Interesting thread on the Tesla forum towing an Airstream.

If you can wait until 2020, Ford promises an electric platform for a pickup truck.

horton333 wrote:

Terryallan wrote:
I missed where it said what the range is, and how long it takes to recharge. Read it a couple times, and can't find it. Would be good to know

There was a story last year about a couple driving a Tesla X pulling a pod across Canada and then down to Florida. In the mountains of B.C. where they started they reported roughly half the normal range, got a bit better in the flatter parts of the country. They had to stay in the 90 km/h range to do that. They blogged some detailed accounts, google it for more detailed info. I also saw reports of a similar story with an Airstream, but i don't recall detailed reporting.

For the conversion between a gallon of gas and electrical energy use in a car there is a standard developed by the EPA of ~34 kwh per gallon. This takes into account conversion efficiency, which is hugely different for an electric and gas motor. So they estimate a full charge on the model X is about the same as putting in 3 U.S. gallons of gas.

I remember that story. Interesting stuff.

We saw a tent trailer hooked up behind a model S. We parked beside him in the ED hoping to talk to him but never had the chance. A tent trailer is probably a good fit for the Tesla.

Terryallan wrote:
I missed where it said what the range is, and how long it takes to recharge. Read it a couple times, and can't find it. Would be good to know

There was a story last year about a couple driving a Tesla X pulling a pod across Canada and then down to Florida. In the mountains of B.C. where they started they reported roughly half the normal range, got a bit better in the flatter parts of the country. They had to stay in the 90 km/h range to do that. They blogged some detailed accounts, google it for more detailed info. I also saw reports of a similar story with an Airstream, but i don't recall detailed reporting.

For the conversion between a gallon of gas and electrical energy use in a car there is a standard developed by the EPA of ~34 kwh per gallon. This takes into account conversion efficiency, which is hugely different for an electric and gas motor. So they estimate a full charge on the model X is about the same as putting in 3 U.S. gallons of gas.

Terryallan wrote:
I missed where it said what the range is, and how long it takes to recharge. Read it a couple times, and can't find it. Would be good to know

We'll, I'm not an expert on the Tesla but the model X has a 100 KWH battery so a range of around 500 KM (300 miles?) is pretty normal. (not towing) So assuming you arrive at standard current generation fast charger (the new generation coming on line is going to be almost twice as fast) a charge from lets say 20 to 80 percent will be a little under an hour. I know my car is about 20 minutes but we have a smaller battery and our leaf only allow 50 KW charging. Rumor has it the 2018's coming out later this year will be about 50 percent faster...but that is a rumor.
In my garage on my home charger it is about 4 hours...but I am usually asleep when it charges so not exactly sure.

Things are changing so fast now with the technology it is hard to keep up. Rumor also has it that the new DC fast chargers going in between LA and Vegas are future proofed to provide up to 350 KW rate although I don't think any EV can charge at even half that rate in 2017. All of the level three chargers in my province top out at 75 KWH. There is a bunch more going in this year and next year and I think they are higher (rumor again). This will be on the Kootenay route as part of the Accelerate Kootenay program.

This is a standard drive thru fast charger but most are not drive thru like this. Things will have to evolve.



This is the way many are (this one obviously solar powered) but as you can see it will be difficult to get a trailer in there.

Terryallan wrote:
I missed where it said what the range is, and how long it takes to recharge. Read it a couple times, and can't find it. Would be good to know

At 660Wh/mi the top end model X would have a range of ~120 miles, recharge rate is ~80 percent in 40 minutes (75 minutes for 100 percent, it slows down considerably at the end as you risk damage and possibly fire by pushing them to hard at the end). I do have to say the idea of splitting a 50A circuit between the car and trailer is great.

I missed where it said what the range is, and how long it takes to recharge. Read it a couple times, and can't find it. Would be good to know

RCMAN46 wrote:
I did some calculations.

I used $2.25 a gallon for gasoline.

$0.15 a kilowatt hour for electricity.

From the article 687 wh/mi for one leg of the trip while towing.

Divide the 2.25 by the .15 to get a gallon of gas equate to to kWh.

I got about 15 kWh.

Divide the 15 kWh by the 687 wh/mi I got about 22.

Thus the mi/ gallon of gas equivalent is about 22 mpg.

The best that the article mentioned was 500 wh/mi without the trailer.

Thus about 30 mpg gas equivalent.

Yah I don't know. Might be something off there. Using our own real life numbers for our vehicle it takes about 3.30 to fill our battery from almost dead. (We pay 11 cents per KWH) We go about 180 to 200 km on that depending on what kind of driving we are doing. I haven't figured that out in mileage but its a lot cheaper than the old days when we were using gas or diesel. I would imagine towing would be pretty hard on power consumption though. Then again, towing is pretty hard on mileage too though.

I found it interesting where one of the challenges EV drivers pulling trailers are facing is finding pull through fast chargers. I can attest to this as most I have seen are not in easy to access places while towing something. Some are in bigger parking lots like this.



But many are in spots like this which would be tricky with a trailer. Thats Angela beside her leaf.



I suppose there will be an evolution of DC fast charger accessibility as well. I think using the service station approach or even old service stations as they are in some European countries would work. It will be interesting to see how this evolves over the next couple decades.

I did some calculations.

I used $2.25 a gallon for gasoline.

$0.15 a kilowatt hour for electricity.

From the article 687 wh/mi for one leg of the trip while towing.

Divide the 2.25 by the .15 to get a gallon of gas equate to to kWh.

I got about 15 kWh.

Divide the 15 kWh by the 687 wh/mi I got about 22.

Thus the mi/ gallon of gas equivalent is about 22 mpg.

The best that the article mentioned was 500 wh/mi without the trailer.

Thus about 30 mpg gas equivalent.

That is awesome. Some day I hope Tesla will put a 100kW battery in the trailer to feed the car in motion and serve as a house battery when parked :B

John & Angela wrote:
Hi Folks. We are members on the Tesla forum (although we do't own one) and I ran across an interesting thread from a model X owner towing his Airstream Bambi. Interesting thread that highlights the challenges and successes of towing a travel trailer with a long range Electric Vehicle. Might be interesting to follow.

Both of our daily driver vehicles are Electrics (2016 Nissan Leaf and 2015 Cabrio Smart ED) but neither are rated for towing or have a factory hitch. The Nissan has a hitch available for it but we would only use it for something like an A-liner but I doubt we would go down this road as the leaf is not a long range vehicle altough it suits our needs well. We are about three years away from selling the pusher and and downsizing to a small trailer that we can pull behind our next EV. Don't know what that will be yet but there will be a lot more models available by then.

Anyway, hope some of you find this thread interesting. Safe travels all.

Here is the thread.

https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/x-and-airstream-bambi-the-new-adventures-2017.89351/

J and A

Thanks for this newest info. There were many electric and hybrids at the NYC Auto Show but I walked by most regretfully knowing that towing is not recommended with most.