valhalla360
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Re: Electric Tow Vehicles - Getting close
I try to take the reasonable facts based approach. Unfortunately, in a lot of discussions today, people take a stance and are unwilling to consider the pros & cons. I'll readily agree, the F150EV isn't practical for towing as it is today. Nor are any of them viable for pulling a big 40ft 5er. But one of the most common types of RVers are weekenders pulling 16-25ft trailers who pretty much never do more than 200-300miles for a trip. I'm not saying this is how we travel or I suspect most of the people still on this forum but we see and talk to a lot of people during our travels and it seems very common. People who do 300+ miles per day as a "way of life" are really the outliers.8Views0likes0CommentsRe: Electric Tow Vehicles - Getting close
Unsurprisingly, the discussion has wandered off course. That's normal, so let's reset a bit. For 16-25ft trailers, 1/2 ton trucks are the most common option. Almost no one is towing 10k lb trailers with 1/2 ton ICE because even though they have the tow rating, everything else is overloaded. So we set at the beginning of the thread a more realistic assumption. Everything I've seen suggests 50-60% of the non-towing range. Drastically more than the 1/4 you suggest. This is consistent is also much more consistent with ICE MPG results. The F150EV was not the one suggested as getting close, so to rule out EV trucks as viable is like saying you can't pull a 16k 5er with a diesel dually because it would overload a Chevy Colorado. A large percentage of contractors use their trucks to tow on weekends. They are also the ones more likely to be buying new. Not sure why you brought up tent camping. A 40yr old ICE truck can power a tent for weeks...they don't use electricity, so they can power them forever in principal. With a 220-230 mile range and ability to pick up an extra 100-120miles with a 1/2hr charge pulling a 16-25ft trailer, that's a pretty large selection of RVers where it's technologically feasible if they could get the price down comparable to an ICE.5Views0likes3CommentsRe: Electric Tow Vehicles - Getting close
Hybrid =/= Plug In Hybrid (PIH) There is a fundamental difference. If he's got an PIH and only getting 1/2 MPG better commuting, he either has a several hundred mile commute or he is using it wrong. Also, hybrids don't cost $10k more. In fact, they are now often the same or cheaper.12Views0likes0CommentsRe: Electric Tow Vehicles - Getting close
Up thread it was briefly discussed that govt intervention is rarely a good thing. The f150 ev was brought out under heavy govt pressure and doesn't fit most users. Towing is impractical with around 100mile range with a full battery, so every 1.0-1.5 hr you need to stop and it needs to be a full charge. Even a 250 mile run is 3-5 hr charging. Even non towing it's marginal when selling to the typical conservative truck base if you want to use it for road trips. It's got the price but not the functionality. It's almost as if they wanted it to fail, so they could say we did what was mandated but it doesn't work.41Views1like5CommentsRe: Electric Tow Vehicles - Getting close
Don't get me started on Plug-In-Hybrids. They are doable today and there is no reason they can't be financially viable today. Again, I think they tried to do too much going pure battery EV and missed the better option. A PIH with a 50mile battery range (not towing) - Maybe 20-30kwh battery bank for $2-3k and another $2-3k for the electric motor sandwiched between the ICE and transmission and a small efficient 170hp (continuous rated output) ICE would be a game changer. - Most days commuting or running around town, it functions as a pure battery electric vehicle. (if you do exceed the battery range, the ICE kicks in, no big deal). This would represent probably 90-95% of miles for most owners. - Have a "road trip" setting (not towing) where you input your estimated trip distance before you next expect to plug in and it optimizes your battery use to first keep the ICE at it's ideal efficiency and when possible, uses battery only. - Have a "tow/haul" setting where it goes to the ICE even with a full charge on the battery pack. I lost the source but your average midsize trailer, the engine is putting out around 140hp at freeway speeds on level ground. If you hit a steep grade, the battery can boost the output if you exceed the ICE capability and then engine brake thru the electric motor to recharge the battery bank on the downhill. - They could have an advance setting for the "road trip' & "tow/haul" modes where it integrates with GPS to predict the grades and using that info, it can maximize the battery usage. ie: if you are starting with a 5mile flat ground before doing a 10 mile downhill grade, maybe it runs battery only for the first 5 miles before recharging on the downhill. Or you are 10 miles out and it has enough battery to make 12miles under battery, so it kills the ICE and finishes on battery. - This also substantially addresses some of the other issues raised on this thread. A 30amp shore power pedestal can handle 2kw to charge the battery overnight, so no need for 50amp or if the campground has limited power, it could be set to self recharge using the onboard ICE. If boondocking, you could set a reserve battery level, so you arrive with say 10kwh and can plug the trailer into the truck and run the aircon overnight off the truck battery. 20kwh battery bank is maybe 500lb so it's not crazy amounts of weight added and substantially reduces the concerns about mining lithium.0Views0likes2CommentsRe: Internet
Satellite and cellular both use radio waves and if you work with ratio installations, they are considered line of sight. But once there is significant blockage of the fresnel zone, you lose the signal. If it's close and the signal is strong enough, some of the signal can leak past an obstruction. Bouncing off buildings can occasionally happen. Bouncing off hills and other natural formations is much less common as trees, grass and other organic items tend to absorb/scatter the signal. Maybe if there is a nicely placed cliff with nothing growing on it. But again, it's still quite common to find areas with no cell coverage when camping, so the OP should look at where he plans to camp and compare that to some of the easily searched coverage maps.21Views0likes0CommentsRe: Internet
Cell signals are line of sight. If you have a hill/mountain between you and the tower, it will cut the signal off. An old trick is to move the phone up higher to "see" over trees/buildings/hills. Back when we lived on our boat, I had an antenna I could plug into the phone and then I would hoist the antenna up in the rigging. Outside built up areas, it's still quite common to not have a signal, so the OP really needs to consider where he will be camping. There are online maps showing coverage, so he can pre-check where he thinks he will be traveling. Starlink needs a clear view of the sky. While technically line of sight, there are thousands of satellites, so all of them need to be behind trees/cliffs/etc before you lose internet. We've been in some pretty heavily forested sites where there is only a small pocket of blue and it still works. Phone calls can pop in and out but internet and streaming issues are far less noticeable.40Views0likes2CommentsRe: Electric Tow Vehicles - Getting close
I've known a few folks who travel like that. They are the type who leave Chicago area at 5pm after work on a Friday and make the Florida/Georgia Border in 20hrs...I don't think EVs will be viable for those folks any time in the near future. We travel for leisure and fun. It's not leisurely or fun when I'm getting the stink eye (or more likely a full earful) for forcing her to get back into truck because I made up an extreme schedule. Also, we don't often buy stuff in the minimart but go back in the trailer and make a sandwich, get snacks and drinks, etc... My experience is the 15 minute stop is much more commonly seen. So as you say...just being realistic.37Views0likes0CommentsRe: Electric Tow Vehicles - Getting close
Obviously, if an area already has issues with their grid, there will be challenges but a long weekend in Banff with a truck able to tow 230miles, is pretty doable. Downtown Calgary to Banff is about 85 miles. Round trip would be 170miles, leaving 50 miles towing range, which translates to around 100miles not towing for doing a bit of driving around. If you add a stop to charge just before entering/exiting the mountains it drops to 35 miles (70 round trip) to Baff and towing up to Lake Louise is viable for a weekend without needing to charge within the park. A similar complaint could be formulated about those pesky fuel trucks clogging up the road to Banff.32Views0likes0Comments
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