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Tesla Cybertruck Owners Who Frequently Charge Using Superchargers Show as Much as 5% Battery Degradation in a Few Months – 30 Times More Than Those Who Charge at Home

Cybertruck owners who rely heavily on the supercharger network show battery degradation as high as 5% within a few months. This is 30 times more degradation than those who charge at home.

Tesla has chosen to power the Cybertruck with a brand new, in-house-built 4680 battery, which the EV maker calls the “Cyber Cell.”

This is a departure from Tesla’s long-standing strategy of partnering with battery manufacturers to build the individual cells that go into the vehicle packs.

Tesla developed the batteries for previous vehicles, including the Model S, 3, Y, and X, in partnership with other companies, such as Panasonic, Samsung, and LG Chem.

Alternatively, Tesla also buys commercially available “off-the-shelf batteries” in the case of CATL’s lithium-iron-phosphate cells and BYD Blade batteries.

However, for the Cybertruck, Tesla has chosen to vertically integrate the battery cell manufacturing process. 

Not counting a short Model Y production run powered by 4680 cells with slightly different chemistry, the Cybertruck is Tesla’s first vehicle with in-house batteries.

Given that the 4680 cells are new and have not yet been widely tested on public roads, there is considerable interest in how these Tesla-built batteries will perform in the wild.

Thankfully, several Cybertruck owners have recently shared their battery degradation numbers with us, showing some interesting trends. Here is one big story from the Torque News Youtube Channel on what Cybertruck owners say about the degradation of their battery while mainly charging at home vs Supercharging.

 

Overall, in the first few thousand miles, the trend is that Tesla’s in-house-built Cybertruck 4680 Cyber Cells appear to be holding up pretty well. That’s as long as the owners do not frequently use the supercharger network to charge their trucks.

Some Cybrtrucks, almost exclusively charged at home, have retained 99.86% of their battery capacity after thousands of miles of travel.

However, a few Cybertruck owners who frequently charge using Tesla’s supercharger network have shown as high as 5% battery degradation within the first few months of ownership.

These numbers were shared on the Cybertruck Owners Club forum after Kyle, a Cybertruck owner from San Jose, California, inquired about everyone’s battery health.

Kyle asked fellow Cybertruck owners in the group to share their battery degradation, eliciting several responses.

Here is what Kyle wrote…

“Curious, what’s your battery degradation? I lost 3% in 10 months of driving my Cybertruck (15,000 miles). Post yours below.”

In response, several Cybertruck owners shared how much battery capacity their vehicles lost over the past few months.

On the bright side for Tesla, several Cybertruck owners showed that their trucks have barely lost any battery capacity over their short ownership experience.

For example, Steve, a Cybertruck owner from Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas, shows that his truck has only lost 0.14% of its maximum capacity over the past 8,100 miles.

Jeff, another Cybertruck owner from Virginia, says he only uses superchargers sparingly and shows that over the last 7,000 miles, his truck has only lost 0.16% of its maximum capacity.

These are incredible numbers; if we assume this rate continues, it means Jeff and Steve will retain over 98% of their battery capacity after 75,000 miles.

However, the situation is less rosy for Cybertruck owners who frequently top up their trucks using Tesla’s supercharger network or other fast-charging outlets.

For example, Gus, a Cybertruck owner from Austin, Texas, says that when he bought his Cybertruck, he exclusively charged it using the supercharger network, which caused it to degrade quickly by close to 5 percent.

Gus writes…

“I front-loaded my early degradation by Supercharging exclusively in the first few months, but it’s leveled off.”

Together with his post, Gus shared a screenshot of his Tessie app showing massive degradation over the first few months and later tapering off once he presumably stopped using the supercharger network.

Gus’s Cybertruck now only has 117.6 kWh capacity, down from the original 123.2 kWh when the truck was new. Gus has lost more than 15 miles of range over the past few months.

Another Cybertruck owner, Carlos Thomas from Oakland, California, shares that he also frequently uses the supercharger network and that his truck has lost 3.16% of its battery capacity.

Carlos writes…

“10,000 of the 16,000 plus miles I have driven have been "free" supercharging. I have not charged at home since July 2, 2024.”

Carlos shares that his Cybrtruck now only has 118.6 kWh battery capacity. This is more than 10 miles of range gone.

Another Cybertruck owner from Utah similarly shares that he supercharges his truck one-fourth of the time, and over 14,000 miles, it has lost more than 3% of its capacity.

This is better than the first two Cybertruck owners, who have lost 4% and 5% of their battery capacity, but the Utah owner superchargers less than the other Cybertruck owners.

