Towing with an EV - what's the range like?

[scottexplains]

I recently replaced my old tow vehicle with an electric SUV and wanted to share the results of my first three trips. I thought it would be helpful to share real world range data. Trailer is a Forest River Salem Cruise Lite T177BQ FS. It's 23 feet long and the dry weight is 3265 lbs.

As expected, there is a big reduction in range. The car on its own has a range of 280 miles. Towing on the flat at 60 MPH we get a range of about 120 miles or 1.2 mi/kWh. Massive reduction! But I knew this going in, and we are lucky to live in Las Vegas with lots of great places to camp within 100 mile drive or so. Charging up at campgrounds has been very convenient too. Each of three trips we went on were quite different conditions, and in one of them we went from an altitude of 2,300 ft up to 8,500 ft! That really did drain the battery in the EV a lot, but we did get some regen on the way back down. Although the range is short, the EV has tremendous power so it's a great tow vehicle if you can accept the reduced range. I put all the details from this trip here in my blog - Towing with an EV It has photos, details of the range, distance, elevation, and efficiency achieved. Let me know here if you have any questions!

 

[Oaklevel]

Great information and welcome to the forum.

It would help to post the weight and model with number of your trailer.

 

[scottexplains]

Great information and welcome to the forum.

It would help to post the weight and model with number of your trailer.

Good point! I edited the original post with this info: Trailer is a Forest River Salem Cruise Lite T177BQ FS. It's 23 feet long and the dry weight is 3265 lbs.

 

[bikendan]

Great information and welcome to the forum.

It would help to post the weight and model with number of your trailer.

Here's the trailer's specs:

2021 Forest River Salem Select West 177BQ specs and literature guide

www.rvusa.com

 

[Twinboat]

I would think getting the EV towing any kind of trailer would make it difficult to get to a charging station.

 

[Aussieguy]

further out of the city ... less chargers
I would not be a happy camper if I could not get at least 300 miles a day , on long trips

campgrounds also starting to put restrictions on EV charging

EV great option around home ... small commute
not great for travelling especially pulling a trailer
get a popup at least so their is no/less drag..

 

[NMWildcat]

Thankfully, this is not anything I will have to personally worry about for my lifetime.

I agree with others that EVs might be good for around town in a metro area, but anything else not so much., especially in the southwest.

We just bought a new car. We looked at deals in southern NM, TX, and AZ. All the dealers had rows and rows of EVs that nobody was buying. If they had been hybrids, I might have looked at them. All the sales people said the same thing, that they couldn't get folks to even look at them.

 

[jrschneider99]

I recently replaced my old tow vehicle with an electric SUV and wanted to share the results of my first three trips. I thought it would be helpful to share real world range data. Trailer is a Forest River Salem Cruise Lite T177BQ FS. It's 23 feet long and the dry weight is 3265 lbs.

As expected, there is a big reduction in range. The car on its own has a range of 280 miles. Towing on the flat at 60 MPH we get a range of about 120 miles or 1.2 mi/kWh. Massive reduction! But I knew this going in, and we are lucky to live in Las Vegas with lots of great places to camp within 100 mile drive or so. Charging up at campgrounds has been very convenient too. Each of three trips we went on were quite different conditions, and in one of them we went from an altitude of 2,300 ft up to 8,500 ft! That really did drain the battery in the EV a lot, but we did get some regen on the way back down. Although the range is short, the EV has tremendous power so it's a great tow vehicle if you can accept the reduced range. I put all the details from this trip here in my blog - Towing with an EV It has photos, details of the range, distance, elevation, and efficiency achieved. Let me know here if you have any questions!

Do the campgrounds charge you extra money because you are recharging your EV as well as consuming power for your camping trailer?

 

[NMWildcat]

Do the campgrounds charge you extra money because you are recharging your EV as well as consuming power for your camping trailer?

Several of the campgrounds we have been in have signs prohibiting EV charging at the site and give directions to a nearby charger.

One campground (Route 66 Casino in Albuquerque) has a dedicated EV charge outlet at most sites. I'm not sure if it is metered.

Most campgrounds don't seem to worry about EV charging, but I am sure that will change if it becomes more widespread.

