Icy Tesla Cybertruck towing torture test tips triple-digit range — barely

The Tesla Cybertruck was billed by Tesla as an electric pickup truck made to do "real work," despite Ford protesting to the contrary. While the Cybertruck certainly has the power to haul and tow large, heavy loads, electric vehicles tend to suffer immense range degradation when towing. To find out how the Tesla Cybertruck would fair against the competition, Zack Nelson of the YouTube channel JerryRigEverything put the Cybertruck through the ringer in a cold weather towing test.

The Cybertruck in question is the dual-motor AWD Cybertruck rated for 340 miles (ca. 547 km) of EPA range, although many have found it to achieve far less. In the test, Nelson used the Cybertruck to tow his DIY electric Humvee in icy, below-freezing temperatures. At one point in the video, the Cybertruck displays the temperature as 32 °F (0 °C), and according to Nelson, the Humvee and trailer weigh in at around 11,000 lbs (ca. 4989 kg), which is Tesla's maximum rating for towing in the Cybertruck.

The combination of this maximum load and the frigid weather means that this is basically a worst-case scenario for the Cybertruck. At the end of the day, the Cybertruck managed to reach 90 miles (ca. 145 km) while towing its oversized electric companion — at least until Zach decided to call it quits with just 2% charge left in the battery. Calculating the total range from the remaining battery gives a total range of 103 miles, though. Some basic maths revealed that the Cybertruck loses 69.7% of its range in this brutal test.

While EVs are known to lose large chunks of their rated range in cold weather, Tesla's vehicles typically only lose around 24%, meaning the rest of the Cybertruck's range degradation was entirely due to the heavy load it was towing. Accounting for the cold weather, we might expect the Cybertruck to tow closer to 130 miles (ca. 209 km) when loaded to the max in good weather.

Previously, another Tesla Cybertruck range test resulted in a 160-mile (ca. 257 km) result while towing around 5,000 lbs (ca. 2267 kg).

Nelson also shared some of his thoughts on how the Cybertruck handled during the feat, noting that, even at a stand-still, the EV's steer-by-wire system handles the weight impressively.

Also of note was the vehicle's software, which seemed to still be in a pre-release state, due to a handful of odd behaviours. Compared to its contemporaries, the Tesla Cyebrtruck's range estimate also seems to be less sophisticated at guessing how far it can tow a load. While the Ford F-150 Lightning quickly recalibrated their range estimates in prior testing, the Cybertruck failed to do so, even after several miles of driving.

One other oddity that Nelson found during his test is that the Cybertruck doesn't quite know what to make of a trailer with another car on it. The infotainment screen erroneously displayed his Humvee as another vehicle tailgating the Cybertruck, despite the Tesla being in towing mode.

Buy a Cybertruck 1/24 die-cast metal toy car on Amazon, or read about the Cybertruck's development in Walter Isaacson's biography of Elon Musk.