Towing test for upcoming travel season

[21st Century Truck]

I think it's important to also factor in secondary costs of necessary periodic maintenance vs. just about zero maintenance when comparing towing with the Lightning vs. towing with an ICE vehicle. It's just like owning a Lightning vs. owning an ICE truck, without any towing.

The gasoline / diesel maintenance costs are A). recurrent, b). necessary and C). mileage-dependent.

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[rockfish]

Update on my Memorial day trailer pull / camping trip.
I left my house with 100 SOC . 330ish miles on the GOM . My transcend 240ml comes in 6400 pounds dry and 7500 GVWR. i always like to pull it dry as we try to stuff as much food and stuff in the camper and coolers with beer (very essential ) into the bed. 62 miles one way light headwind from the south and i ended up .09 MPK both directions and 45 miles left in the tank. I forgot to document it as i was super excited to get everything set up and get some frosty beverages down.
I would like to add that even though it said 330 ish miles as soon as i dialed the camper in the GOM went down to around 155 miles, concerning but i wasn't too worried i knew i could make it there i was just worried about the charging. Being a state park with 50 and 30 amp service poles, i was able to use the ford mobile charger on the 50 amp was back up to 90% by midnight, so no issues with that. all in all was a great 4 days although we did run out of beer. ..... a couple of times ....

 

[B177y]

....62 miles one way light headwind from the south and i ended up .09 MPK both directions ....

I assume you mean 0.9 MPK, not .09? I'd be a little concerned with .09.

 

[MidAtlanticLightningClub]

62 miles one way light headwind from the south and i ended up .09 MPK both directions and 45 miles left in the tank.

How fast were you driving? Speed makes a huge impact on range when towing.

 

[rockfish]

typo yes you are correct 0.9 MPK about 65 to 70 mph. also i could not get the blue cruise to activate with the trailer. Is that a safety feature that others have found? or is it i just have the crappiest version of blue cruise. ? Just went in and checked on that. Yes it is a safety feature and you cannot tow with blue cruise. , and yes B177y you can use the the adaptive cruise , which i was able to use , probably better than taking your hands off the wheel with all that weight.....

 

[B177y]

typo yes you are correct 0.9 MPK about 65 to 70 mph. also i could not get the blue cruise to activate with the trailer. Is that a safety feature that others have found? or is it i just have the crappiest version of blue cruise. ?

I don't have Bluecruise, but from what I have read on here it does not activate when you have a trailer connected. I guess that's a safety feature?

EDIT:
When I towed my trailer to Forks and back, I was able to use my adaptive cruise and lane keeping... "Hands on" Bluecruise if you will.

I recently installed a Comma.ai and from what I have read that will allow the hands-free driving even with a trailer. I will likely still be more comfortable hands-on while towing though.

 

[MidAtlanticLightningClub]

typo yes you are correct 0.9 MPK about 65 to 70 mph. also i could not get the blue cruise to activate with the trailer. Is that a safety feature that others have found? or is it i just have the crappiest version of blue cruise. ?

The 65 to 70 mph is the critical part here. With our trailer (24.5' NoBoundaries 19.8), we get:
0.94 mpk at 60 mph
1.09 mpk at 55 mph
1.26 mpk at 50 mph

BlueCruise Hands Free will not operate when pulling a trailer.
Adaptive Cruise Control with Lane Centering (formerly known as Hands-on BlueCruise) works fine when trailering.

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