Towing a Pop Up Camper up a Mountain

[Fleetwood75]

Supercharged to 80% state of charge at the base of the mountain. The drive was 50 miles, up 7000ft elevation gain. Did not exceed 55mph. Arrived with 35% state of charge

Supercharged at the top, but not too much. Left with 60% state of charge, got to the bottom with 60% state of charge (50 miles, 7,000ft drop). Speed was 55 mph all the way down, never touched the brake pedal. Honestly expected more regen than that but maybe I was going too fast?

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[Woodrick]

For me a mountain crossing has equated to linear distance plus about 10%.

 

[Fleetwood75]

I’ll be doing the same drive this weekend with no trailer, I’ll update the thread with my numbers

 

[ÆCIII]

Supercharged to 80% state of charge at the base of the mountain. The drive was 50 miles, up 7000ft elevation gain. Did not exceed 55mph. Arrived with 35% state of charge

Supercharged at the top, but not too much. Left with 60% state of charge, got to the bottom with 60% state of charge (50 miles, 7,000ft drop). Speed was 55 mph all the way down, never touched the brake pedal. Honestly expected more regen than that but maybe I was going too fast?

Would be very useful if you could give us the weight of the pop-up trailer, and the Wh/mi consumption rate on the whole trip.

Good observation on the downhill regen though.

- ÆCIII

 

[newwave1331]

Round trip was 554 Wh/mi at 55

Supercharged to 80% state of charge at the base of the mountain. The drive was 50 miles, up 7000ft elevation gain. Did not exceed 55mph. Arrived with 35% state of charge

Supercharged at the top, but not too much. Left with 60% state of charge, got to the bottom with 60% state of charge (50 miles, 7,000ft drop). Speed was 55 mph all the way down, never touched the brake pedal. Honestly expected more regen than that but maybe I was going too fast?

553Wh/mi round trip at 55mph.

If I estimate the trailer weight (2260lb), additional single axle rotational resistance, and change of drag coefficient (using 5% to 75% 80% for SC)

Between SC stops (rough estimates)
@40 mph -> 452 Wh/mi ~204 miles
@50 mph -> 513 Wh/mi ~180 miles
@60 mph -> 590 Wh/mi ~156 miles
@70mph -> 683 Wh/mi ~135 miles
@80mph -> 791Wh/mi ~117 miles

 

[Fleetwood75]

Would be very useful if you could give us the weight of the pop-up trailer, and the Wh/mi consumption rate on the whole trip.

Good observation on the downhill regen though.

- ÆCIII

Trailer weight is about 3,000 lbs loaded. As you can see from the photos it doesn’t have a large area to catch wind. I didn’t track the Wh/mi on that trip but I suppose it used (123 kWh)*(80% - 35%) / 50 mi = 1100 Wh/mi going up the mountain

 

[qreese]

Can you take a guess at your total weight? Trailer/passengers/other stuff? Thanks!

 

[Fleetwood75]

Can you take a guess at your total weight? Trailer/passengers/other stuff? Thanks!

Trailer about 3,000 lbs. Maybe 800 lbs of people and stuff in the truck. If anything I’m overestimating on both

 

[Fleetwood75]

Round trip was 554 Wh/mi at 55

553Wh/mi round trip at 55mph.

If I estimate the trailer weight (2260lb), additional single axle rotational resistance, and change of drag coefficient (using 5%-75% for SC)

Between SC stops (rough estimates)
@40 mph -> 452 Wh/mi ~204 miles
@50 mph -> 513 Wh/mi ~180 miles
@60 mph -> 590 Wh/mi ~156 miles
@70mph -> 683 Wh/mi ~135 miles
@80mph -> 791Wh/mi ~117 miles

Very handy! This trip makes me think that maybe I won’t need the range extender that I pre-ordered after all. I’ll wait to see the final specs on it before I decide.

I wish that Tesla would partner with some gas stations to replace one or two pumps with superchargers. Seems like it would be a very rapid way to build out more pull-through stalls

 

[tbuck]

Very handy! This trip makes me think that maybe I won’t need the range extender that I pre-ordered after all. I’ll wait to see the final specs on it before I decide.

I wish that Tesla would partner with some gas stations to replace one or two pumps with superchargers. Seems like it would be a very rapid way to build out more pull-through stalls

They may not, but others are. GM is partnering with some stations for its DC fast chargers and Shell purchased Volta to expand its charging options with longer term plans to start adding DC Fast chargers to some stations. Some national chains are doing to (of course, Buccees has partnered with Tesla), but Circle K has started rolling out DC Fast Chargers at its stations as have RaceTrack.

It is happening - we are still early on the edge of the curve, however - and (especially when Tesla releases a CCS adapter that fits the CT) when you look at CCS chargers, the world will open faster. PlugShare is a good (free) app that you can use to find the types of chargers you need.

 

[MeadowShade]

Weight matters but the faster you go, aero matters more. The blunt front does hurt but the blunt back hurts a lot more than most think.
I have a 7 ft tall (body height, total height is nearly 9 ft). And I use 800 wpm empty or not. It seems a 3,000 pound car inside would make a lot os difference but it does NOT.

 

[mongo]

Supercharged to 80% state of charge at the base of the mountain. The drive was 50 miles, up 7000ft elevation gain. Did not exceed 55mph. Arrived with 35% state of charge

Supercharged at the top, but not too much. Left with 60% state of charge, got to the bottom with 60% state of charge (50 miles, 7,000ft drop). Speed was 55 mph all the way down, never touched the brake pedal. Honestly expected more regen than that but maybe I was going too fast?

10k pounds with 7k altitude change is about 26kWh. So 50 miles down with 9 SOC change means 525Wh/mile.
45% SOC on uphill = 55kWh - 26 = 29kWh motive/ 50 miles = 580Wh/mile .

Checks out.

 

[Fleetwood75]

10k pounds with 7k altitude change is about 26kWh. So 50 miles down with 9 SOC change means 525Wh/mile.
45% SOC on uphill = 55kWh - 26 = 29kWh motive/ 50 miles = 580Wh/mile .

Checks out.

You must also be an engineer ?

 

[BornToFly]

I wonder if you can use a stretchy fabric to seal the gap between the back of the CT and the front of the trailer.... I wonder how much range would change?

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