So, Tesla’s Cybertruck, a technological marvel? It’s debatable, and even more so when it comes to the time spent reloading the monster!
Barely out of the factories, the Cybertruck is already starting to get people talking about it, and not necessarily in a good way. Yesterday, we wrote you an article about the low autonomy of the vehicle in real use, much lower than that announced by Elon Musk himself. It seems that another fault has been added to the list of those we already know: a devilishly long recharge time. While the latter is an essential criterion in choosing an electric vehicle, the Cybertruck clearly does not fare well.
A rather sluggish recharge
If there is one technical aspect of electric vehicles that has seen notable progress, it is that of charging. Today, some terminals can offer up to 350 kWh. Tesla already offers 250 kWh with its V3 superchargers, and the V4s will double this capacity.
Despite this, the reality for the Cybertruck seems a little more complex. It is in a video published a week ago on YouTube (or even at the bottom of the article) that a couple reveals the weaknesses of the pick-up. In fact, we can see a rather strange charging curve: it starts rather well, but quickly, the power delivered to the vehicle decreases sharply. This very briefly reaches 255 kWh, but drops rather significantly as the battery fills. Result: to go from 14 to 90% charge, it will take no less than… 50 minutes! A very disappointing result.
Prospects for improvement
In the electric vehicle market, the Cybertruck is truly the ugly duckling. Despite its massive 123 kWh battery, it fails to maintain high charging rates as forecasts indicated. The Tesla Model 3 is doing much better. Its current competitor, the F-150 Lightning, is supposed to do better by going from 15 to 80% in around forty minutes. A characteristic which will still remain to be confirmed when it leaves production.
However, let’s consider this video test as just an overview. It is quite possible that the Cybertruck’s charging potential will improve in the future. Either through Over The Air updates, or with the arrival of V4 superchargers and their 800 kWh. However, the current results remain, let’s not hide it, very disappointing.
Sources: Clean Automotive, Youtube
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