It’s turning into another troubled week for Tesla, the automaker quietly removing the range-extended version of its controversial Cybertruck from its online order page. That comes as Tesla suffered an even worse slump than the rest of the stock market this week, with one of its strongest bulls slashing his future forecast for the brand. And, if that wasn’t bad enough, Tesla’s software chief has tendered his resignation. More from Headlight.News.
Cybertruck’s initial range fell far short of the promised 500 miles per charge.
When Tesla first revealed the Cybertruck back in November 2018, CEO Elon Musk promised it would deliver up to 500 miles range – and start at around $40,000. When deliveries began five years later the electric pickup cost more than twice as much and could muster a relatively meager 320 miles per charge, at best.
The plan, Musk subsequently announced, was to offer a “range-extender” option that would take it to the originally promised target, albeit at a yet-higher cost and the sacrifice of about a third of its cargo bed. Yet, Tesla later downgraded even the potential range benefits of the added battery.
Now, it appears, the range-extender option is either seriously delayed – not unusual for Tesla – or completely abandoned. For now, at least, the option has been deleted from the automaker’s online build tool used by many of its customers.
Meanwhile, unsold Cybertrucks have been piling up at dealerships and owners are having trouble getting rid of used ones, according to owners and other reports.
Cybertruck range-extender
The exact range of the extender has been revised downward since its original debut and it now appears to be gone from Tesla’s build site.
Cybertruck’s shortfalls – as well as the backlash to CEO Musk’s role in the Trump administration – have proven disastrous for the electric truck’s fortunes. Sales reportedly are down by 84% compared to the automaker’s original forecast, according to various data trackers.
Tesla to boost demand by adding a range-extender option that would get the figure back up to “470+” miles. Tesla isn’t alone in developing a range-extending option. But other brands, like Jeep, are working on ways to use an onboard gas engine to run a generator, keeping battery packs charged as long as there’s gas in the tank. Tesla’s solution was to add a separate battery pack in the forward portion of the cargo bed, “securely tied down,” it assured potential customers.
The solution wasn’t going to come cheap, the range-extender package initially listed on that build tool at $16,000. The other cost: losing a third of the cargo bed.
Add the fact that a recent revision to the build page lowered the estimated range target to just “415+” miles for the Cyberbeast and “445+” for the dual-motor EV.
Where did it go?
Tesla CEO Elon Musk shown here with Pres. Donald Trump during an appearance on the White House lawn last month.
Now, it seems, the range-extender package may be gone entirely. It’s certainly not popping up as an available option this week, just months ahead of the promised mid-2025 launch date.
Attempts to get clarification from the automaker have failed. Tesla currently does not have a media relations department.
There’s been no official confirmation on the fate of the range-extender. One of the most immediate questions we’d like answered is how Tesla will handle refunding the $2,000 deposit buyers had to plunk down when placing an order. The deposit was supposedly non-refundable, even though regular advance reservations for Cybertrucks could be canceled, those deposits returned.
As if Cybertruck didn’t have enough trouble, however, online owner forums and social media sites are claiming Tesla dealers are refusing to take the electric pickup as trade-in on the brand’s other vehicles. That appears to reflect a huge inventory of unsold Cybertrucks, reported Electrek, and a 55% decline in trade-in values after one year.
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More headaches for Tesla
In the weeks following Pres. Donald Trump’s election in November 2024, Tesla seemed ready to steamroll anything in its way. Its stock price, in particular, soared to new highs, reaching a mid-December peak of $488.54. But the high quickly wore off.
The stock has been on an increasingly rapid downturn since early January, now seemingly poised to deliver investors their 10th consecutive weekly decline. Losing momentum the last week was no surprise considering the global stock crisis triggered by Trump’s tariffs. But the plunge hasn’t slowed. Traded on the NASDAQ under the ticker TSLA, shares posted another loss on Monday – even as that exchange closed slightly up. And the losses continued on Tuesday.
Significantly, Wall Street’s biggest bull, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, has now joined the growing list of former optimists drubbing the stock. Pointing to the Musk backlash – which saw protests at hundreds of stores and service centers on March 29 – Ives wrote to investors, “The demand destruction for Tesla and brand damage is real.” He now has reduced his price target from $550 to $315 a share.
The exodus continues
Whether fired, forced out or just looking for other opportunities, the revolving door at Tesla has been spinning fast over the last two years, with an array of senior executives handing in their badges.
The latest is David Lau, its software chief. He’s been with the company after 13 years. He signed on even before Musk was named Tesla CEO, in fact.
His departure is widely seen as problematic considering the company’s heavy dependence on what has become known as the “software-defined vehicle.” His team worked on everything from powertrain controls to autonomous driving systems like Autopilot and Full Self-Driving.
One of the questions is whether his departure will impact the development of not only those programs but the development of both the Tesla Optimus robot and the fully driverless CyberCab Tesla plans to introduce later this year.
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