Opinion: Tesla Truck needs a 250kWh pack if you want to tow.

[Kevy Baby]

Or the CT just gets a whole new kind of battery: Tesla Cybertruck & Semi: Radical New Battery Design Anticipated

 

[Silver Ghost]

So does the ac lower your range to half or a quarter of the normal range, I'm in Oklahoma, so I would really like to know?

AC is fairly efficient, by AC I mean cooling. Heating is another issue but if you bundle up and use the seat warmer - it is not so bad.
The range killer is the speed and if you choose to use the heat.

 

[DJVoorhees]

Reading these posts, I wonder if the majority of folks have ever towed anything at all in real life.
Stop and go, crosswinds, traffic, they will take a serious toll on an electric truck, much more than a petrol engine, Tesla or not.

Lets not even talk about using the heat in cold weather while towing.

 

[ratsbew]

A Cybertruck with a 250kWh pack on version 3 superchargers would be practical for occasional long distance towing. It would be somewhat painful if you tow more than 1-2x per year. The problem is that v3 superchargers aren't commonplace other than the new Canadian transcontinental route.

Towing on the legacy 150kW superchargers would be painfully slow even if the big pack can absorb 150kW from 0-80%.

 

[Saghost]

Reading these posts, I wonder if the majority of folks have ever towed anything at all in real life.
Stop and go, crosswinds, traffic, they will take a serious toll on an electric truck, much more than a petrol engine, Tesla or not.

Lets not even talk about using the heat in cold weather while towing.

Worse than a petrol truck? I think not, sir.

Under normal circumstances, EVs handle traffic and stop and go driving far better and much more efficiently than ICE vehicles, and I believe that will continue to be the case while towing.

We’ll have to see how much trailer braking they have to use to keep the combination stable, which will be energy lost in the towing EV that you don’t lose in other EVs - but that’s still going to be far better than the ICE that throws all the energy out the window every time.

Crosswinds will have the exact same percentage effect on both cars.

Heating in cold weather will be less of an issue on a towing EV, because it’s the same energy per unit time as for an EV that isn’t towing, and the towing EV is burning a lot more energy to, you know, tow big things, so the percentage impact of the heating will be much smaller.

 

[Blup85]

Worse than a petrol truck? I think not, sir.

Under normal circumstances, EVs handle traffic and stop and go driving far better and much more efficiently than ICE vehicles, and I believe that will continue to be the case while towing.

We’ll have to see how much trailer braking they have to use to keep the combination stable, which will be energy lost in the towing EV that you don’t lose in other EVs - but that’s still going to be far better than the ICE that throws all the energy out the window every time.

Crosswinds will have the exact same percentage effect on both cars.

Heating in cold weather will be less of an issue on a towing EV, because it’s the same energy per unit time as for an EV that isn’t towing, and the towing EV is burning a lot more energy to, you know, tow big things, so the percentage impact of the heating will be much smaller.

One could argue that towing will create more waste heat, that is more readily used by an EV (Only Tesla so far)

 

[TKJD0817]

After traveling on a 25-27 hour trip in a Model Y from Louisiana to Colorado, the extra battery capacity isn't as necessary as some may believe. The main benefit is being able to charge at a higher rate for longer. The main goal would be to charge as fast as you can to get to the next charger.

On the way home, we ended up meeting the same Model S raven at charging stops as he was taking the same route.

The main benefit to having more battery capacity would be charge faster for longer, travel further on the first leg of the trip, & travel further on the final leg of the trip (if traveling away from the network).

Also, I REALLY enjoyed the drive in the Tesla, charging stops & all. Take a bit long but it's WAY less stressful & saved us a whole lot of money. Cost came out to about $0.04/mile. $111 total!

I'm no expert so please correct me with technical information if needed.

 

[scottf200]

After traveling on a 25-27 hour trip in a Model Y from Louisiana to Colorado, the extra battery capacity isn't as necessary as some may believe. The main benefit is being able to charge at a higher rate for longer. The main goal would be to charge as fast as you can to get to the next charger.

I've been doing long roadtrips for a few years now originally in my X 90D (RIP due to deer) and now X 100D. I was surprised how much of a difference it makes. You can skip superchargers occasionally as the next one is 'close enough'. As well there is less range anxiety for you/passengers such as single digit SOCs, or winter driving, or driving at the speed limit +10 MPH. Extra battery matters.

 

[TKJD0817]

I've been doing long roadtrips for a few years now originally in my X 90D (RIP due to deer) and now X 100D. I was surprised how much of a difference it makes. You can skip superchargers occasionally as the next one is 'close enough'. As well there is less range anxiety for you/passengers such as single digit SOCs, or winter driving, or driving at the speed limit +10 MPH. Extra battery matters.

With your experience, I would to know how much time was saved on those trips. This is with the assumption that you have taken the same trips on both Xs. I have the dual motor cybertruck reserved & might change to the tri motor if worth the extra cost

 

[Xenoilphobe]

A Cybertruck with a 250kWh pack on version 3 superchargers would be practical for occasional long distance towing. It would be somewhat painful if you tow more than 1-2x per year. The problem is that v3 superchargers aren't commonplace other than the new Canadian transcontinental route.

Towing on the legacy 150kW superchargers would be painfully slow even if the big pack can absorb 150kW from 0-80%.

unless they added two charging ports (one on each side)...

 

[eladts]

Agreed. A pickup doing 90mph at 100F will easily use 500Wh/mile without a trailer. That's still 400 miles on a 200kWh pack though which would be amazing.

Towing a large trailer at 90 mph isn't a good idea. The tires of most large trailers are designed for a maximum speed of 75 mph or less.

 

[Kevy Baby]

unless they added two charging ports (one on each side)...

Boy, that could piss off a lot of people at busy SuCs

 

[nwdiver]

Boy, that could piss off a lot of people at busy SuCs

Pretty sure trailer towing CyberTrucks will already have that base covered w/o a SC port on each side....

 

[scottf200]

With your experience, I would to know how much time was saved on those trips. This is with the assumption that you have taken the same trips on both Xs. I have the dual motor cybertruck reserved & might change to the tri motor if worth the extra cost

Note that I mentioned things besides speed as well.

I've done similar trips but it would be too hard to compare with the kW limits raised on superchargers (v2) and with more supercharging locations added and several other factors I can think off. At a high-level the one trip I'm thinking of required 1 less stops but hard to say if I had to charge an extra few minutes or not. Still generally it is not just your charging time but getting off the highway and going to the supercharger time as well.

As another comparison even in my X100D along the same drive to the same destination (AirBnB cabin) with my kid in his LR Model 3, he was always 'done' charging several minutes before me and arrived at a higher SOC. I was surprised at how much of a difference it was on that several hundred mile trip.

There is absolutely NO doubt that you would appreciate a larger battery not only now but a year or more down the road with battery degradation (~5% first year and slower from then on).

I have 2 friends that got SR or SR+. Guess what .... after a month or two of ownership ...**both** said 100% they wish they got the LRs.

 

[rhumbliner]

Most importantly, there would be no tailpipe pollution.

+1