Tesla Cybertruck owner's ordeal while towing 11,000 pound boat proves just how impractical it is over long distances

[Redaktion]

Tesla's Cybertruck is undeniably a very powerful and capable machine. However, although the truck can tow 11,000 lbs pretty effortlessly, it does so while losing range quite rapidly. This, along with the long charging times, makes towing using the Cybertruck a rather stressful ordeal, as depicted in a recent YouTube video.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Tesla-Cybertruck-owner-s-ordeal-while-towing-11-000-pound-boat-proves-just-how-impractical-it-is-over-long-distances.852343.0.html

[indy]

Have a mid-sized Honda Ridgeline (probably considered "small" in today's truck market.) We have a trailer that I estimate between 4-5,000 pounds.

Without trailer Freeway: 21 MPG

Without trailer City/Highway: 18 MPG

With Trailer Highway: 8-10 MPG.

It doesn't impact our trips much at all, really, since we fill up before we hitch up, and maybe 1-2 stops for a typical 3-5 hour trip into the woods/mountains (We don't need to adjust fill-ups for our trip, there are gas stations even in rural towns.)

Cybertruck would be 4 times the cost of our current perfectly functional setup!

[A]

For this to work, you probably want the v4 superchargers to be more common, and the extended range version of the cybertruck

That said, why didn't he cover his boat? He is paying a huge aerodynamics penalty. On top of that he is towing it backwards and not forward which makes aerodynamics even worse

It has been proven in tow tests that you'd rather tow something 5x heavier than poor aerodynamics. If he would have towed it forward and covered it in a cover, he'd like get at least double the range

[Robert Hanson]

Dog on Tesla, get more clicks. Rip on the CyberTruck, get more clicks. Fine journalism.

[Willie]

Of course; this guy has it all.   He probably don't get anything for his birthday, or Christmas because he have all the wealth to himself.   People all around the world don't even have clean drinking water; nor adequate food to eat.  Perhaps God did make a mistake; afterall,  when he decided to make other races of people; particularly BLACK people that would get neglected, and hated to the point of poverty, and starvation; while others live with great abundance, wealth, and blessings; alike. God should have made everybody to be white caucasion in order that we too would live with a great abundance.

[RC II]

1. That boat is nowhere near 11,000 lb, more like 4,000.
2. As he said, driving way too fast, should be going max 60 miles an hour.
3. Disagree that covering the boat would make it so easier, however dropping that tall top that was flapping in the wind would have helped some and would have been easy.
4. Stop testing the acceleration, that hurts range tremendously.
5. Stop quoting cost for charging on the road where you're being charged 30, 40, 50 cents a kilowatt hour when charging at home cost small fractions of that. That would be like saying that a gasoline car is so much more expensive when I went on a trip and paid $15 a gallon for gas, ridiculous. Why do we never hear about people charging their EVs at five six or seven cents a kilowatt hour during off peak hours at home, when that is where the majority of charging happens?

Yes, electric vehicles are not good at towing, mostly due to their slow rate of refueling compared to a gasoline or diesel vehicle. Gasoline or diesel vehicles drop their efficiency tremendously when towing due to the extra drag.  Electric vehicles seem to drop even worse due to drag and inefficiency at high power levels.  Both those things make for a bad towing combination.

Enjoy the extremely inexpensive driving around town of an EV when charged at low cost, tow short distances, rent an IC vehicle when needing to tow long distances, save lots of money and maintenance.  Not difficult.

[Rick]

That boat according to Godfrey themselves lists the weight of the boat at 3k and your probably less that 1,000 lbs trailer weight. 11,000 lbs is almost 4x the actual weight.

[Tj996]

11000 lbs?  Not a chance. That tritoon is like 4000 lbs max.  Sure towing a  big pontoon is a huge wind brake, but it's not 11000 lbs. Imagine if this CT was actually towing 11000 lbs. Would it get 15% of range and not 30%?   Towing my 5000 lb 25 ft runabout with my 12000 lb capable V8 half ton truck, I get about 40% less mpg, but I've got a 36 g tank and I can go ~400 miles towing that per tank.

That said, this guy's quickly learned why ev's suck for towing.


A couple of other observations, this guy doesn't understand how to get the cover on his Bimini on properly as it was flapping around the whole time, and he is clearly a novice at towing and launching a boat as evidenced by his attempts at the launch. 

[Bob Blakely]

11,000lb. Unless there is an enormous brake upgrade on the trailer he is a menace on the road

[Sambit Saha]

Update: A previous version of this article incorrectly mentioned the total towing load as 11,000 pounds. Based on the title of the video and the shockingly poor overall efficiency, I assumed that number to be correct. Last winter, a different YouTuber tested the Cybertruck's towing range with an 11,000-pound load, and his results were largely the same as these (less than a mile/kWh). The fact that the boat and trailer weigh approximately 4,000 pounds makes the overall range performance (while towing) of the Cybertruck even poorer than I previously thought. I apologise for the oversight.

[ZuliMuli]

Stop giving these people attention, no one bought a Cyber truck to tow with seriously.  They did it to make s*** videos and get attention, stop giving it to them.

[Mule]

The article simultaneously calls the Cybertruck "capable" while discussing the fact it is useless as a truck. That would make it not capable. The "power" is also somewhat undermined by the fact that one can hardly use it.

Most cybertruck owners probably won't use it to tow because it isn't a useful truck, which is odd because it's right in the name. People who want to tow will buy an actual truck.

The GM Silverado EV can tow up to 12,500lb in some packages, and absolutely dunks on the Cybertruck for towing range. Tesla had the market advantage and let it slip through their fingers because the CEO is a clown that couldn't focus on just building a real product and delivering it on time.

[Ken C]

You have to give it to elon musk for trying to make the truck that just wouldn't go, you should have bought a V8 if you're going to tow anything, you know that, the fact that you can afford an electric truck like the cybertruck means you don't have any room to complain about anything, at all, at this point in your life anyway, hopefully you never become poor, reversals of fortune happen all the time however.... did you never read Ecclesiastes 9:11? It says... the Swift do not always win the race, nor do the mighty win the battle, nor do the wise always have the food, nor do the intelligent always have the riches, nor do those with knowledge always have success, because time and unexpected events overtake them all... in this case a dead battery and extra charging times. Had you purchased a real truck you would just have stopped and got gas and it would have been a non-event

[Andrew S]

Truck is amazing. So, towing is not its strength. I would rather have that over an F-150 that looks the same over past 20 years!

[Clayton]

Tesla is trash why would anyone thing a garbage can could tow anything