Hamlet
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Post by Hamlet on Feb 1, 2021 14:23:48 GMT -8
We recently became a one car family. We had towed Hamlet (early 60s Compact) with our BMW X3 since we got it in 2009. We had a Tesla Model 3 that we loved and decidedly to sell it and the BMW and get a Tesla Model Y. It’s rated for 3500 pounds with the tow package. Hamlet weighs in (fully loaded) at about 1400, so we are in good shape there. It tows beautifully and has a computer program that monitors the towing constantly. There is a decrease in range (from 320 miles per charge to a bit over 200) but it’s no rose though than the BMW. Besides, we rarely drive more than a couple hours without stopping, and charging is easy, fairly quick and very cost effective. We are completely happy with it and have taken several trips with the canoe and tandem bike on top of the car. Our “dilemma” is that there is is very little out there on the Internet from other people who have towed with their EVs, so I’m wondering if any of you either have experience or know someone who has.
We will probably be taking a long trip this summer and will log a few thousand miles, but it’d be good to hear from others.
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nccamper
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Post by nccamper on Feb 1, 2021 15:09:41 GMT -8
Interesting thread.
I wonder how you’ll do towing in the Rockies. And will long stretches out west with no electric plug-ins matter. I understand the Tesla has a very long drive time (distance) between charges when it’s not towing.
I was surprised when we stopped at Wall Drug out west and they had a whole row of charging stations.
How long does it take to charge when your battery is empty?
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Hamlet
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Post by Hamlet on Feb 1, 2021 18:06:17 GMT -8
Towing on slopes and at altitudes doesn’t change the performance at all because of the way the motors work. Ours has a front and rear motor, so it’s all wheel drive, and there’s no delay in when you press on the accelerator and when it kicks in.
We don’t let the battery go much below 20%, it takes about 30 minutes to charge. After a couple or three hours of driving, we’re ready for a short break, and we’ve found all sorts of interesting places in the towns where we’ve charged up. Tesla has an amazing network of superchargers on every interstate and most more heavily traveled roads across the US, into Mexico and in Canada. If you plug in your destination, the car will tell you where the nearest chargers are and how much battery you’ll have left when you arrive. The chargers range between 15 and about 75 miles apart and there’s are nearly 2000 of them in the US and Canada. Yup, Wall Drug is the perfect place for a supercharger. You can browse while you’re charging! The other thing we like I said that the cost of charging is pretty much the same throughout the network. No guessing about how much gas will cost. When we were 40 and wanted to drive 400 miles at shot, Much harder for geezers like us!
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Post by vikx on Feb 1, 2021 19:08:44 GMT -8
There goes my big block...
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nccamper
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Post by nccamper on Feb 2, 2021 4:45:16 GMT -8
To be honest, I’m not sure enough at this point that the electric hook-up will be functioning and available when I need it on a long trip. Eventually The charge stations will be everywhere. But at the moment there a 168,000 gas stations in this country. On a long trip across the Great Plains, I take comfort in that. I also hate to admit it but I’m a little too impatient to wait 30 minutes to an hour every time I want to recharge.
I do think it’s better for the environment and the responsible thing to do. However, the technology costs so much extra for a Tesla over a Toyota Tundra with a 5.7 L V-8. That will change over time. The other issue that nags at me locally is that our electricity comes from nuclear power. And I wonder if nuclear power is less dangerous than fossil fuels. Complicated.
With all that said, I respect your passion for doing the right thing no matter what the cost or effort.
(The above comments are in no way the position of the VTT staff or the hosting website. Please direct all complaints about the above comments to vikx.)
