Charging Stops While Pulling a Trailer

[65SoYoLO]

Thought the congestion fee would not start until the limit you specify is met?

I am seeing messages in the truck saying congestion fee starts at 80%, but I have only been charged one time when I went to 90 and forgot to check it (playing games)

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[pae1andonly]

It's never been clear to me if the fee gets charged only when all pedestals are occupied or even if there are open spots remaining.

 

[aadams1278]

The issue with this is the weight trade-off conundrum. Adding 50% more battery might have achieved 400 miles, but not the implied 150 more miles because every additional cell adds weight, detracting marginally from the incremental range benefit. Tesla would likely have had to double the battery size in order to move the needle from 325 to 500 miles. And that’s rated, not real world.

In the process they would have created another Hummer EV, a much more inefficient EV with way more battery than is needed for everyday use. We would be burning 50% more wh/mi for worse results and no benefit except for the days we are towing.

This is all because the 4680 battery tech didn’t live up to its promise of higher density, lighter weight, and faster charging, at least out of the box. The CT was to be the showplace for a step change in battery technology that turned out to be more incremental, and in some respects, regressive (charging speed and cost). Tesla knew this objective was lost, so came up with the stopgap range extender battery idea. Given the constraints discovered during production engineering vs prototype, this was reasonable.

The combination of overall CT take rate, related lack of towing customers, and high cost then killed the option. Tesla ended up acknowledging market realities and is going to have to think hard about the CT’s future. The cold hard reality is that absent an unforeseen battery improvement, 500 mile range isn’t a thing when combined with everyday usage efficiency requirements.

You didn’t explicitly say this, and I haven’t seen anyone else say it, but along the same lines I suspect a much larger battery would require beefier and heavier structures for crash absorption which would increase the overall vehicle weight more than the increased battery weight alone. And that would further reduce not only range but also worsen the already not great tire wear.

What I’m disappointed about is why couldn’t they give us at least a little bit more range? 50 more miles would make a huge difference. Especially after factoring in some degradation.

 

[mongo]

worst case trailering in the winter with the cybertruck is 100-120 miles of range
we need at least one pull thru supercharger every 100 miles for each travel corridor

SoCal to Texas
Chicago to Texas
NY to Florida 95

the nav should know we are trailering and guide us to that SC
im ok with waiting
dont want to unhook

Oh, worst case case is lower than that . I used 95% in 80 miles on a part freeway, part two lane, route.

 

[aadams1278]

Oh, worst case case is lower than that . I used 95% in 80 miles on a part freeway, part two lane, route.

Was this cold weather, significantly above 70 mph, or a hugely non-aerodynamic shape trailer?

 

[mongo]

Was this cold weather, significantly above 70 mph, or a hugely non-aerodynamic shape trailer?

40 F, <70 MPH, usual travel trailer shape (32' long, 7' wide, 11' tall).

On the return leg avoiding the freeway, it used 62% to go 71 miles, keeping it at 55 or under (averaged 38). That's 115 mile range.

Based on rough charging curve estimates, the longer charge time cancels out the reduced drive time. However, that is highly dependant on leg length since higher SOC charging takes longer. This was a test run to find the limits.

I'm looking into truck roof rack options to flatten the truck's profile which should improve overall aerodynamic performance.

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