A teardown of the Tesla Cybertruck showed that the battery pack is somehow half empty, which the chief engineer confirmed, and we are quite confused about it.
At 123 kWh, the Cybertruck has the smallest battery pack of any electric pickup based on energy capacity.
Tesla has often been able to get over battery packs with less energy capacity through great efficiency.
This hasn’t really been the case with the Cybertruck, a pickup truck. People have been disappointed with its range, especially compared to what was originally announced at the vehicle’s unveiling.
Tesla instead came out with an optional ‘extended range’ battery pack that sits in the Cybertruck’s bed. However, the device is not available.
But now there’s another data point to throw into this already complex situation: Tesla Cybertruck’s battery pack is half empty.
Munro is currently doing a teardown of a Cybertruck and the company recently opened the battery pack revealing a lot of space between the layer of 4680 cells and the top plate:
Some Munro engineers pointed out it was basically “half empty,” and Cybertruck lead engineer Wes Morrill confirmed it by saying that he prefers to think of it as “half full”.
Now the question is: why is the Tesla Cybertruck’s battery pack half empty?
Electrek’s Take
This is interesting. I see many commentators saying that it could mean Tesla could put another layer of 4680 cells. and basically double of energy capacity of the battery pack.
I don’t think that this has been proven yet. It does indeed look like there’s a lot of space in there, but I can’t say for sure that there’s room for a full other layer in there.
If that’s the case, it would be confusing. Why isn’t Tesla offering a bigger battery pack for longer range – something closer to what was originally promised?
There could be a lot of different answers to that question. Tesla might have believed it would be too expensive. Maybe it would have limited its overall Cybertruck production too much. Telsa might have not wanted to have the added weight at all time, even when not needed, hence why they are going with the removable extended range battery pack.
I don’t know. When it comes to pricing, I’m not sure that’s the answer because it’s not like the extended-range battery pack is going to be cheap.
I welcome your own theories in the comment section below.
Author: Fred Lambert
Source: Electrek
Top comment by David Suto
Liked by 9 people
It’s possible they needed the extra depth to provide structural rigidity for the battery which is also the cabin floor. Another possibility is extra cooling buffer for 800V charging. But with the delay of the $25k car and the under delivered Cybertruck range, I’m betting that Tesla believed they would have cheaper and higher production capacity for batteries by now and are limiting battery size to limit costs they believe the market will accept.
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