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WhitneyK
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Post by WhitneyK on Feb 2, 2021 5:10:41 GMT -8
Hamlet said: When we were 40 and wanted to drive 400 miles at shot, Much harder for geezers like us! Hey! Watch it now! Your starting to step on my toes! I also hate to admit it but I’m a little too impatient to wait 30 minutes to an hour every time I want to recharge. With all that said, I respect your passion for doing the right thing no matter what the cost or effort. I feel the 30 minute wait is reasonable enough. When we started towing with our '08 Silverado 4x4 instead of the '06 Equinox awd our range between fuel stops went from 200 to 400 miles. When you have 3+ days of hard driving to get to the Western part of the US from Indiana, that makes a difference. We find that, if you stick to just the essentials at any given stop (fuel, potty, stretch) you loose, at a minimum, 20 min. More like 30 min, so.... But, (there's always one of those in there) as previously mentioned, we are getting older so we may not make it to the 400 mi mark for each stop, but use each stop wisely. And, the longer you're in the vehicle, the frequency of the stops get more needed towards the end. (back & hip)(the 'ol gray mare ain't what she used to be) Also to make a short story long, Thanks Hamlet for approaching the subject of EV towing vehicles, interesting, and somebody had to do it. As usual, just my thoughts, didn't say they were good ones... Whitney
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John Palmer
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Hi, From a vintage trailer guy located in Santa Ana, CA. It's good to see lots of activity here.
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Post by John Palmer on Feb 2, 2021 9:54:24 GMT -8
How many of these new charging spots will be built as "trailer friendly"? All the charging centers I have seen to date, are single car, and they are "pull in" parking spots. Not sure I want to disconnect the trailer just to recharge several times each day.
When I'm towing on the highway, I always stop at the large truck stops like Flying J, Pilot, Rush, etc. They have wide "trailer friendly" driveways, good access to the pumps, enough parking for your truck and trailer, clean rest rooms, and a convivence store. I agree, that any gas stop, is going to be 30 minutes, by the time you consider gas/potty/food/dog run.
GM has already announced that they will build no gas engine vehicles by 2035, so I guess we will be seeing some changes. It's one time that I'm glade I'm old. Hard to imagine race cars with no noise, and no nitro fumes to burn your eyes.
John
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Post by bigbill on Feb 2, 2021 11:39:55 GMT -8
As for race cars with no noise I still miss the bark of a Offy. We just sold our trailer and with wife's disability probably will be motel bound from now on. BUT we still like traveling in our Silverado. I had to build special steps to get wife in but she can slide out. My question is, are charging stations mostly on Interstates as we like to travel the two lanes and explore the country. If we go electric it will most likely be a pickup or a larger SUV when they become available. We will either have to haul two mobility scooters or tow them on a trailer. Getting old is grand....
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Hamlet
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Post by Hamlet on Feb 2, 2021 17:25:09 GMT -8
All of you who have reservations about EVs for any kind of driving are absolutely justified in your concerns.
What I think we’ll see in the next 10 years or so is charge stations popping up at all the major gas stations. I think in another ten years, we’ll also be seeing hydrogen powered cars. PArt of the reason we bought the Tesla was because we believe that more and more of our electricity will be from renewable resources, in WA it’s already 75 %. We like shrinking our carbon footprint. But part of it is that we know that EVs won’t become mainstream until they can be had for $25K. The EVs that are sold now will help improve the technology for the ones that are coming. Our Model 3 didn’t cost any more than a nicely appointed Camry and we got a tax credit as well. But because Tesla as sold over the number of cars that was allowed itially, new owners don’t get a break, including us for the Y. I think rebates of some kind are going to be a key.
In the meantime, we plug in at home for almost all of our driving. We can easily go a couple weeks on a charge for local driving. We have only found one place where we want to go that it might be a little dicey, but we think we have even got that worked out. We can also charge at non-Tesla stations, it’s just slower, so we don’t. I don’t know about others, but Tesla is installing trailer-friendly/drive through chargers in new stations or retro fitting others, so we haven’t had to unhook. So far!
Our buying the Y was a little bit of a gamble, but it will most likely be the last car I’ll ever drive, and it shouldn’t get too outmoded since so many changes and upgrades to systems are nothing more than computer programs that get installed while it’s sitting in the garage. And our first scheduled maintenance check is in 2024. That works too. We’re looking forward to not being the only EV towing people on the forum!
