Cybertruck range while towing is HORRIBLE!

[Crissa]

How much did the Ramps eat into my efficiency? 10% maybe?

and @chris90702L said he drove “into the mountains” I was doing mainly freeway driving in flat Houston!

That ramp is a giant parachute like they use to stop drag cars and airplanes.

Into the mountains sounds like it would be curvy two-lane roads with lower speed limits. Going from 60 to 70 is like doubling your air resistance.

-Crissa

Sponsored

 

[cyber_moonlight]

That ramp is a giant parachute like they use to stop drag cars and airplanes.

Into the mountains sounds like it would be curvy two-lane roads with lower speed limits. Going from 60 to 70 is like doubling your air resistance.

-Crissa

Fair arguments! I shall rent the most aerodynamic trailer in town… and see what kind of range I’ll get!

 

[Spacenoddle]

So I towed a 20 foot trailer to pick up some roll up doors for a project I’m building. The entire trip including pickup and drop off at final destination is about 80 miles each way.

let me put this way. I am never going to do this again in the cybertruck. The range is literally half!

Averaging 856 WH/Mi!

I arrived at the supercharger station (my 3rd stop during that trip) with 0%.

Still love the truck though! ?

If towing a box travel trailer, the range will cut to a little more than 1/3 like110 miles. Even 25 foot airstrem, it only gets about 180 miles.

 

[Crissa]

Fair arguments! I shall rent the most aerodynamic trailer in town… and see what kind of range I’ll get!

Yeah.

This is something that affects all vehicles, tho. It's amazing how much a little aero will do: Tucking on my motorcycle will give me 5mph for the same power as sitting up at 50mph.

Just, when you can just fill the tank in minutes, who checks how much that trailer is guzzling?

-Crissa

 

[cyber_moonlight]

Yeah.

This is something that affects all vehicles, tho. It's amazing how much a little aero will do: Tucking on my motorcycle will give me 5mph for the same power as sitting up at 50mph.

Just, when you can just fill the tank in minutes, who checks how much that trailer is guzzling?

-Crissa

I hear you… but I’ve towed similar trailers in my Silverado 1500 before and I would say the avg mpg goes down about 3-5 miles per gallon when towing. At least that’s been my experience.

 

[CTInProcess]

Most work trucks never tow.

Most towing is in-town.

??‍

How is it not a work truck?

-Crissa

No one said it wasn’t a “work truck”….. A sports truck can be a work truck, drive it to work and park it.

I said it’s a not a truck to tow in period. Can you? Sure….. will it be a PITA? Yeah….

 

[CyberTW]

I get that cybertruck fan boys on here defending the tow range and saying oh I should have done this and that… I appreciate @mongo even checking the place I rented the trailer from… I needed something without rails so I can load what I needed so this is the only option.

I drove to the supercharger in the morning. Charged up to 90%. Then went about 15 miles and picked up the trailer. Drove about 30 miles and loaded my haul, drove back to the super charger (probably another 30) miles, had to disconnect the trailer and charged up again to 90%. Then drove about 50 miles to drop off the load. Drove back about 40 miles to a supercharger and the car was telling me I would arrive with -4%. Charge. I risked it and managed to get to the supercharger (it was a nerve racking experience especially when you’re in the middle of nowhere).

I love my truck. But when it comes to hauling it sucks! Plain and simple. If all EVs get half the range when towing then they shouldn’t be putting a tow hitch on those damn things

To your last point. I tow a trailer around town and to the dump, and a boat 30 miles to the launch… I think the hitch is valuable… just not for huge toy haulers and long trips.. pretty simple

 

[pricedm]

Yawn

 

[dalton108]

Why is Chris90702L tow stat so contrasting with cyber_moonlight ?!

Do you have any idea how FAR he towed? Ave. SPEED? Yeah, neither do we.

 

[dalton108]

If all EVs get half the range when towing then they shouldn’t be putting a tow hitch on those damn things

That’s just it! This is a known known for anybody who’s been watching this space. Your maximum is going to be about half.

THAT’s why it was important when Elon said that this thing was going to get 500+ miles!

For me, my Cyberbeast will be replacing my FJ cruiser which is my weekend/camping rig. Towing my small Tiger Moth camping trailer and traveling at 75 MPH which is the average legal speed limit on the roads that I take through NV/AZ and into Utah - my Toyota can get roughly 100 miles, my Cyberbeast can likely beat that! The difference is I can gas up the FJ anywhere in about five minutes. And I’ve got exactly 3 places that I know of that I’ll be able to charge along the route in my CT And from what I’m hearing I’m looking at 30+ minutes per stop unless they put in some gen. 4s!

