Miserable Towing Experience - NEED HELP! (Updated)

[Tecyber1]

I certainly would not have purchased a CT if I were towing for this distance on a regular basis. I bought the CT knowing full well that getting to the Keys several times per year was going to be problematic. I live in St. Augustine within 2 miles of the Intercostal Waterway and for the rest of the year it will be perfect. We had 2 Model 3's. We purchased the boat 2 years ago and had to purchase a Ford F150 to bridge the gap until the CT came available. We also have 64 solar panels on our roof which further solidified the decision on the CT - no gasoline in my world except for the boat. My motivation behind the post was to garner as much advice as possible to make future trips easier. My wife and I are both 60 years old. In general, our bio needs and muscle aches dovetail well into stopping every 2 hours or so. The learnings from this trip goes beyond the things which can be done to reduce the number of charge stops. I also started keeping a log of superchargers that are more conducive to towing a 25 foot boat. Finding a charging location where you may not have to drop the boat and rehook it after charging can produce a huge time savings as well. I appreciate all the advice I've received over the past 24 hours.

All good, I think like the decision we all made to go EV in the first place there were considerations and tradeoffs right out of the gate. Towing for the CT can be done but with considerations and tradeoffs. You will likely get better at it sure but I would never expect it to become a simple event. Sounds like it might become your "That time of year again to get this over with". ha! Cheers!

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[SCTesla]

Any EV pickup truck is the wrong truck for long distance towing. It’s funny how we think Silverado EV with 400ish range will magically solve long distance towing problem. It won’t. EV towing is not limited by battery but by drag from the trailer. This exact same setup that OP tried might have another 30 miles extra if he uses Silverado, but he will spend a lot more time finding charging network or waiting to charge a higher battery.

Pull through chargers, battery powered drivetrain trailers, and highly efficient aerodynamics trailers are the answers for long distance EV truck towing. Range extender is a joke. I don’t know what Tesla was thinking.

The Silverado hit 230 miles towing a 6k box trailer, completely unaerodynamic. The CT went 85 miles with 6% left.

 

[Cyber Man]

The Silverado hit 230 miles towing a 6k box trailer, completely unaerodynamic. The CT went 85 miles with 6% left.

Is that from Fast Truck lane guys who are always finding creative ways to downplay CT in every possible subtle manner? 230 miles on a 6K trailer is impressive, but again you have to see from the larger lens of how this will work for long distance towing. Charging network, charge time, ease of software, etc. all these frustrations amplify significantly when you are towing. Silverado will definitely work for someone but saying huge battery will alone solve long distance towing is a myth. We need to account for so many things that people conveniently omit when they do Apples to Apples comparison for long distance towing. That’s all I’m trying to say.

 

[mongo]

No question that the Cybertruck is more efficient but some of the Silverado owners are getting 416 Wh/mile, so the difference isn't quite that large. Like anything to do with efficiency, details matter. With the Silverado, part of the problem is GM sticking them with those ridiculous 24" wheels. The WT versions on smaller wheels and tires get significantly better efficiency and can often go 500 miles if the speed is kept to 65 or so.

The Cybertruck has a similar coefficient of drag but a smaller frontal area so is more efficient aerodynamically. It also disconnects one axle when in cruise while the Silverado is full time AWD and doesn't disconnect an axle in cruise.

I only started out by suggesting that, if you are going to be trailering any distance regularly and want an EV pickup, the Silverado makes more sense. It goes further and charges faster (assuming you can find an empty 350 kW stall). Everyone gets to make their own choices and we are blessed with a fascinating array of EV pickups, each being unique in its own way.

Sure, my point was that the less efficient a truck is without a trailer, the less range will be impacted with one.

Cybertruck doesn't disconnect axles, only Semi does that. It does do the typical Tesla thing of turning off the induction motors when not needed.

With 416Wh vs 362Wh per mile, a Cybertruck at 250kW charging is range gain equivalent to a Silverado at 287. Using 513Wh/mile, it takes 354kW.

With trailer, the Wh/mile numbers get closer and the Silverado's big pack's higher charge acceptance can gets you more range per minute of charging.

Cybertruck probably also gets more of a trailer hit due to being more streamlined which results in more wind smacking the front of trailer.

 

[TheLastStarfighter]

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

I can't tell in your photo, but do you have all-terrain tires? If so, switching to all-seasons could give you a big boost. If you don't go off-roading you could boost your range 5-10%. Doing that and keeping your speed below 60 (ideally 55) are the simplest ways for you to boos range and you'll probably get a lot further.

Couple other options are a cover for the boat to make it less of a parachute, and also, as strange as it sounds, opening the bed cover. The clover closed increases range 10% but some early findings indicate it may make things worse when towing because it smoothly directs air right into the trailer.

 

[flyinglow]

Cybertruck doesn't disconnect axles, only Semi does that. It does do the typical Tesla thing of turning off the induction motors when not needed.

Yes, I was aware that it doesn't physically disconnect the axle. Poor choice of words.

Out of Spec ran a Cyberbeast, a Silverado EV 4WT, a Lightning and a Rivian R1T across the Rockies and back. All towing a Model 3 on a trailer. They all got 2 m/kWh. The Silverado made it across the Rockies without charging, charged and drove back. Finished well before the others that had to make multiple charging stops.

It comes down to what you prioritize. OP may decide to stick with the Cybertruck and live with the towing challenges. A lot of the people buying the Silverado EV have prioritized its towing and seem to be pleased with their choice.