Overall, looking at Cybertruck battery health for these owners, people who frequently supercharge their trucks experience as much as 30 times more degradation than those who charge at home.

Admittedly, there isn’t enough data here to make a conclusive ruling that frequent supercharging will definitely harm Cybertruck battery packs. However, with more than 30 times the rate of degradation between the two groups, I believe this is at least worthy of further study.

Please let me know what you think in the comments. Share your ideas by clicking the “Add new comment” button below. Also, visit our site, torquenews.com/Tesla, regularly for the latest updates.

Image: Courtesy of Tesla, inc.

For more information, check out: Early Cybertruck Owners Say They’re Unhappy With All the Free Benefits Tesla is Offering New Cybertruck Buyers – They’re Gathering Support to Pressure Tesla Into Giving Them the Same Perks

Tinsae Aregay has been following Tesla and the evolution of the EV space daily 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.

Comments

dirtyb0b (not verified)    January 11, 2025 - 10:29AM

Carlos writes…

“10,000 of the 16,000 plus miles I have driven have been "free" supercharging. I have not charged at home since July 2, 2025.”

Bro's living in the future lol. This article was submitted Jan. 11, 2025.

Squirrel (not verified)    January 11, 2025 - 6:04PM

Nothing new to see here. 14680 batteries were designed for flashlights. Tesla just drops the leading 1 to try to be even lamer.

NMK (not verified)    January 11, 2025 - 11:58PM

I thought this was common sense. Fast charging batteries is never good. Same thing goes with cell phones and EVERYTHING else. If you cant charge at home, you shouldnt buy an EV. Its that simple. Cell phones that come with super fast 10 amp chargers just want you to burn up the battery so you have to buy a new phone in 2 years. Use an older and\or slower 1-2 amp charger and the batter will last years and years.

Paul Govan (not verified)    January 12, 2025 - 5:34AM

Title howler! How can "Tesla Cybertruck *owners* show 5% battery degradation" ?
Proof-reader on vacation?

Kevin (not verified)    January 12, 2025 - 6:33AM

I have extensive experience with lithium batteries. Anyone who knows about these batteries knows that fast charging these batteries is very hard on them. Slower charge rates not only extends the life of these batteries but also charges them more “deeply”, meaning that they get topped off to 100%. Batteries that are fast charged only become charged to around 95%, even when new due to the automatic charger limiting the charge rate to prevent overheating.

Rich (not verified)    January 12, 2025 - 9:00AM

Bogus observation. Any Tesla that Supercharges a lot is being driven a lot further than those that always slow charge.
It's the mileage that results in normal range reduction. When those slow charging Cybertrucks reach the same mileage, they will have the same battery degradation.

J. (not verified)    January 12, 2025 - 9:36AM

It is known that supercharging a battery will cause damage to the battery capacity. Whether it's a cell phone or EV it's the same thing. Forcing the battery to charge at a high rate will shorten it's life.
Tesla knows this as well, but they offer these fast chargers so that the vehicles can compete with normal vehicles and the charge times are closer to the time it takes to fill a fuel tank.
Couriusly, if a Tesla battery fails while under warranty Tesla has the ability to pull charge data and see how many times the battery was fast charged and the intervals between charging as well. Tesla has and will continue to use this data to decline coverage. Even though they provide the superchargers for the purpose of fast charging, the "over use" is considered abuse and voids the battery warranty. And they likely do not even have to physically connect to your vehicle. Tesla is always pulling your data and can read it over the air.

Martin Winlow (not verified)    January 13, 2025 - 8:26AM

Has a single one of these reports been even vaguely scientifically verified? As any long-term EV owner will tell you, what the 'guessometer' (range remaining/state-of-charge meter) says may differ wildly from reality. Most of these devices operate by measuring energy in to and out of the battery and over time the process becomes relatively unreliable. The usual unofficial fix is to simply drive the EV until it is virtually no longer driveable (where at least until 'turtle mode'), thus resetting 'the algorithm' and revealing a much more accurate state of battery health.

David (not verified)    January 14, 2025 - 6:29PM

Does anybody think for one second that Elon Musk is not acutely aware of the effect his Superchargers have on Li-ion battery degradation? Why do you think he gives free Supercharging with his most costly electric vehicles? Can you say “expensive battery replacement”?

Blaze (not verified)    January 17, 2025 - 7:40AM

Really. That's a surprise somehow. It's basic physics really. More powerful faster equals more wear faster. As we know charging itself degrades batteries. Why is this surprising?

Let's see the coal or stuff used to make the power for charging and all the stuff used to make the truck. That'd probably be a shock.