Trailering - what to expect?

[Eli]

Hi,
I've had my Lightning Pro for a few months. I haven't pulled a trailer long distance yet.
On Thursday I plan to haul a VW bus on a trailer from Maine down to Massachusetts. 160 miles. Probably ~4000 pounds trailer and bus.
I've heard that the range gets absolutely killed when trailering.
What should I expect for a drop in range. We have a decent amount of fast chargers in Maine and Mass.
Just kinda wondering how many chargers I will need to stop at.
Thanks,
Eli

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[Heliian]

Depends on temperature and wind speed. Make sure your tires are aired properly. Make sure your load is balanced properly on the trailer and your trailer sits level with a load on and connected to the truck. Make sure your trailer tires are aired properly too.

Keep your speed around 100kmh or less for better range.

I would plan for half range, I would expect to stop halfway for a charge, charge at destination and charge halfway on return.

Basically just watch the mi/kwh and adjust accordingly. Best of luck.

 

[The Weatherman]

@Heliian

Has it right. I would agree with this.

The only thing I might add is that the terrain will also play a roll. Hills will hurt your range as well. The good news is you can get some of that loss back on the downhill side. Regen is your friend.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

Hi,
I've had my Lightning Pro for a few months. I haven't pulled a trailer long distance yet.
On Thursday I plan to haul a VW bus on a trailer from Maine down to Massachusetts. 160 miles. Probably ~4000 pounds trailer and bus.
I've heard that the range gets absolutely killed when trailering.
What should I expect for a drop in range. We have a decent amount of fast chargers in Maine and Mass.
Just kinda wondering how many chargers I will need to stop at.
Thanks,
Eli

The rule of thumb is going to be 1.0mi/kWh as a safe bet.

Ive gotten as high as 1.7mi/kWh and as low as 0.6mi/kWh but it’s warm so 1.0 is a good starting point.

At 160 miles - assuming a SR pro, I’d assume you can get about 90-100miles of range. The biggest concern is going to be when the chargers are available.

I would do more research on what’s accessible as that might dictate your number of stops. I’d rather stop an extra time at a pull through Flying J for example than deal with pulling through a mall parking lot for a Tesla charger with something in tow.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Plot out the chargers along your route, to be safe plan to stop around 80 mile intervals, hopefully there will be stations in the vicinity +/- the reserve of ~40 miles, this assumes a SR battery pack.

 

[thunderbayterry]

Its been my experience that Wind Resistance is huge. I pull a 7' tall cargo trailer (20' long), and also a dump trailer. Even with the cargo trailer empty, it burns way more electricity than a loaded dump trailer!

 

[climateguy]

I tow a 17 foot Escape travel trailer, recently from Seattle to Tucson and back. It weighs between 3000 and 3500 when loaded for a trip. I never got less than 120 miles from a 95% charge. I got to the point where I thought if I charged to 100% I could get 150 miles, but I never actually tried to do that.

 

[RickKeen]

Think of it this way - 1 battery / 2 vehicles. Range will be half or less. Like 0.7 to 1.0 Mi/kWh.

 

[Keith2230]

Heavy duty 16' equipment trailer and a 6,000 mini excavator two weeks ago 100% to 23% for 90 miles on my ER. I would not have made 160 miles without charging but could do it with one charge in the middle easily.

 

[TechnoSwiss]

Aging Wheels just release a video on towing with an EV truck, seems the big take away is rolling resistance and wind resistance are you biggest factors to range hit, weight doesn't seem to matter. When I towed an 2002 CR-V ~400 miles (Portland to Boise) I was seeing about 1.2m/kWh, that was with keeping the speed to 65.

 

[astrand1]

Aging Wheels just release a video on towing with an EV truck, seems the big take away is rolling resistance and wind resistance are you biggest factors to range hit, weight doesn't seem to matter. When I towed an 2002 CR-V ~400 miles (Portland to Boise) I was seeing about 1.2m/kWh, that was with keeping the speed to 65.

I tried to watch that video but the acting and all that stuff with wigs and whatnot I could not finish it. Some of these YouTubers need to just quit with all that extra stuff and just get to the point.

 

[3rdgenfan]

I tried to watch that video but the acting and all that stuff with wigs and whatnot I could not finish it. Some of these YouTubers need to just quit with all that extra stuff and just get to the point.

They own a bunch of random EVs and Trabants, so quirkiness comes with it. But he also has some great woodworking videos on his channel "Under Dunn"

His videos are always pretty detailed in testing and results.

I was getting 1.8mi/kWh towing a 944 at about 55-60mph for 90 miles round trip.

 

[TaxmanHog]

I tried to watch that video but the acting and all that stuff with wigs and whatnot I could not finish it. Some of these YouTubers need to just quit with all that extra stuff and just get to the point.

Horrible, TFL does a "better" job on this type of video.

 

[astrand1]

Horrible, TFL does a "better" job on this type of video.

100% agreed.

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