Towing a caravan with an Electric Vehicle

[Jon39]

I am sure that you must have all discussed this before, but I could not find a topic.

I recently watched a video, showing a test carried out at Milllbrook Proving Ground, where an Electric Vehicle range was tested under various different conditions.

One test involved towing a caravan.

Towing vehicle .................................. Skoda Enyak EV.
Manufacturers claimed range ......... 318 miles.
Range - reality @ steady 60 mph ..... 231 miles (all equipment switched off)
Range - reality @ stesdy 70 mph ..... 200 miles (all equipment switched off)

Caravan ............................................. Bailey D4-2.
Range achieved when towing ........... 88 miles.

The towing test was conducted with heater, headlights, aircon etc., all switched off.

Oh dear. Only 88 miles, we have a problem.
Obviously we can still use IC cars after 2030, but eventually they will become very rare.
How will caravaners cope, after the internal combustion engine cars are banned?

Edited by Jon39 on Monday 20th March 17:11

[Big Stevie]

Not even sure how a car towing a caravan is going to be able to get close to a charging station.

[the-norseman]

OP EV technology will get better, suspect that 88miles will be more like 150+ by 2030.

[SpeckledJim]

Link to the test, please, OP?

Adding the weight and drag of a caravan will have a broadly similar proportional impact on an EV as it does on an ICE.
It's just that refuelling the EV mid-journey will be more painful.

I doubt towing a normal caravan so much as halves the range of a similar-to-Enyaq ICE, so I'd be slightly dubious about a test that reckons it taxes the Enyaq by c.75%

[Previous]

SpeckledJim said:

Link to the test, please, OP?

Adding the weight and drag of a caravan will have a broadly similar proportional impact on an EV as it does on an ICE.
It's just that refuelling the EV mid-journey will be more painful.

I doubt towing a normal caravan so much as halves the range of a similar-to-Enyaq ICE, so I'd be slightly dubious about a test that reckons it taxes the Enyaq by c.75%

Most tests/ reviews I've seen show EVs to lose circa 50% range when towing - admittedly a huge variation of whats being towed in each case.

Diesel seem to lose possibly 30% - again massive variations

Genuine Q: Do batteries behave differently when being asked to perform at higher outputs?

I guess with ICE the power available from the fuel is pretty constant, you just put more of it through for higher loading on the vehicle (is that even true?).

[normalbloke]

Hopefully this will see the end of caravans…..

[SpeckledJim]

Previous said:

SpeckledJim said:

Link to the test, please, OP?

Adding the weight and drag of a caravan will have a broadly similar proportional impact on an EV as it does on an ICE.
It's just that refuelling the EV mid-journey will be more painful.

I doubt towing a normal caravan so much as halves the range of a similar-to-Enyaq ICE, so I'd be slightly dubious about a test that reckons it taxes the Enyaq by c.75%

Most tests/ reviews I've seen show EVs to lose circa 50% range when towing - admittedly a huge variation of whats being towed in each case.

Diesel seem to lose possibly 30% - again massive variations

Genuine Q: Do batteries behave differently when being asked to perform at higher outputs?

I guess with ICE the power available from the fuel is pretty constant, you just put more of it through for higher loading on the vehicle (is that even true?).

Other way round, I believe. Running the ICE at higher load due to the presence of the caravan will slightly improve the unit efficiency of the power generated. Whereas an EV is basically agnostic to how hard it is working, in terms of unit efficiency.

So whilst an EV is always miles more efficient than an ICE, the gap shrinks if you work both of them harder (albeit both are using more energy per mile covered).

The EV will also be able to harvest c.75% of the kinetic energy when slowing down (an amount of energy which increases due to the caravan, whereas the ICE will always just throw all of that energy away as heat in the brakes. So the nature of the test will also be significant. Stop-start will favour the EV.

[sjg]

If it's the carwow one then it was 10 miles at Millbrook and estimating from the onboard computer mi/kWh figure.

Andrew Ditton ( https://www.youtube.com/@andrewjditton ) is a caravan journalist, runs an EV6 as his personal car and has some more realistic (warts and all) experiences of towing with it. That at least has the V2L advantage so when touring you can run the mains off the car.