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Hamlet
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Post by Hamlet on Feb 3, 2021 10:06:40 GMT -8
As for race cars with no noise I still miss the bark of a Offy. We just sold our trailer and with wife's disability probably will be motel bound from now on. BUT we still like traveling in our Silverado. I had to build special steps to get wife in but she can slide out. My question is, are charging stations mostly on Interstates as we like to travel the two lanes and explore the country. If we go electric it will most likely be a pickup or a larger SUV when they become available. We will either have to haul two mobility scooters or tow them on a trailer. Getting old is grand.... I’m so sorry you had to sell your trailer, I know it was something that you were proud of and gave you many, many days of happiness and adventures. As far as charging stations, I can really only speak to the Tesla ones. They are on all interstates at intervals of less than 100 miles, and many, many smaller roads. We were camping in the Olympic National Park in October and there was a supercharger in Forks, WA, a little town on the Olympic Peninsula. It had a pull through for trailers. The next closest one was about 60 miles away in Sequim, also with a pull through. These are on or close to Highway 101 that runs from the Olympic Peninsula in fits and starts down to the border with Mexico. Tesla has driving/charging data from well over a million miles of driving. What they learn from this helps them improve their vehicles and service and other EV makers learn, too. We are apply to contribute to the database. It does seem strange to realize that our driving habits are being recorded, but then where can one go without having security cameras and traffic cams? And we doubt we’ll ever be recorded as doing zero to sixty in four and a half seconds! We also like to travel smaller highways. Although they are slower, many, many small towns have Charge Point or other chargers. Also you can plug in at campgrounds if you have a developed site. There are trade offs for sure, but these will decrease. And in the meantime, we’re spending around $25 a month charging as opposed to $150+ in gasoline.
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ruderunner
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Post by ruderunner on Feb 6, 2021 7:45:32 GMT -8
Question, how does one recharge a car if the battery goes dead on the road? It's probably not as easy as lugging a 5 gallon gas can to the disabled vehicle.
Having to plan a trip around charging stops kinda takes away some of the fun for me. I like taking detours on longer trips. get to see some cool stuff. i've often racked up 500 miles taking a 150 mile trip.
Related, hows the service network? A late model Chevy truck can be serviced pretty much evrywhere on the planet, heck, even 40 year old Chevy trucks can be.
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turbodaddy
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Post by turbodaddy on Feb 6, 2021 9:00:14 GMT -8
I may have posted this before, but I'm looking forward to when an "affordable" electric pickup becomes available. By then solar cell technology will have become so efficient that I'll cover the roof of the trailer and truck. The newest and most efficient batteries will be charged by the sun and while driving. It'll be a perpetual motion machine! Regarding servicing electric vehicles, they will pretty much only need tires, wiper blades, brakes serviced, etc. Just like combustion vehicles, without the meed for transmission fluid, oil changes and the like.
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Hamlet
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Post by Hamlet on Feb 6, 2021 12:10:31 GMT -8
We’re looking forward to an e-pickup too. Ford says it will have an e-F150 in the next couple years. Tesla is working to make its odd, but cool looking pickup come in at under $45k. That’s a lot, but a fully loaded ICE pickup can cost around $60k, so it’s not far off. We’re happy to see GM and others getting into this lucrative market. SIDE NOTE... Will Ferrel did a funny Super Bowl ad for GM. The two SUVs were GM EVs. Then Audi did three counter commercials that are absolutely hilarious (in a Norwegian-y way) to tout their E-SUV. As big oil comes on board, change will speed up.. Biden will either decrease or eliminate the subsidies for new oil drilling and restore/increase the subsidies for renewables and EVs. 20 years ago we said that renewable energy would begin to prevail when it became competitive financially with oil and coal. It’ALL comes down to where the profits are. Coal is already on its way out, but we will ALWAYS need oil and it makes sense to conserve it for future generations.
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nccamper
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Post by nccamper on Feb 6, 2021 13:19:46 GMT -8
I like that electric cars are silent. But at this time I’m more of hybrid believer. It’s the best of both worlds. I know what some of you are thinking...if fossil fuels generate 63% of electricity and nuclear generated 20% then is a hybrid really any different than driving a gas fueled truck? Well, it does produce less pollution And you really can hear the radio better.
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turbodaddy
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Post by turbodaddy on Feb 6, 2021 16:16:53 GMT -8
My guilt surrounding driving my 2006 GMC Sierra(at 14.7mpg)around town is countered by the fact my wife does way more driving than me, and she gets 50 mpg in her 9 year old Prius. I think that the Detroit auto makers will be amazed at the popularity of electric pickup trucks. I just wish they would tone down all the electronic gizmos. I like old fashioned analog gauges, don't want or need a back up camera, etc. The cost could be a lot less if they'd just keep it a simple work truck. I don't see myself spending $60K for anything that I can't live in, and that doesn't float or fly.
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