Towing tested with 6,000lb Tesla and trailer load

[Bsimmer3000]

just like doctors, pilots, and plumbers - there are good ones and bad ones

sounds like you chose a bad one

which, you know, prevention being the cure…

well last year they were all bad when I was looking. Couldn’t find a nearest dealer was over 3hrs away who would sell at MSRP and he had none. Seems the same way now. Not a single dealer near me signed up to the EV program.

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[Gigahorse]

I’ve got a dumb question about towing. CT will be my first EV but I have rented a Tesla a couple of times. All the charging stations I’ve been to have been stalls you back into. If you did need to tow a trailer any distance, how do you charge it the truck along the way? Are there pull through charging stations?

There are a handful of pull through chargers, but they are very rare. You will need to plan on unhooking the trailer in a nearby parking lot, locking it up etc, charging, then hooking back up.
This is one downside of EV towing as 99% of gas stations you can pull through, so something to be aware of if you are going to be total towing more than 100 miles.

 

[JPRIVER]

Good question, hopefully they make pull through or we will have to dismount the trailer. But since the superchargers on the highways are 100miles apart on average and by design, the CT may not make it. As a tesla owner, you will find it most reasonable to charge at home unless you are traveling.

 

[Bsimmer3000]

That mostly sounds strangely similar to the CT scenario.

Under the same conditions the CT would surely get 1mi/kwh so at the very least 100miles.

Where do you get this 40 miles nonsense from, let keep things real here.

You have a CT on order?

Do you do much towing with your Leaf's?

The weight is actually much less a factor than how aerodynamic that frontal area is.

Not even close. If the CT towing the fiat bed with a car can’t get 90 the airstream def won’t. They ain’t as aero friendly as you would think. My neighbor has 2 and they are no different to tow than any other RV. Guess we will see in the next few months as I’m sure there’s gonna be non stop tests

 

[VDR]

I’ve got a dumb question about towing. CT will be my first EV but I have rented a Tesla a couple of times. All the charging stations I’ve been to have been stalls you back into. If you did need to tow a trailer any distance, how do you charge it the truck along the way? Are there pull through charging stations?

It will be quite the nuisance until more pull through's are opened up if they not backed up with weekend traffic.

 

[JPRIVER]

Good question, hopefully they make pull through or we will have to dismount the trailer. But since the superchargers on the highways are 100miles apart on average and by design, the CT may not make it. As a tesla owner, you will find it most reasonable to charge at home unless you are traveling

 

[fritter63]

Would love to see a towing test with an overland or teardrop trailer. That’s my more likely use case.

 

[VDR]

Not even close. If the CT towing the fiat bed with a car can’t get 90 the airstream def won’t. They ain’t as aero friendly as you would think. My neighbor has 2 and they are no different to tow than any other RV. Guess we will see in the next few months as I’m sure there’s gonna be non stop tests

It actually got 115 miles, pretty standard issue to get 1mi/kwh towing a RV trailer.
I have reviewed enough tests & actually the airstream is a bit better than your typical box front RV. There is a reason box cars don't have wings & jet engines.

 

[Woodrick]

Oh I dunno, the several years following the reveal when at ANY time they could have revised the numbers.
I hope they actually release the range extender, and maybe have an option for an even larger one. 60-70kw would still fit in the bed and give slightly more than half the bed capacity still, while giving a real world, keep up with traffic highway speed range of 300-400 miles. It would also drastically speed up charger stops, as the extra pack would barely affect highway efficiency while adding 100-150 miles of range.
want to take advantage of a v4 supercharger? There you go, dump the extra 100kwh charge rate into the range extender pack and pile on those miles fast!

Yes, and there have been statements about changes in the vehicle released, a large one one (pun intended) is the length of the vehicle being shortened to fit into the American garage.
But range is one of those really hot topics for Tesla. They really weren't ready to give up the fight for 500 miles. They still aren't ready. They are still working toward it.

And Elon has stated that vehicles having much over 300 miles isn't that great of an idea because you are carrying around that weight a large percentage of the time and not using it.

It came down to who won, the production line, the engineers, or the bean counters. And they decided on a compromise. Nobody likes it, but for those who need it, it is available.

But if you haven't done much driving in an EV, you really don't know if you need it or not. I've driven a 1,000-mile trip in a vehicle with 75 miles range.

But honestly, what difference would it have made? Getting your refundable reservation earlier?

 

[VDR]

Would love to see a towing test with an overland or teardrop trailer. That’s my more likely use case.

Check the Rivian forum's, expect a similar mi/kwh.

 

[cvalue13]

Not a single dealer near me signed up to the EV program.

that says a lot, and sucks

Seems you may be surrounded

 

[Woodrick]

Would love to see a towing test with an overland or teardrop trailer. That’s my more likely use case.

It is going to be interesting. But one of the things that I fear is how many camper manufacturers created a teardrop and never did wind tunnel or even computer simulations of it.

 

[cvalue13]

Which one of those vehicles do you think would win a 1/8th mile race on a straight track?

the one built to do it

that’s the thing


I don’t want to further overstate the objection

I basically just agree with everything Jason Fenske says in his video

I get Tesla is going to do these dumb stunts that appeal to the fat part of the bell curve, just like other OEMs do

This one just has a few flourishes that are worth calling out as particularly dumb and misleading

 

[Bartman]

no, end of the day, one goes further than the other, full stop

I think the point instead is that people are variously all wound up about “what black magic explains that shocking result!?”

And that the answer is there’s no black magic.

A Ford Lightning ER has the ICE equivalent of a 13 gallon gas tank. It’s that simple.

There also aren’t ICE trucks that can tow any further on only 13 gallons, least of all in 60° weather at 70mph.

With all due respect, IMHO I don't think the 13-gallon fuel tank on an ICE truck is a very fair comparison, for towing practicality, compared to the battery powered Cybertruck.

#1 - Not sure many folks would buy an ICE work truck, with any kind of serious towing in mind, with just a 13-gallon fuel tank. Although, I suppose If it only had a 13-gallon tank one could simply install an auxiliary fuel tank much easier, and cheaper, than installing extra battery power.

#2 - If you have an ICE work truck, for towing purposes, even if it's only a 13-gallon tank, there are usually plenty of gas stations available where you can pull in, fill back up in just a few minutes, and be back on your way, so it's not an equal inconvenience.

Like you, I'm also excited about buying a Cybertruck, but for towing purposes, EV trucks are just not there yet and are not a viable replacement option to a vehicle like a Ford HD F-Series truck. Someday they will be and hope that's soon, but for now I'm keeping my 2015 F-350 diesel pickup truck for towing and long trips, when I don't have time to stop and wait around to charge back up.

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