Tesla finally calls it quits on Cybertruck range extender

Tesla has officially scrapped the range extender accessory it was making for Cybertrucks. In emails seen by Electrek, Tesla confirmed to Cybertruck owners that it’s “no longer planning to sell” the $16,000 battery pack, and that it would be issuing full refunds for the $2,000 deposit put down by customers.

The range extender would have taken up around half of the Cybertruck’s rear bed space, and Tesla initially promised that it would give the dual-motor Cybertruck an estimated total range of 470 miles. That estimate was downgraded to 445 miles in 2024, alongside the original release date of “early 2025” being bumped back to “mid-2025.”

Official confirmation of its cancellation follows Tesla quietly removing the range extender from the Cybertruck online configurator last month, preventing interested consumers from putting down a deposit for the unreleased accessory. 

The battery pack was intended to address disappointment over production versions of the electric pickup. When the tri-motor Cybertruck was announced in 2019, Tesla said it would cost about $70,000 and sport a range of more than 500 miles. The final version’s $99,990 price and 301-mile range fell short of that, as did the $79,990 dual-motor AWD model, with a 325-mile range. Tesla says its entry-level $69,990 Long Range Cybertruck can drive up to 362 miles on a charge.

This is the latest in a string of bad developments for Tesla. 35,000 – 50,000 Cybertruck units were sold in 2024 compared to the “over 1 million” people that Elon Musk said had reserved the vehicle the year prior, and sales across the Tesla lineup fell a staggering 13 percent year over year in the first quarter of 2025 amid protests and boycotts over Musk meddling in US and global politics.