Tesla Cybertruck is soon going to get a 20% increase in its fast-charging speed through an over-the-air software update.
When Tesla launches a new vehicle program, it often starts delivering it without having completely finished its development – especially on the software side of things.
For example, the Cybertruck still doesn’t have many Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD) features despite Tesla delivering all of them with Autopilot and FSD packages.
The automaker plans to deliver those later through over-the-air software updates.
When it comes to the powertrain, you wouldn’t think that software can do much, but there are often improvements to be made. Tesla often software limits its powertrain in new vehicles until it can build more confidence into the hardware and then unlocks more capability through software updates.
This appears to be the case with the Cybertruck’s charging capacity.
Early looks at the Cybertruck’s charge curve were disappointing. We previously reported on a session where the Cybertruck jumped to a peak charge rate of 255kW, but it quickly started to taper, with charge rate gradually decreasing starting at only 20% state-of-charge (SOC). By the time it reached 40% SOC, it was already down to 150kW, 100kW at 60% SOC, and reaches a plateau of 75-80kW at about 66% SOC, which it holds until around 90%.
Now, Tesla says that it is addressing that.
Drew Baglino, Tesla’s head of energy and powertrain engineering, said that the automaker is increasing the Cybertruck’s charge curve to 154 miles of range in just 15 minutes:
Cybertruck charge curve improvements are coming OTA later this quarter to unlock up to 154 miles recovered in 15 minutes.
Currently, Tesla estimates “up to 128 miles added in 15 minutes”. That’s a 20% increase in range added over the same timeframe.
Baglino says to expect the update later this quarter, which would mean by the end of June.
Electrek’s Take
I think it’s fair to say that Tesla cuts some corners to bring vehicles to market faster than legacy automakers. There are definitely some concerns with that, but it also opens the door to vehicles significantly improving quickly after the launch.
This is an example of that.
Many people felt like the Cybertruck’s bad charge curve was a bad look for Tesla’s new 4680 cells, but it looks like Tesla was being careful with the new hardware and now feels like it can get more out of it