Pulling RV - Not good!

[CyberTruckeeTheOne]

No idea why it went down that much for that small of a trailer; it doesn't match TE's experience.




-Crissa

Puzzled me too. I was not in aggressive driving and just adjusting cruise control speed gradually.

Next, I'll try not use cruise control which intuitively I thought would be more effiicienf. Unlike the ICE counterpart that keeps on constant gear hunting.

Sponsored

 

[Crissa]

Next, I'll try not usinf cruise control which intuitively I thought would be more effiicienf. Unlike the ICE counterpart that keeps on constant gear hunting.

That's odd, cruise control should be more efficient.

-Crissa

 

[CyberTruckeeTheOne]

That's odd, cruise control should be more efficient.

-Crissa

I thought so too.

And I only had one 6% grade climb and very short at that. It was even effortless for Cybertruck maintaining it's cruise control set speed.

 

[Woodrick]

Took my RV from storage for de-winterizing and a side trip to nearest state park.

These numbers put a cloud on our plans.

1. My Cybertruck use case is for our road trips, camping and bucket list of visiting all national parks.
2. RV Weight: 4,300 lbs (it's empty)
3. Temperature: 50F
4. Terrains: Mainly flat witj one 6% climb for half a mile
5. Distance: 44 miles, 11 miles not pulling a trailer
6. Average enerfy (usage): 925 Wh/mi
7. It pull like there's no trailer attached.
8. The trailer hitch appears to be too far inside that RV is in danger of hitting the CT in a very sharp turn. Millimeter when I was simply making a u-turn.
9. Now I wonder how it will perform in the brutal long climb in winter in Donner Pass at I-80.
10. Or the 9,900 feet Tioga Pass to Yosemite Village from Lee Vining.
11. And how the hell they reported that good Semi range from Bay Area to San Diego over the longer climb at the Grapevine?

Not really sure why you are saying pulling an RV is not good. In that configuration, you are easily getting 120 miles per full charge, possibly more.

3) A little on the cooler side

5) 44 miles should be easily doable out and back on a single charge. Do you have to go a different way if you have a trailer? Why 11 miles without a trailer?

6) Not too bad, but this is a really short trip and you will probably get better on longer trips. It's the same without a trailer.

7) The torque is awesome!!!

8) Why is this any difference from any other tow setup? You can get a longer shank, but that will change the load on the truck.

9) There is a Supercharger at Bowman, Cisco, 3 Superchargers representing 31 pedestals at Truckee, and a bunch in Reno. A distance of less than 100 miles. Doesn't seem to be a problem to me. And also, what you lose going up, tends to come back on the way down.

10) This is probably going to be tougher, but kudos finding the hardest routes. Why not spend your time finding the ones that are easily doable? But at 77 miles from El Portal Supercharger to Lee Vining, it still may be a possibility.

11) That's what a 900 kWh battery pack can do for you.

 

[CyberTruckeeTheOne]

Not really sure why you are saying pulling an RV is not good. In that configuration, you are easily getting 120 miles per full charge, possibly more.

3) A little on the cooler side

5) 44 miles should be easily doable out and back on a single charge. Do you have to go a different way if you have a trailer? Why 11 miles without a trailer?

6) Not too bad, but this is a really short trip and you will probably get better on longer trips. It's the same without a trailer.

7) The torque is awesome!!!

8) Why is this any difference from any other tow setup? You can get a longer shank, but that will change the load on the truck.

9) There is a Supercharger at Bowman, Cisco, 3 Superchargers representing 31 pedestals at Truckee, and a bunch in Reno. A distance of less than 100 miles. Doesn't seem to be a problem to me. And also, what you lose going up, tends to come back on the way down.

10) This is probably going to be tougher, but kudos finding the hardest routes. Why not spend your time finding the ones that are easily doable? But at 77 miles from El Portal Supercharger to Lee Vining, it still may be a possibility.

11) That's what a 900 kWh battery pack can do for you.

Not good because that's about 60% drop. My ICE was 40% drop in MPG and going through those notoriois humps.

5) 11 miles was to pick up the trailer in storage.

6) Hope so too.

7) The torque is spectacular and the brakes too even downhill.

8) My other set up is where truck trailer hitch receiver end is aligned with the rear bumper.

9) Yeah, looks like I'll be paying closer attention to trip planning specially multi state multi and months on end camping.

10) Seems toughest routes are the only access to our beautiful national parks.

Talk 14% grade in Great Basin NP and 10% Teton Pass on the way to Yellowstone and Teton NPs.

 

[Woodrick]

Not good because that's about 60% drop. My ICE was 40% drop in MPG and going through those notoriois humps.

5) 11 miles was to pick up the trailer in storage.

6) Hope so too.

7) The torque is spectacular and the brakes too even downhill.

8) My other set up is where truck trailer hitch receiver end is aligned with the rear bumper.

9) Yeah, looks like I'll be paying closer attention to trip planning specially multi state multi and months on end camping.

10) Seems toughest routes are the only access to our beautiful national parks.

Talk 14% grade in Great Basin NP and 10% Teton Pass on the way to Yellowstone and Teton NPs.

5) makes sense.

8) Understand, but that's just a different length shank, a common thing

9) Not as much as you may think. A quick glance at the Supercharger locations is about all that is needed. And maybe a little closer look after leaving the Interstate. Most routes are covered with Superchargers every 50 miles now.

10) Understand, but Tesla knows that and is making inroads to cover those routes. It's getting better.