Anybody watching this space in advance of pulling the trigger on $100,000+ EV should already know these things, methinks. ??‍

 

[scottf200]

So I towed a 20 foot trailer to pick up some roll up doors for a project I’m building. The entire trip including pickup and drop off at final destination is about 80 miles each way.

let me put this way. I am never going to do this again in the cybertruck. The range is literally half!

Averaging 856 WH/Mi!

I arrived at the supercharger station (my 3rd stop during that trip) with 0%.

Still love the truck though! ?

FYI, this has been talked about for months around here.

 

[scottf200]

Silverado EV on paper looks like it checks all the boxes. However, the tech is questionable.

The great thing about Tesla is the continuous updates. I cannot say that with any other manufacturer other than Rivian. ...

Rivian's OTAs frequency and implementation is impressive.
The long known issue is integrating with suppliers and can you build the infrastructure in the vehicle from the start (ie. can you communicate and change the behavior of all electrical parts ... eg. wiper system/motor in one clear example).

The OEMs *know* this. Jim Farley has done interviews on it. Certainly new vehicles will have this infrastructure but can they implement it well like Rivian has. Tesla's is a bit of a mess anymore and you can see 50+ versions https://www.teslafi.com/firmware.php

 

[mongo]

How much did the Ramps eat into my efficiency? 10% maybe?

and @chris90702L said he drove “into the mountains” I was doing mainly freeway driving in flat Houston!

Sounds like I have a defective battery! ??

Way more than 10%.

Aero force is proportional to drag coefficient and crossectional area times air velocity squared.
So for the same setup 70 MPH uses twice the energy per mile (for aero) as 50 MPH.

While expanded metal drains water, it's not so great at flowing air, especially at speed, plus those ramps have solid crossbracing. Call them 2.5x5 feet each or 25 square feet of crossection. Flat plates have a drag coefficient (Cd) of 1.28 so 32 for that part of the formula.

Cybertruck itself has Cd of 0.34 and crossectional area of ~35 ft², so 12.9 for that part of the formula.

This means the trailer ramps have 2-3 times the aero drag of the Cybertruck.

Rolling drag and vehicle accessories are also part of the mix which softens the aero impact on overall range.

Another factor that makes range impact worse is initial vehicle efficiency. If a trailer adds 400Wh/mile of load and the towing vehicle on its own uses 400, that's a 50% drop in range. However, if the tow vehicle were 50% less efficient on its own (600 Wh/mile) then the drop in range would only be 40%. If the vehicle is 400 on its own and 850 with trailer, that's > 50% range loss.

In general, you can determine what the impact will be after a short distance towing (if vehicle is already conditioned). If you test at a few speeds, you can even estimate rolling vs aero impacts to map out the energy vs speed curve.

I appreciate @mongo even checking the place I rented the trailer from… I needed something without rails so I can load what I needed so this is the only option.

I'm confused, the trailer you rented has rails, the flat deck doesn't. One option in general is cribbing under the load to raise it up if rails are an issue.

So I towed a 20 foot trailer to pick up some roll up doors for a project I’m building. The entire trip including pickup and drop off at final destination is about 80 miles each way.

let me put this way. I am never going to do this again in the cybertruck. The range is literally half!

Averaging 856 WH/Mi!

I arrived at the supercharger station (my 3rd stop during that trip) with 0%.

Still love the truck though! ?

 

[spamy42]

So I towed a 20 foot trailer to pick up some roll up doors for a project I’m building. The entire trip including pickup and drop off at final destination is about 80 miles each way.

let me put this way. I am never going to do this again in the cybertruck. The range is literally half!

Averaging 856 WH/Mi!

I arrived at the supercharger station (my 3rd stop during that trip) with 0%.

Still love the truck though! ?

This doesn't look that bad considering I've seen some videos where towing range was significantly worse. Also, perfectly calculated.

 

[spamy42]

That should have been the AWD for the price of the Cyberbeast. Profit….

The minute people start to realize these are Sports Trucks able to tow the sooner they will leave the line to go buy an ICE work truck…

I bought mine because it is a sport truck that can tow (short range).

Sponsored