Rivan truck tow vehicle
Just got home from 4 days at Indy. This rig was just a few spaces down in the lot. Towed from Virginia to Indy. He did say it was a bit of a challenge finding charging stations, but there are a couple of apps that help.
Forum Discussion
64 Replies
ewarnerusa wrote:
no
Cool, thanks for sharing. I am very curious about EV options and I like the idea of something I could tow with. I want to see what kind of mobile solar charging options people come up with. I'm not talking about an unrealistic perpetual energy situation. But more like I'm boondocking for a few nights, can a large array on the trailer/camper recharge my electric vehicle to full during my stay?
Even 2000 watts solar will produce maybe 10 kWh per day into a 150 kWh battery will be at least a couple weeks.Reisender wrote:
ewarnerusa wrote:
Cool, thanks for sharing. I am very curious about EV options and I like the idea of something I could tow with. I want to see what kind of mobile solar charging options people come up with. I'm not talking about an unrealistic perpetual energy situation. But more like I'm boondocking for a few nights, can a large array on the trailer/camper recharge my electric vehicle to full during my stay?
I love the.concept but that is all way above my pay grade.
We just came thru Saskatchewan and are at our last supercharger stop before we cross to Manitoba. Presently at the whitewood supercharger for about 20 minutes. We are going to shut it down for the day in about 100 kilometres in a little municipal Lyons campground. 30 bucks full service. Extremely gusty winds here right now. Tomorrow we’ll blast thru Manitoba before we go back into tour mode in ontario. So many nice parks and lakes there that we haven’t had a chance to visit. Looking forward to getting back to the slower pace.
Just for reference this is our little combo. I have no idea how it compares to the Rivian as far as towing as I don’t know much about the Rivian. I like it though.
June 1 and no leaves on the trees in Saskatchetoon yet? Dang, late spring this year!ewarnerusa wrote:
Cool, thanks for sharing. I am very curious about EV options and I like the idea of something I could tow with. I want to see what kind of mobile solar charging options people come up with. I'm not talking about an unrealistic perpetual energy situation. But more like I'm boondocking for a few nights, can a large array on the trailer/camper recharge my electric vehicle to full during my stay?
Nope. Green energy is not magical, as much as many portray it to be.
If you covered basically the whole top of a 30’ long camper (and now no access to anything on the roof and 100 more holes in the roof, lol) AND used none of the power to recharge the camper, AND had 12hours a day of direct sunlight for a 3 day weekend, you could put a little under “a quarter tank” of fresh feisty electrons in your Rivian.
But your Rivian will kill electrons pulling a 30’ camper faster than a jackrabbit with some buckshot in its arse. So the good news is, you will probably not get to camp until late Saturday night after charging up so many times and have to leave by noon on Sunday to make it home for work on the Tuesday after the long weekend, so you’ll save a lot of money in camping supplies and beer!
Let the games begin with the hopes and dreams and unicorn farts folks!
(But please run the numbers first before you beak off, it will help you realize that magic doesn’t move mountains…or campers!)ewarnerusa wrote:
Cool, thanks for sharing. I am very curious about EV options and I like the idea of something I could tow with. I want to see what kind of mobile solar charging options people come up with. I'm not talking about an unrealistic perpetual energy situation. But more like I'm boondocking for a few nights, can a large array on the trailer/camper recharge my electric vehicle to full during my stay?
I love the.concept but that is all way above my pay grade.
We just came thru Saskatchewan and are at our last supercharger stop before we cross to Manitoba. Presently at the whitewood supercharger for about 20 minutes. We are going to shut it down for the day in about 100 kilometres in a little municipal Lyons campground. 30 bucks full service. Extremely gusty winds here right now. Tomorrow we’ll blast thru Manitoba before we go back into tour mode in ontario. So many nice parks and lakes there that we haven’t had a chance to visit. Looking forward to getting back to the slower pace.
Just for reference this is our little combo. I have no idea how it compares to the Rivian as far as towing as I don’t know much about the Rivian. I like it though.ewarnerusa wrote:
Cool, thanks for sharing. I am very curious about EV options and I like the idea of something I could tow with. I want to see what kind of mobile solar charging options people come up with. I'm not talking about an unrealistic perpetual energy situation. But more like I'm boondocking for a few nights, can a large array on the trailer/camper recharge my electric vehicle to full during my stay?
Not yet but maybe coming with the leaps and bounds of the technology in solar panels.- Cool, thanks for sharing. I am very curious about EV options and I like the idea of something I could tow with. I want to see what kind of mobile solar charging options people come up with. I'm not talking about an unrealistic perpetual energy situation. But more like I'm boondocking for a few nights, can a large array on the trailer/camper recharge my electric vehicle to full during my stay?
Bionic Man wrote:
Reisender wrote:
Just a heads up re charging stations. No one actually has to “look for a charge station”. The truck knows where they are and all the driver does is select the station he wants to go to and it will navigate there. The driver will know things like,
Wether the station is occupied or not,
What the power is
What the vehicles battery level will be when he/she arrives
What amenities are in the area etc etc.
What the reviews are.
What method of payment will be required.
In the case of some manufacturers the driver just selects the final destination of the trip and the vehicle figures out all the stops along the way. It will compensate for wind, temperature, elevation change etc. it’s pretty accurate. It will also compensate for trailer load, but at least with our EV it takes 10 or 15 minutes of travelling with the trailer load to come up with a more accurate estimate.
As well there are about a half dozen apps that will do most of the above.
Hope that was informative.
Safe travels all.
Have you been successful finding charge stations that were accommodating to a vehicle and large trailer? From what I have seen, that is where it would be more challenging.
And, cards on the table, I have concluded I will be a late adopter to electric vehicle technology.
Large trailer? Hmmm. I would say the vast majority of the stations we have used would not be accommodating to a large trailer. There have been a few BC Hydro and FLO chargers that were more of a parallel park sceenario that would probably work but certainly none of the Superchargers. Some have trailer stalls that are ok for something like our 18 footer or maybe a little bigger.
I know Tesla is building pull thrus on some of their supercharger sites now. I’m sure that will get common.
We have only had to disconnect once to charge. That was at a mall in Airdrie Alberta. There’s always a way.
Hope that helps.- Was everything alright? without adventures?
Reisender wrote:
Just a heads up re charging stations. No one actually has to “look for a charge station”. The truck knows where they are and all the driver does is select the station he wants to go to and it will navigate there. The driver will know things like,
Wether the station is occupied or not,
What the power is
What the vehicles battery level will be when he/she arrives
What amenities are in the area etc etc.
What the reviews are.
What method of payment will be required.
In the case of some manufacturers the driver just selects the final destination of the trip and the vehicle figures out all the stops along the way. It will compensate for wind, temperature, elevation change etc. it’s pretty accurate. It will also compensate for trailer load, but at least with our EV it takes 10 or 15 minutes of travelling with the trailer load to come up with a more accurate estimate.
As well there are about a half dozen apps that will do most of the above.
Hope that was informative.
Safe travels all.
Have you been successful finding charge stations that were accommodating to a vehicle and large trailer? From what I have seen, that is where it would be more challenging.
And, cards on the table, I have concluded I will be a late adopter to electric vehicle technology.- “Obviously an electric tow vehicle would be a non-starter for that scenario.”
May well be obvious today but not tomorrow IMO.
