be better but my car has 9% degradation after 100K miles. So I'm constantly charging to 95% on road trips which is stupid slow charging after 80 and especially 90%

 

[Capt Starbucks]

ICEhole is a common name. But I also have a straight piped Superduty so I laugh just as much at the people drinking the Tesla/EV kool-aid.

Mine is straight piped as well. But with the old 7.3's and a Wicked Wheel, you just don't get a lot of noise out of the back. Most of mine is through the intake, turbo, and injectors.

 

[Capt Starbucks]

I have over 130K miles on my S (about 50% are trip miles). When I bought it, there were three (count 'em three) Superchargers and they were in California (I'm in Texas). But we still went on trips. If you planned back then, it wasn't a problem. RV parks with 50 amp outlets are pretty much everywhere (rvparking.com). It takes a bit of planning to not have long waits if you are relying only on RV parks. Now that there are almost 800 Supercharger locations in North America plus about 70 more locations under construction (four of those are in Montana) now it's just load up the car and drive. I still use RV parks for overnight sleeping because the rate of charge doesn't matter.

Perfect! There is a 50 amp campground 30 miles away from where we hunt. CT is back in the green.

 

[jerry33]

Perfect! There is a 50 amp campground 30 miles away from where we hunt. CT is back in the green.

Just remember that RV parks often have dodgy electricity, so don't set the amps to more than 32, otherwise it's likely you'll trip the breakers. (that's not a problem with gen2 UMCs, but the gen1s could go to 40 amps).

 

[aronth5]

Just be aware not any generator will work. For example I own an older Honeywell that I bought several years before my Tesla and it doesn't work but is would be too large anyway.
The generator must have a clean sine wave output. Here is information if anyone is interested.
https://generatorgrid.com/blog/tesla/

 

[DarthPierce]

Using a small Honda EU2200i inverter generator as an example, you can expect 3.2 hours of run time on 0.95 gallons of gas at 1800W.
That works out to 5760 kWh, or 6063 kWh/gallon. Now figure 90% charge efficiency and you're looking at 5457 kWh.
Estimating 500 Wh/mile for the CyberTruck, you can gain roughly 10.91 miles of range from your 1 gallon of gas.

The k in kWh means kilo or thousand. 3.2 hours at 1800W is 5760Wh or 5.76kWh (and 6.06kWh/gal). The range/gallon still is correct.

 

[Capt Starbucks]

Just remember that RV parks often have dodgy electricity, so don't set the amps to more than 32, otherwise it's likely you'll trip the breakers. (that's not a problem with gen2 UMCs, but the gen1s could go to 40 amps).

Couldn't be any worse than buying, or I should say, attempting to buy Pemex in the middle of Baja.

 

[tomas]

Nicely answered and to the point. I would just correct a small calculation error: 5760 kWh/.95 gal = 6063 kWh/gal. Which works out to 10.9 miles/gal.

Huh? Isn’t the major error that it should be Wh, not kWh?

 

[jerry33]

Huh? Isn’t the major error that it should be Wh, not kWh?

Correct, but it turns out not to matter due to the difference in efficiency between ICE (20%) and EV (90%).

 

[Evbwcaer]

Kmanauto on Youtube has a few videos relating to this question on his model S. He uses a few 2000ish watt inverter generators, which are portable enough for putting in a trunk and can charge an EV. Kman posts here under the name islandbay or something similar.

For many new generators you'll need a bonded grounding plug:
Southwire 44400, Surge Guard* Generator Neutral-Ground Bonding Plug


The Honda eu2200 has a .95 gallon (call is 1 gallon) tank and can run 3.4 (call it 3.5 hours) hours at 1800 watts. If you got Nema 5-20 for your UMC, you'll get about 120v/14a for 1,680 watts. 1,680X3.5hours=5,880whr. At 300whr/mile, which is what an S is basically rated for, that would give you (5,880/300) 19.6 mpg. I am calling the losses a wash because 1,680 watts used vs 1,800 rated. Note that real world could less because of the "overhead" load associated with charging, the computers and equipment may take 100w or so...nothing when you've got 10,000 watts, but more significant when you only have 1,600.

So my math is 19-20mpg for an S with a very realistic generator to have in a car. In a truck, you could bring something larger that would also be more efficient and 240.

 

[LCR1]

Just remember that RV parks often have dodgy electricity, so don't set the amps to more than 32, otherwise it's likely you'll trip the breakers. (that's not a problem with gen2 UMCs, but the gen1s could go to 40 amps).

I would agree, if you plan on leaving the truck for hours at a time then I'd lower amps to 32 or so on a 50amp RV outlet in case something happens and you're not there. If you're going to be around and able to keep an eye on it then I'd max it out at 40amps, that's assuming the truck comes with any charger capable of 40 amps. The Gen1 they made until 2018 or so did 40 amps the Gen2 that's shipped out now maxes out at 32amp. Obviously a truck is going to suck a lot of power and have a huge battery compared to the cars so who knows what Tesla will offer then. Below is a list of what the current Gen2 charger is capable on certain outlets I'd guess the truck would be getting 15mph max since the X (SUV) is getting 20mph, Recharging 300 miles would take about 20 hours if you decided to leave it that long.

And again we're talking a few years in the future so who knows what kind of range they'll pull from the batteries and what kind of charging infrastructure will get installed. I'd also recommend talking to campgrounds and parks you plan to visit and harp on them to get even a 50amp RV plug installed.

 

[jerry33]

I would agree, if you plan on leaving the truck for hours at a time then I'd lower amps to 32 or so on a 50amp RV outlet in case something happens and you're not there. If you're going to be around and able to keep an eye on it then I'd max it out at 40amps, that's assuming the truck comes with any charger capable of 40 amps.

I tried that early on but it wasn't very successful, watching what happens on the screen, you have to keep fiddling with it so as not to overload the circuits. Best to use 32 amps and not worry. I've never had a problem with 32 amps at any of the RV parks I've stayed at.

 

[OneLapper]

Looks like someone is planning on making a generator for the CT

https://cybertruckgenerator.com/