Tesla Cybertruck Tips & Tricks After First 15,000 Miles

Sign up for CleanTechnica’s Weekly Substack for Zach and Scott’s in-depth analyses and high level summaries, sign up for our daily newsletter, and/or follow us on Google News!

With the Cybertruck, Tesla brought a number of new innovations to market. In addition, the Cybertruck is packed with quirks and functionality that take time to learn and get used to.

To help others along their journey, I have compiled a list of some of my favorite tips and tricks that I’ve picked up over the first 15,000 miles of living with it. Did we miss one of your favorites? Drop it in the comments so we can all learn together!

Let there be light! When the tailgate is open, hit the tailgate button to turn the bed lights on and off

Level the truck without keeping it in cybertent mode. Turn on cybertent mode and let the truck level itself. After it has leveled itself, enter the service tab and turn on Jack mode. This freezes the current suspension settings even if you turn off cybertent mode. Flip back to the “outlets and mod” screen and turn off cybertent mode to keep the truck level without cybertent mode being on.

Rear view zoom selection. Tap on the rear view camera display to scroll through the three zoom modes: 5, 1 and 1.25x

Use the Off-Road App for full control in the dirt. When heading off road, put the vehicle in Off-Road mode and launch the Off-Road App: in the Dynamics, select Off-Road as the drive mode. In the next screen, hit Off-Road App to open up all of the options and selections when it’s time to get dirty.

The truck won’t lock when in Off-Road mode. This is something to keep an eye on when you’re off-roading to a trailhead and then going for a hike, bike ride, etc. The truck will stay on in off-road mode without locking until you manually turn off off-road mode.

Dirty donuts! For the best donuts, put the vehicle in off-road mode Baja and slide the balance 100% to the rear. This puts all the power to the rear two wheels and ensures maximum donating capability, whether you’re looking for some sweet and salty donuts on the beach or some coconut frosted snow nuts in winter weather

See where your power is going with the Energy App. My buddy Jimmy told me about the Energy App on a recent trip up to the frozen Owyhees in December. Tap the icon that looks like a stock trading app to launch the Energy App and see how much battery capacity you’re consuming versus what the vehicle thought you would consume. You’ll see things like impact of driving behavior on range, impact of weather on range, elevation profiles, tire pressure, climate control, and battery preconditioning.

Set the vehicle hardware up for off-roading. When you’re off-roading, Tesla recommends taking off the aero caps that clip on to each of the rims as well as the arrow flaps that mount to the plastic body panels in front of each of the four tires.

No 12-volt power! Standard 12-volt automotive compressors don’t work in the Cybertruck because it does not have a standard low-voltage 12-volt system onboard, so you need to think of your options *before* you need your compressor. There are a handful of 48-volt compressors that will work with the Cybertruck, but you’ll need to tap into some of the factory power to do it. There are standard 48-volt out buses built into the front area and up top in the vehicle for the light bar. Alternatively, you can purchase a standard 120-volt compressor like you would use at home. Many Cybertruck owners have been using the Fortress compact 120-volt compressor from Harbor Freight with much success. I went with a similar unit from Vevor that’s a bit more compact.

Figure out your spare tire situation before you need it. If you’re off-roading or just taking long road trips, flats are much more likely when you start packing on the miles. It’s worth picking up a tire plug kit and a bottle of slime as emergency backup plans. These go hand in hand with the compressor option above. It doesn’t do any good to patch the leak temporarily if you have no way to inflate the tire afterwards. Alternatively, you can simply purchase a spare tire kit from Tesla or from one of many aftermarket providers.

Review Tesla’s Off-Road Guide before you hit the dirt. You don’t know what you don’t know, and that’s okay. Tesla has your back. They created a full off-road guide for the cybertruck (PDF) that’s packed with helpful information. Check it out (PDF) before you go to be as prepared as possible.

Did we miss your favorite tip or trick? Drop it into the comments so we can all learn together!