 

[mongo]

Yes, I was aware that it doesn't physically disconnect the axle. Poor choice of words.

Out of Spec ran a Cyberbeast, a Silverado EV 4WT, a Lightning and a Rivian R1T across the Rockies and back. All towing a Model 3 on a trailer. They all got 2 m/kWh. The Silverado made it across the Rockies without charging, charged and drove back. Finished well before the others that had to make multiple charging stops.

It comes down to what you prioritize. OP may decide to stick with the Cybertruck and live with the towing challenges. A lot of the people buying the Silverado EV have prioritized its towing and seem to be pleased with their choice.

Definitely less charge stops for the Silverado. They all averaged around 1.3 miles/kWh (~800 Wh/mile).

I'd hate to be anything other than Cybertruck when needing to charge though.

 

[Lasttoy]

Wish me luck. I'm trailering my S from Florida to Iowa. 1200 miles. 7000 pounds.

 

[langenbahn]

All,

Just finished my second trip to the keys and wanted to update my post from last month. We went to the exact same destination but made the following adjustments prior to departure:

1. Inflated tires to 62PSI.
2. Placed CT in chill mode.
3. Set ride hight to LOW
4. Reduced speed to 60MPH for the entire journey.

Happily, we were able to reduce the charge stops from 5 to 3 and improved our watts per mile from 1,140 to 922 which resulted in a 20% improvement in range. We were able to improve the total trip time a little. Unfortunately, the time savings from eliminating 2 charge stops from the journey was mostly eaten up by losing 5MPH over 415 miles.

 

[TruckGenio]

First, let me start out by saying that I love my AWD Cybertruck. This is my 3rd Tesla and do not believe I will ever own anything but a Tesla. I also thought I knew what I was getting into with respect to towing range. While my experience below was less than ideal, it is certainly doable for the amount of long range towing I do per year. All the above being fact, I could really use some advice.

I live in Saint Augustine, Florida. We migrate down to Marathon, Florida 2 to 3 times per year for lobster season and general fishing. I started the trip with 318 miles of range and was towing a 25 foot center console bay boat. Boat/trailer/fuel weight about 6,300 pounds in total. I was probably hauling another 1,000 pounds of gear (Scuba Tanks, Food, Ice, etc.), myself 180 lbs and my wife 118 lbs. So, in total I believe I was hauling around 7,600 pounds which I know is a lot. Over the 446 mile trip to the keys I averaged 1,140 Wh/mi!!!! We had to stop 5 times and the trip took over 11 hours. The scariest part was before the first leg where the range was dropping so fast that the nav system could not keep up with rerouting us to closer charging stations. It got so bad that it rerouted us to the nearest charging station and then said "stop and charge in order to make it to your destination" - which was the charging station! We got to the exit ramp and basically said I wasn't going to make it. We arrived at the charging station with negative 3% charge. After that, I was extremely conservative and always forced a charge stop around 80 miles to empty. I put the cruise control on 65 MPH for the rest of the trip.

On the way home, I made sure I had other members of the family haul all the gear, I made sure the fuel was pretty much on empty in the boat and also drained the fresh water tank. I averaged 1,051 Wh/mi on the way back which gave me 8.5% better efficiency. All and all, I was only able to go about 80 miles before needing to stop and charge. Again, never going over 65 MPH.

Here are a few questions:

1. Ride height? Assuming I should keep it on the lowest setting.
2. Chill vs. Standard? Assume I should keep it on chill.
3. Will the wheel hubcaps help once they arrive?
4. Are there any other settings I can fiddle with to increase the range?

I believe that I can possibly eliminate 1 stop by better managing which Superchargers I stop at. Thankfully I-95 has a ton of Superchargers but there are stretches where they can be scarce. As an example, Homestead, Florida is the last Supercharger before Marathon and there is 77 miles between the two chargers. If I can schedule my chargeing so as to get to Homestead nearly empty that will possibly eliminate a stop.

The other time consumption issue was with the need to drop the trailer almost everytime we charged. I got lucky on a few of the stops due to the fact that we were traveling at 3AM and was able to pull in and take up some empty charging slots. Not so lucky on the way home due to the fact that we drove thru the day.

My wife and I are 60 years old and are generally in no hurry to get anywhere anymore so doing this 2-3 times per year is a small price to pay for having an awesome truck.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Unfortunately, I’m an early adopter of the savage truck and it is not ready for this kind of work. It has become a commuter truck. I’ll probably get a diesel for real work.

 

[mongo]

All,

Just finished my second trip to the keys and wanted to update my post from last month. We went to the exact same destination but made the following adjustments prior to departure:

1. Inflated tires to 62PSI.
2. Placed CT in chill mode.
3. Set ride hight to LOW
4. Reduced speed to 60MPH for the entire journey.

Happily, we were able to reduce the charge stops from 5 to 3 and improved our watts per mile from 1,140 to 922 which resulted in a 20% improvement in range. We were able to improve the total trip time a little. Unfortunately, the time savings from eliminating 2 charge stops from the journey was mostly eaten up by losing 5MPH over 415 miles.

What were your arrival and departure SOCs? Looks like around 90% used per leg?

 

[Brandon708]

I'm sure you would get better milage if your boat had a cover or something on it to avoid parasitic drag. Not sure if shrink wrapping a boat is cost effective or another alternative is available.

 

[langenbahn]

I started each leg with 318 miles and would get to the charger with around 20 left.

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