- Tesla’s “range extender” for its Cybertruck has been officially priced at $22,000 in Canada
- Opting for the giant battery pack gives owners a massive boost in range, to 755 kilometres total
- While originally scheduled for release early 2025, Tesla’s now talking middle of next year
By this time, most gearheads know many of the timelines set out by Elon Musk for the vehicles from Tesla are a tad optimistic. Musk himself said as much during the presentations for his Robotaxi Cybercab earlier this month. The latest Tesla product to fall under a withering gaze of expectation? The so-called “range extender” for Tesla’s angular Cybertruck.
Designed to fit in the open cargo bed of a Cybertruck, where it would consume much of the formerly useful space, the range extender is listed as a CDN$22,000 option (it’s US$16,000 Stateside) on the vehicle when reserved through the Tesla website. A CDN$700 deposit is required to secure the thing. Installation requires involving techs at an official Tesla service centre, with production of the unit scheduled to kick off sometime early in the 2025 calendar year. Estimates place total range of a Cybertruck with this thing installed somewhere in the neighbourhood of 755 kilometres.
Alert readers will recognize those numbers mean the company has broken at least two promises in terms of the range extender. First, the 755-km figure is some 40 clicks south of what was hyped when this option was first detailed, meaning this is yet another instance of Tesla pushing the envelope of credibility when it comes to official range for its vehicles (official estimates from the feds have been revised in the past).
The other issue is timing. Tesla originally promised the range extender would be ready early in 2025 — and that is indeed still the timeline proffered by its website for the Canadian market. However, we must point out that American customers are being shown a timeline of mid-2025, some several months after the original promise.
It is not unreasonable to idly wonder if the Canadian site simply received boilerplate text with the original estimate of availability; after all, it seems strange the much smaller Canadian market would get the RE long before American customers. We would be happy if it did happen, however. It is also worth noting U.S. shoppers need to front a $2,000 deposit whilst, Canucks only need 700 clams.
For anyone not up to speed, the Cybertruck range extender isn’t a small gasoline-powered engine such as the one installed by BMW in its i3 Rex back in the day. Instead, Tesla is banking on giving Cybertruck owners a longer leash via a second ginormous battery installed as a toolbox-shaped module, meaning the RE is sort of like one of those bulky phone cases which have an extra battery for longer phone life.
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