- Tesla quietly removed the Cybertruck's unreleased $16,000 Range Extender from its online shop.
- Customers were previously able to place a non-refundable deposit of $2,000 to reserve one.
- The pack was delayed several times, dropping its claimed range boost by around 15%.
If you were one of the millions of 50,000 people who purchased a Tesla Cybertruck since its production launch, you've probably at least considered purchasing the official Range Extender when it releases. Granted, the accessory isn't cheap. But with the truck missing the mark on its promised range, it's an option for those who need more juice. There's just one problem: it's now missing from Tesla's online configurator.
According to Electrek, Tesla quietly removed the battery pack from its online shop leading into the weekend. This left folks questioning whether the pack has been delayed once again, or if it's officially gone from vaporware to complete vapor.
Originally, range was supposed to be one of the Cybertruck's selling points. Then again, so were armored glass windows, bulletproof doors, and a starting price of under $40,000. The delivered product not only missed hitting its price target of $69,900 for its top-trimmed model, but it also couldn't hit the promised 500 miles of range. Instead, the Cyberbeast launched at $119,990 with a range of just 320 miles until the battery was stone-cold dead.
So Tesla popped in with a way to save the day. For an extra $16,000, you could equip the truck with a dealer-installed battery pack that takes up around a third of the truck's bed. The battery pack, which was originally estimated to bump the truck to 470 miles of range, was delayed several times before Tesla reduced the range estimate to around 445 miles.
And now it's off the website completely.
It's not clear what this means for the future of the Cybertruck's Range Extender. Nor is it clear what will happen to the non-refundable $2,000 deposit folks plunked down to get one. Back in February 2024, around 25% of Tesla owners unofficially surveyed reported that they put down a deposit (which was $500 at the time) for the Range Extender.
The truck is rumored to soon get a huge battery upgrade thanks to Tesla's 4680-cell program finally materializing. It's not clear if this upgrade will impact the range or performance of the Cybertruck's current pack, but the rumored improvement is expected to be a huge cost savings for Tesla. It's possible that if Tesla does have a battery upgrade planned, it could be reconsidering how to package its extended pack—but that's contingent on not only if, but what the rumored upgrade achieves.
Then again, all of this is kind of moot if Tesla can't increase the number of Cybertrucks that it sells. If we're being honest, the truck needs all of the help it can get. Not only have Tesla sales as a whole dropped off following CEO Elon Musk's political meddling, but Cybertruck sales in particular have seemingly failed to materialize as expected.
