How Efficient Is The Tesla Cybertruck? We May Never Officially Know
The Tesla Cybertruck has launched with two models that can go 320 miles and 340 miles between charges, according to Tesla. That sounds pretty good, but really means nothing by itself.
The size of the battery can have as much to do with range as a vehicle’s efficiency.
Tesla hasn’t confirmed the size of the Cybertruck’s pack, but EPA documents suggest it has a capacity on the order of 123 kWh.
Elon Musk claims it will be twice as efficient as the GMC Hummer EV, which would put it ahead of the Ford F-150 Lightning, as well. But when will we know for sure?
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Never, at least as far as EPA ratings on window stickers are concerned.
That’s because the Cybertruck All Wheel-Drive and Cyberbeast models that are first available for purchase have gross vehicle weight ratings (GVWR) of 9,103 pounds and 9,343 pounds.
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That puts them into the Class 2B heavy duty truck segment, which includes vehicles with GVWRs of 8,501 pounds to 10,000 pounds. Vehicles in this class, like the Ford F-250, do not get an efficiency label.
But, hang on. The Ford F-150 Lightning Platinum has a GVWR of 8,550 pounds and the heaviest version of the smaller Rivian R1T’s is 8,532 pounds. Both of them have MPG ratings on their window stickers.
(EPA)
Those figures are just over the limit, but as any wrestler or boxer will tell you, it’s enough to move it up to the heavier class. In this case, there are two classes at the same weight.
The EPA recently created the Medium Duty Passenger Vehicle classification, which requires labels on vehicles with Class 2B weights that have a pickup bed that’s less than 72 inches long.
The Rivian’s is 54 inches and the F-150 Lightning’s is 66 inches, which means they both get a label showing their MPGe. That’s Miles Per Gallon Equivalent, which is a metric used to compare electric and gasoline vehicle efficiency based on the amount of energy in a gallon of gasoline, which is 33.7 kWh.
As for the Cybertruck, its bed is 72 inches long, so it is exempt from the labeling requirement. The EPA told American Cars And Racing that there isn’t even a provision to request having a rating added to the window sticker or listed on FuelEconomy.gov.
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That’s not to say Tesla can’t run the test itself and release the results. That’s what GMC did with the first version of the Hummer EV Pickup, which it said gets 47 MPGe combined. It wasn’t exempt from the labeling because of its bed, which is only 60 inches long, but because it had a GVWR over 10,000 pounds that put it all the way into Class 3. Hummer has since added a model that comes in under the limit and it is rated at 50-53 MPGe, depending on which tires it comes with.
Given the Cybertruck’s unusual design, it’s unlikely Tesla will ever offer one with a shorter bed, but it is planning to launch a rear-wheel-drive model in 2025 that could potentially end up under the 8,501 GVWR limit and get an MPGe label.
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