And that's the whole thing, you are an early adopter and things are getting better. I hauled my boat behind my Model Y from ATL to Florida about a year ago. My range was a little over 75 miles. It was eye-opening and indeed had to do some route planning to make sure it was possible. But the Superchargers were every 50 miles, so it was easy, even though we had to drop the boat quite often to charge.
But since then, there's a few more Superchargers added to the route, So I'm back to picking and choosing my favorite stops.

 

[RonGonRetired]

Weight is pretty irrelevant, it's the frontal area and aerodynamics of the trailer acting as a parachute on your truck you're going to have to deal with.

The trailer hitch being close-set is good for some things, bad for others. You can change the arms of your trailer hitch to take advantage of the hitch, or use a ball extension - since you're not near the load limit - you can make it further, but you can't make it closer, so better to have a hitch that starts closer!

-Crissa

Towing on flat your premise is correct but in 40+ years of towing, driving RV's mountain driving and hauling weight uphill is a real energy sapper. No such thing as a tailwind to help you get up a grade. that holds true no matter what you're using to tow, gas, diesel, or electri.

 

[flyinglow]

Took my RV from storage for de-winterizing and a side trip to nearest state park.

These numbers put a cloud on our plans.

My Cybertruck use case is for our road trips, camping and bucket list of visiting all national parks.

RV Weight: 4,300 lbs (it's empty)

Temperature: 50F

Terrains: Mainly flat witj one 6% climb for half a mile

Distance: 44 miles, 11 miles not pulling a trailer

Average enerfy (usage): 925 Wh/mi

It pull like there's no trailer attached.

The trailer hitch appears to be too far inside that RV is in danger of hitting the CT in a very sharp turn. Millimeter when I was simply making a u-turn.

Now I wonder how it will perform in the brutal long climb in winter in Donner Pass at I-80.

Or the 9,900 feet Tioga Pass to Yosemite Village from Lee Vining.

And how the hell they reported that good Semi range from Bay Area to San Diego over the longer climb at the Grapevine?

A Silverado EV with the biggest battery pack can tow 200-250 miles. Out of Spec went across the Rockies in Colorado twice towing 10k lb trailer (out and back - reasonable aero since it was a flatbed with a model 3 on it) only charging at either end of the trip. It isn't as efficient as a CT but that isn't much of an issue towing. At the same time, they also did that drive with a Lighting, Rivian and CT towing the same trailers and all 3 got 1.3 m/kWh for the trip. The other EV pickups all charged multiple times each way.

The Silverado EV gets more regen than the CT and I imagine that regen is a big factor in the Semi as well.

It's a question of your use case and picking the right vehicle for the job. At this point in time, if you need towing range you need a big battery. Unfortunately, the CT isn't engineered to allow for bigger batteries so it will need to wait for battery tech to improve before it can tow long distance.

 

[Cam Salazar]

Unfortunately current BEV trucks still need longer range battery packs.

Until a battery breakthrough happens HD towing will still belong to 2500/3500 diesel pickup trucks.

Why people think they can tow long distance with an ev is beyond me.

 

[FutureTruck]

Why people think they can tow long distance with an ev is beyond me.

They can, they just need a BIG battery pack, which is why the Silverado is doing it well and why Tesla is going to be doubling the battery size in the CT soon.

 

[Cboy7]

Sorry to hear. It may be possible in 10 years but realistically in the present, simply buy a diesel for long distance towing and go make memories!
Cybertruck is not for every situation.

 

[Cboy7]

Why people think they can tow long distance with an ev is beyond me.

Exactly!
When your only tool is a hammer, every problem is a nail.

It requires a different tool to tow long distance.
We make life too hard for ourselves.

 

[Cam Salazar]

They can, they just need a BIG battery pack, which is why the Silverado is doing it well and why Tesla is going to be doubling the battery size in the CT soon.

"They can, they just need a BIG battery pack" = they can't. Right?
And no, tesla is not doubling their battery pack size soon, not sure how you came up with that from a battery teardown. I read the same article, that gap doesn't translate to a 2x battery pack. Elon himself said that the range battles between ev makers is silly, and that you don't need more than 340m of range. So they designed the extender for those that feel they need it.
But hey, believe whatever you want, just letting you know, you'll be disappointed.

 

[FutureTruck]

"They can, they just need a BIG battery pack" = they can't. Right?
And no, tesla is not doubling their battery pack size soon, not sure how you came up with that from a battery teardown. I read the same article, that gap doesn't translate to a 2x battery pack. Elon himself said that the range battles between ev makers is silly, and that you don't need more than 340m of range. So they designed the extender for those that feel they need it.
But hey, believe whatever you want, just letting you know, you'll be disappointed.

Range is silly for a sedan to go to Costco, range when towing in a TRUCK is different my friend, and Tesla built the CyberTRUCK
Well I believe it, majority of stockholders believe it, and pretty much ALL the Tesla experts/influencers believe it.
No way Wes confirms that unless it is in the plans, plus a ton of stuff coming from Elon has eluded to his.

 

[SolarWizard]

Weight is pretty irrelevant, it's the frontal area and aerodynamics of the trailer acting as a parachute on your truck you're going to have to deal with.

The trailer hitch being close-set is good for some things, bad for others. You can change the arms of your trailer hitch to take advantage of the hitch, or use a ball extension - since you're not near the load limit - you can make it further, but you can't make it closer, so better to have a hitch that starts closer!

-Crissa

DO NOT USE A BALL EXTENSION

Sponsored