Rivian already has a patent on Tesla’s Cybertruck ‘vary extender’

Tesla delivered the primary Cybertrucks yesterday, and with that supply occasion got here the revelation that as a way to get the vary it promised, the Cybertruck wants a separate battery pack within the mattress. However the same battery pack system was already patented years in the past, by certainly one of Tesla’s rivals within the electrical pick-up area.

Tesla’s Cybertruck web site included a revelation a couple of characteristic that wasn’t talked about in its presentation: a “vary extender,” within the type of an extra battery pack within the truck mattress which expands the truck’s vary.

It’s an attention-grabbing answer, and we don’t know all the main points of it but. We don’t know the fee, the load, how will probably be put in and uninstalled, or whether or not it even can be uninstalled.

The battery pack is meant for use “for very lengthy journeys or towing heavy issues up mountains,” in line with Tesla CEO Elon Musk. It takes up a couple of third of the truck mattress, as could be seen in a photograph posted on Tesla’s Cybertruck web site.

So, there’s nonetheless room for cargo, simply not the complete 6 ft of mattress size that Tesla says the Cybertruck has.

However the truth that it was described as getting used solely “for very lengthy journeys or towing heavy issues up mountains” means that will probably be detachable, since most individuals don’t do this kind of factor each single day.

Making it detachable is definitely answer, as a result of it might decrease costs, make packaging simpler, and enhance effectivity for autos that merely don’t want a ridiculously monumental 470-mile battery – and most drivers don’t want that.

And whether it is detachable, nicely, there’s already a patent on that.

In 2019, electrical truck maker Rivian filed a patent for a “detachable auxiliary battery” that may match into the entrance third-or-so of the truck mattress. This patent was granted in 2020, so Rivian presently has a patent on this expertise.

The patent is described as:

An electrical automobile system for transporting human passengers or cargo contains an electrical automobile that features a physique, a plurality of wheels, a cargo space, an electrical motor for propelling the electrical automobile, and a main battery for offering electrical energy to the electrical motor for propelling the electrical automobile. An auxiliary battery module is attachable to the electrical automobile for offering electrical energy to the electrical motor by way of a primary electrical connector on the auxiliary battery module and a second electrical connector on the electrical automobile that mates with the primary electrical connector. The auxiliary battery module could be positioned within the cargo space whereas supplying energy to the electrical motor, and could be detachable and reattachable from the electrical automobile. The auxiliary battery module contains an built-in cooling system for cooling itself throughout operation of the electrical automobile together with a conduit therein for circulating coolant.

We aren’t patent legal professionals right here, however this sounds awfully just like Tesla’s “vary extender.” The plain potential variations we will discover are if the vary extender doesn’t have built-in cooling, which is unlikely, or if the vary extender isn’t detachable, which doesn’t appear to jive with the assertion that it’s only for lengthy journeys or with the advertising and marketing displaying it as an elective add-on (if that have been the case, why not simply provide totally different battery sizes?).

Tesla itself has many patents (and is nonetheless pursuing extra of them), however has pledged to not “provoke patent lawsuits in opposition to anybody who, in good religion, desires to make use of its expertise.” It introduced this in a 2014 weblog publish, and adopted up by saying that it thinks a number of firms are utilizing its patents.

So subsequent, the query is: is Tesla’s answer totally different sufficient to keep away from Rivian’s patent safety? Has Tesla licensed the concept from Rivian, and we simply haven’t heard about it but? Or will Rivian return Tesla’s “good religion” and never provoke a patent lawsuit in opposition to Tesla, if it does really feel prefer it has a ok case to say that Tesla’s vary extender infringes on its patent?