Towing w/an EV

[ijoe13]

Hey all- not sure where to post this, so trying here. Mods: Please move if needed.

Does anyone here use an EV to tow a smaller Airstream, one 19’ or shorter? How has your experience been? I presume your vehicle’s range is cut in half when towing?

What type of EV do you tow with? Ford Lightning, Rivian, Tesla, something else?

[kscherzi]

There's a few people on this forum who do. They've written extensively on their experiences. Try Google searching for EV and Airstream. You'll likely find many threads.

[Wayne&Sam]

We are awaiting our R1S.

[ScottnAZ]

We towed our 23’ from Phoenix to San Diego, with the Rivian, earlier this year:

https://www.airforums.com/forums/f46...og-243992.html

Have also done the 140 mile trip to Sedona several times towing the airstream with the Rivian.

As mentioned, there are several good threads going about towing with EV’s.

[moosetags]

We have towed our 25FB with our Rivian R1T. It tows great. The only downside is that the range is terrible. Good for short trips only.

Brian

[ijoe13]

Originally Posted by moosetags

We have towed our 25FB with our Rivian R1T. It tows great. The only downside is that the range is terrible. Good for short trips only.

Brian

What sort of range have you seen? ~100 miles?

[AlbertF]

Based on what others have written on the subject, you can expect to use 600 to 800 watt hours per mile. This means that a battery with 80 kWh of usable capacity will give you about 100 miles of range.

Trailer size and weight are minor factors. Aerodynamic drag is the key.

Google CanAm RV and towing with a Tesla Model S. There’s a very informative article on the subject.

[field & stream]

Perhaps the most interesting aspect reported on these forums by an esteemed member is that it took about 12 hours of charging a Rivian on a 50 Amp pedestal in an RV park to recharge the vehicle. With a range of about 100 miles towing and an average speed of 50mph, this works out to 12 hours of charging for every 100 miles driven.

Obviously, high speed chargers reduce this time significantly but in rural America these are not yet common.

[Downsized]

Originally Posted by ijoe13

Hey all- not sure where to post this, so trying here. Mods: Please move if needed.

Does anyone here use an EV to tow a smaller Airstream, one 19’ or shorter? How has your experience been? I presume your vehicle’s range is cut in half when towing?

What type of EV do you tow with? Ford Lightning, Rivian, Tesla, something else?

We camped beside a Rivian owner towing an airstream basecamp when we were camping on Vancouver island in June. They loved it. They typically were seeing about 250 to 300 kilometres between charges although just like us they tended to stop more often for breaks or as charging opportunities present.

We don’t tow an airstream but rather a teardrop with our Tesla. It’s a good combo for us and it’s a towing beast, especially in the mountains. Excellent torque and horsepower going uphill and regenerative braking coming down. You’ll never use your service brakes unless there is a panic stop.

We have toured all over Canada and extensively in BC. I don’t think it’s a good match for airstreams though due to hitch weight limitations. Maybe a model X would work with a basecamp. They have higher tow and hitch capacities. Really not sure though. Rivian or Lightning would be a better choice for something like a smaller airstream. At this point EV’s are not a great choice for larger profile heavier trailers.

Hope that helps.

Cheers.

[Andrew T]

Here is an article about towing to Vail Colorado and back last year. This was done at 60 MPH for the entire trip except where not possible. Since then we have towed to Key West and and back and recently to Winnipeg and back around Lake Superior. Returning from Florida in December we drove from Orlando to London in 2 days the same as we would with a gas car.

On the way down we drove with a friend who was taking his Mercedes convertible to St Pete's Beach and wanted someone to run with. We stayed south of Atlanta and he decided he could go ahead since we would be behind him anyway if he had car trouble. He had his cruise set a 77MPH for the trip I arrived 2.5 hours behind him. Had I been towing with a gas I would have been at least 1.5 hours behind so not much difference in real world travel time. Most of the chargers in Georgia and Florida are V3's so charging is very fast which helps.

https://www.rvlifemag.com/long-dista...-an-airstream/

[ijoe13]

I appreciate all the responses, especially the more pragmatic ones which speak to experiences around the specifics of the topic at hand. I’ll do some more reading on the forum to get more insight.

[richard5933]

Moderator hat on...

This is a thread warning... This thread is about towing a small Airstream with an EV. It is not the place to debate EVs in general, argue about the merits of EVs vs. ICE vehicles, talk about governmental policy, etc.

If you have any comments on topic about towing an Airstream with an EV, please continue posting. If the thread veers off again into the weeds it will be shut down.