This was his trip from Scotland to Germany: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRieGSkoOAQ - 2.2mi/kWh overall.

fwiw, I think PHEV probably is a better bet for most people if towing longer distances regularly is important to them.

[ChocolateFrog]

Jon39 said:

I am sure that you must have all discussed this before, but I could not find a topic.

I recently watched a video, showing a test carried out at Milllbrook Proving Ground, where an Electric Vehicle range was tested under various different conditions.

One test involved towing a caravan.

Towing vehicle .................................. Skoda Enyak EV.
Manufacturers claimed range ......... 318 miles.
Caravan ............................................. Bailey D4-2.

Range achieved when towing ........... 88 miles.

The towing test was conducted with heater, headlights, aircon etc., all switched off.

Oh dear. Only 88 miles, we have a problem.
Obviously we can still use IC cars after 2030, but eventually they will become very rare.
How will caravaners cope, after the internal combustion engine cars are banned?

They won't be rare in our lifetime so I wouldn't worry about it.

[Jon39]

SpeckledJim said:

Link to the test, please, OP?

https://youtu.be/mmQJUW-VyRY

The presenter's style might not appeal to everyone.
However, it might help to know, that once he had qualified as a chartered accountant with one of the 'top four', he decided he wanted a career fooling around in front of a camera.

[aland75]

This video is also interesting, as he compares the same car over the same journey, just with and without the caravan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oLeKRNsSn4

[Jon39]

aland75 said:

This video is also interesting, as he compares the same car over the same journey, just with and without the caravan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oLeKRNsSn4

Thanks.

Not quite as bad as the Skoda at Milbrook.
If anyone wants to watch the video, don't read any further.

If you do not have time to watch;
Claimed range over 300 miles.
With car only, the range was found to be about 280 miles.
With car and caravan, the range was halved.
They visited a charger station to look, not to use. Discovered that the caravan would first have to be parked away fron the charging area, uncoupled, then take the car to a charger.

[Caddyshack]

You really need a caravan with batteries in the floor to run the car.

My friend had the Tesla x and even a small pop up caravan killed his range to the point that he found it hard to travel
Through France.

[Big Stevie]

Caddyshack said:

You really need a caravan with batteries in the floor to run the car.

My friend had the Tesla x and even a small pop up caravan killed his range to the point that he found it hard to travel
Through France.

That would add weight to the caravan, perhaps partially negating the benefit. A heavier caravan requires a heavier car to pull it, a catch 22 maybe?

[Caddyshack]

Good point. Electric is rubbish.

[Stevemr]

One of the German manufacturers exhibited a caravan with batteries and its own motor, which seemed a bit stupid really as electric cars do have good torque.
For reference on a long run, driving very much with economy in mind my 2.2 diesel Kia sorento will average 45mpg. Towing an 1800 kg twin axle caravan it will average 23-25 mpg.
My plan will be to buy a new diesel capable of towing before 2030 and keep it for as long as possible.
Having said that, the2030 deadline simply can not be met in my opinion.

[Beetnik]

normalbloke said:

Hopefully this will see the end of caravans…..

No - they'll just go slower to preserve the battery...

[GlenMH]

Big Stevie said:

Caddyshack said:

You really need a caravan with batteries in the floor to run the car.

My friend had the Tesla x and even a small pop up caravan killed his range to the point that he found it hard to travel
Through France.

That would add weight to the caravan, perhaps partially negating the benefit. A heavier caravan requires a heavier car to pull it, a catch 22 maybe?

Might also take the GTW above 3500kg which also shags the ability of 'younger' drivers to drive it without an additional test...
Cars getting heavier means that caravans need to get lighter...

[Mr Magooagain]

Apologies if I've missed it already in this thread,but what about the fridge etc while towing the caravan? Gas?
I always travelled with mine running electric 12v on the vehicle as my mrs wanted the food cooled. Found out the hard way when on a ferry with a flat battery when unloading.

[monkfish1]

Diesel genset in the caravan, lead to the car.

Problem fixed.

You heard it here first.