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A New Video of a Tesla Cybertruck Supercharging While Towing a Trailer Shows Why Pull-Through Superchargers Are So Important

A new Cybertruck walk-around video has emerged showing the truck supercharging while still hooked up to a trailer. The video highlights why expanding pull-through superchargers is critical if Tesla want to make the Cybertruck an all-round capable truck.
Tesla Cybertruck

Yesterday, we published an article showing a new Tesla Cybertruck leak video that has all but confirmed the all-electric truck’s range. According to the video showcasing the Cybertruck’s new “Cyber user interface,” we know that the Cybertruck fully charged has a 267-mile range.

This number was calculated by Tesla’s onboard trip planner in the Cybertruck. However, since this range is for the particular trip the Cybertruck tester was going on, we can be generous and say the Cybertruck’s official EPA-rated range could be around 300 miles.

Elon Musk believes an electric vehicle does not need more than 250 miles of range. The way Musk sees it is, if you are able to drive at highway speeds of 80mph for 3 hours straight then you’re going to want to stretch your legs, use the restroom, and get a bite to eat.

Related News: Elon Musk Responds to Anti-Semitism Accusations Amid Pressure by Tesla Investors

In that time, your car will be charged up and you will be able to drive 3 more hours and repeat this cycle.

Largely we agree with Musk’s belief. It’s rare that anyone ever drives 5 to 6 hours straight at highway speeds without taking a break which means an electric vehicle with 250/300 miles range should suffice.

This is true when it comes to cars and SUVs which are usually meant for personal use and are mostly not tasked with carrying heavy loads that could significantly affect their range.

However, if we’re talking about trucks, it’s a whole other game. Most trucks are used for work or to carry or tow heavy objects. This can easily cut an electric truck’s rated range by more than half.

A good example of this is videos of the Ford F-150 Lighting and Rivian R1T towing tests. While towing a heavy trailer, these vehicles, which have an official EPA-rated range of around 300 miles, see their ranges drop to around 100 miles.

This brings us to the task at hand. If you are towing a trailer using a Cybertruck, which has comparable range numbers to the Ford F-150 Lightning and Rivian R1T, similar to what happened to these vehicles, you will see the Cybertruck’s range drop to about 100 miles.

On its own, this is enough to cause frustration however, add to this the fact that most superchargers are not optimized for charging while towing, then it’ll mean every 100 or so miles you’ve to hook and unhook your trailer.

This pushes towing using a Cybertruck from frustrating to unacceptable. So what’s the solution? The simplest and obvious answer would be to increase the Cybertruck’s range by increasing the size of the battery pack. However, this will increase the truck’s weight, and cost, and lower its efficiency.

If battery energy density keeps increasing year over year at the pace it’s currently improving, then the issue will undoubtedly be solved in the future. However, what to do in the meantime?

In my previous article, showing a picture of someone trying to pump gas into a Cybertruck (hopefully jokingly) I discussed the idea of fitting the Cybertruck with an onboard generator that could be fired up to increase its range while towing or on longer trips.

Although this approach has several practical advantages, it doesn’t appear that Elon Musk will ever build a Tesla that uses gas. So what to do then? One easy solution to at least address part of the problem is, building more superchargers with pull-through charging stalls.

If you’re towing or carrying a heavy load, you would still need to frequently supercharge, however, you will not at least need to hook and unhook your trailer every time you have to recharge your truck, which could be extremely frustrating.

This should at least partly mitigate the concern associated with the Cybertruck’s range. As you can see in the video, a release candidate Cybertruck is seen supercharging.

Although towing and hooked up to a large trailer, since this particular supercharger has a pull pull-through charging stall, the truck was able to supercharge without needing to unhook the trailer.

This is still not as ideal as having a super long-range Cybertruck that will barely need to supercharge, however having the option for a pull-through supercharger should at least noticeably improve the user experience.

As of now, there are only a handful of Tesla superchargers with a pull-through charging stall option however, we recommend Tesla install at least one pull-through supercharger at every supercharger station in markets it expects to sell the Cybertruck.

Currently, with the rollout of the company’s V4 superchargers, Tesla is doing a lot of work to improve the already industry-leading supercharger experience and we’ll be sure to keep you posted as the EV maker improves this front.

Until then, make sure to visit our site torquenews.com/Tesla regularly for the latest updates.

So what do you think? Excited to see a Tesla Cybertruck supercharging while hooked up to a trailer? Also, in addition to pull-through superchargers, what do you think Tesla should do to make the Cybertruck a capable work truck? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Image: Courtesy of Nic Cruz Patane on X

For more information check out: Tesla’s 1st Ever YouTube Ad Shows a Model Y Getting Run Over by a Silverado Pickup Truck

Tinsae Aregay has been following Tesla and The evolution of the EV space on a daily basis for several years. He covers everything about Tesla from the cars to Elon Musk, the energy business, and autonomy. Follow Tinsae on Twitter at @TinsaeAregay for daily Tesla news.

Automotive News
Electric Vehicle News and Reviews
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Pickup Trucks
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Tesla Cybertruck

Comments

Joseph Fessler (not verified)    November 28, 2023 - 12:01AM

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What if you had a place in the back of the Cyber truck where you could plug in additional batteries and put them in the bed of the truck if you needed to get extra range. That way you wouldn't have to load them unless you needed the extra range and avoid having to carry extra batteries you should even be able to do that with your own personal car. Most people don't drive more than 50 or 60 miles a day so why do you need a car that has a 300 mile range. If you need to make a trip you go rent a fully charge battery and have it just dropped into the trunk of your car. Then when the trip is over you go back to the Rental Station Drive into the lift area and they removed the extra battery.