Many thanks to those who have contributed helpful information about the topic in accordance with the Community Rules.

[DewTheDew]

Originally Posted by Andrew T

Here is an article about towing to Vail Colorado and back last year. This was done at 60 MPH for the entire trip except where not possible. Since then we have towed to Key West and and back and recently to Winnipeg and back around Lake Superior. Returning from Florida in December we drove from Orlando to London in 2 days the same as we would with a gas car.

On the way down we drove with a friend who was taking his Mercedes convertible to St Pete's Beach and wanted someone to run with. We stayed south of Atlanta and he decided he could go ahead since we would be behind him anyway if he had car trouble. He had his cruise set a 77MPH for the trip I arrived 2.5 hours behind him. Had I been towing with a gas I would have been at least 1.5 hours behind so not much difference in real world travel time. Most of the chargers in Georgia and Florida are V3's so charging is very fast which helps.

https://www.rvlifemag.com/long-dista...-an-airstream/

It is important to note that the AS was modified for this, and the Tesla may have been, too. Just so someone doesn't expect the same experience with off-the-shelf car and AS.

[Andrew T]

Hi Dew

the only modification to the Tesla is the hitch and wiring. Recently I did upgrade the wheels but that was more for appearance. A company in Sweden makes a wheel that is more aerodynamic than the plastic aero covers Tesla provides and looks much better.

The Airstream has been streamlined by removing many of the exterior attachments. This saves about 100 Watts/Mile so a significant improvement. Since this picture was taken the power awning arms have been changed to manual ones so a hybrid awning.

We have setup 75 Tesla's now for towing a variety of Airstream's and Alto's Some have left them stock thinking they will try it for a while and see how it goes.

The first trailer we towed with our own Tesla Model 3 was a 22' Bambi, my goal with the modifications to the 27 was to make it as efficient as the Bambi. Basecamp non X models are the best, about 100 watts per mile less again.

Andy

[Andrew T]

The rims are from a company called “the new aero”. I should see if they would make matching ones for the Airstream.

[field & stream]

Andrew T: for those of us who are still on the learning curve, how does “100 watts per mile less” translate to increased range in miles? Thanks.

[Downsized]

The lower the watt hours per mile the better the efficiency and ergo range.

We typically see 320 to 380 watt hours per kilometre at 90 kph. The interesting thing is it changes very little between the BC mountains and the prairies.

Those numbers are with this combo.

[jcl]

Originally Posted by field & stream

Andrew T: for those of us who are still on the learning curve, how does “100 watts per mile less” translate to increased range in miles? Thanks.

Andy's article lists 608 watt hours per mile over his 3400+ mile trip to Colorado and back, in a Tesla Model S towing an AS27 at a cruising speed of 60 mph. I believe that vehicle has a 100 kwh battery.

It is not practical to charge to 100% or discharge to 0, but a gross figure for range would be 100/0.608=164 miles. Using 80% of that would mean 131 miles of usable range.

If the trailer aero improvements are worth 100 watt hours per mile, then that suggests a 14% improvement over the stock trailer.

Using these figures for calculations, 14% improvement means the aero modifications provided roughly an additional 20 miles of range each charge cycle.

That 608 watt hours per mile equates to 380 watt hours per km, pretty comparable to the 360-380 that Downsized reported for his Model Y and much smaller trailer, at comparable cruising speeds (96 km/hr vs 90 km/hr)

[AlbertF]

Originally Posted by field & stream

Andrew T: for those of us who are still on the learning curve, how does “100 watts per mile less” translate to increased range in miles? Thanks.

EV economy is best expressed in watt hours per mile (or kilometre).

Assuming useful battery capacity of 80 kilowatt hours (80,000 Wh), this might represent 20 miles more range. It might also represent less time spent charging on a trip.

For those not familiar with measures of electrical energy, 1 kilowatt hour is the energy needed to power an old style 100 watt lightbulb for 10 hours.

[jcl]

A good takeaway from the calculations above is that aero matters more than trailer weight or length. And cruising speed matters a lot.

In related news, after months of delay due to regulators, our Supercharger pricing in Canada (which went to kwh charges from time based charges recently) now has peak hour pricing, and off peak hour discounts, depending on location (BC and Ontario to start).

A local Supercharger in BC has posted rates ranging from $0.10 in off peak to $0.27 in shoulder hours, to $0.34 in peak hours. Those are CDN dollars, so off peak Supercharger pricing drops to $0.074 US overnight, at least at that station.