 

[tomkatb]

Today as the only ev in the park no one will complain about recharging it there.

However that will not be the case for long. Campgrounds will have to modify their entire electrical grid. Most are sort of marginal today with the modern rv’s using much more power than in the past. In the 60’s campgrounds had. 15 amp outlets. And few of them. Today it is 100 amps.

Until the weak link is fixed, batteries, this will not be very common. 10 years or more. It took 100 years to develop the lithium battery of today. Step one.

I hope I live to see it. I doubt it.

 

[5picker]

Thank you for the real world numbers. It is good to know of someone actually doing it.
That 100+- range is rather limiting and if you can make it work, good on you.
I understand some folks just want to get away from their normal routine and that is surely possible within 100 miles of most places but for us, the camping adventure is getting to places unknown and those short range constrictions wouldn't be good for us.

On the way to FL we did stop in a campground that said charging EV's would cost extra. I did not inquire as it didn't pertain to us.

 

[jjscsix]

I have read a few tests from credible sources. They all say that they loose 50% of range best case.

 

[Mike134]

Just imagine the whining about voltage drop at campgrounds if you get multiple sites plugging in their EVs to charge in addition to running A/C and all the other electrical items in a camper.

 

[DanBeauvais]

Nicely done! Your blog post is thoughtful and well stated. Thanks!

 

[D W]

Where I live, range is the problem. EV's are fine for around town, but going out of town for any distance is a big problem. Pulling a towable up the Parks or Richardson Hwys requires watts. Same thing for going down the Sterling to the Kenai. There are charging stations in some places, but you're stopped for a while. Going to Fairbanks from Anchorage is close to 400 miles. You have to stop half way to recharge, then recharge when you arrive. Kind of takes up a lot of leisure time. Plenty of State Parks with electric, but 95% are 30 amp only.

 

[bikendan]

Personally, unless I lived in a very urban city, I have no use for an EV. And especially not for towing a RV. We RV to see places outside our local area.
Now if they ever come out with a hybrid 3/4 ton truck, I'll be first in line.

 

[TitanMike]

Do the campgrounds charge you extra money because you are recharging your EV as well as consuming power for your camping trailer?

Several campgrounds I've stayed in over the last summer have EV charging stations separate from the actual campsite but still in the RV park. Just like the ones along the highways and in towns, you pay at the charge station. A couple didn't have them on site but included directions to nearby ones.

 

[jjscsix]

Several campgrounds I've stayed in over the last summer have EV charging stations separate from the actual campsite but still in the RV park. Just like the ones along the highways and in towns, you pay at the charge station. A couple didn't have them on site but included directions to nearby ones.

Makes sense. I know a guy who tows a small EV behind his motorhome.

 

[aircommuter]

There are tests on YouTube with the Ford lightning and others. The lithium battery hasn’t changed very much, they are just putting a bunch of cells together with cooling. But sometimes it still goes wrong like recently in Moss Landing California.

 

[Pad22]

I recently replaced my old tow vehicle with an electric SUV and wanted to share the results of my first three trips. I thought it would be helpful to share real world range data. Trailer is a Forest River Salem Cruise Lite T177BQ FS. It's 23 feet long and the dry weight is 3265 lbs.

As expected, there is a big reduction in range. The car on its own has a range of 280 miles. Towing on the flat at 60 MPH we get a range of about 120 miles or 1.2 mi/kWh. Massive reduction! But I knew this going in, and we are lucky to live in Las Vegas with lots of great places to camp within 100 mile drive or so. Charging up at campgrounds has been very convenient too. Each of three trips we went on were quite different conditions, and in one of them we went from an altitude of 2,300 ft up to 8,500 ft! That really did drain the battery in the EV a lot, but we did get some regen on the way back down. Although the range is short, the EV has tremendous power so it's a great tow vehicle if you can accept the reduced range. I put all the details from this trip here in my blog - Towing with an EV It has photos, details of the range, distance, elevation, and efficiency achieved. Let me know here if you have any questions!

Have you needed to charge between stops yet? That's the biggest question I have, since with the reduced range there will probably be a lot of charging if you're planning to go 300+ miles a day. To top it off, most charging stations are back-in and not pull through, so I'm guessing it will be difficult with a trailer. Let us know!