It’s not looking good for Tesla’s Cybertruck range extender

The Cybertruck Range Extender was announced at the vehicle’s delivery event as a $16,000 add-on that appears to take up about half of the truck’s usable rear bed space. Tesla initially promised in 2019 that the tri-motor Cybertruck would go more than 500 miles on a charge for about $70,000 — and that’s without any mention of an add-on battery.

Now, the highest range Cybertruck available for order is the 325-mile dual-motor AWD model for $79,990, and the tri-motor “Cyberbeast” goes 301 miles for $99,990. Previously, Tesla promised the battery would stretch the Cybertruck’s range to 470 miles, but the estimation was downgraded in 2024.

As of this writing, the battery extender is still mentioned in the Cybertruck specs section of the site, and there’s no indication that it has been cancelled altogether. But it’s not looking good for the accessory, as it was initially supposed to become available in “early 2025,” and then was delayed to “mid 2025,” and now seems to be missing in action.

Tesla has been collecting a $2,000 non-refundable fee from customers to reserve the battery extender, and it’s unclear what Tesla will do with the money if the battery doesn’t come to market.