Towing with an EV

[Richard-D]

Does anyone with an EV on here have any experience of towing with it? I'd be interested to hear even if it's just a small utility trailer but most interested if you tow something fairly heavy (Caravan/car trailer etc.).

What does it do to the range? Do you have issues accessing a charger with a trailer? Any issues or benefits of using an EV for that purpose?

[jjwilde]

There are a fair few videos on youtube of towing. Obviously the range is effected the bigger the object you're towing.

There is a guy on speakev who has an outlander PHEV, and he says it's tow-life changing how well it tows due to the instant torque.

[Richard-D]

It looks a bit like EV owners don't tow with their cars in general.

edit: thinking about it I suppose that EV owners are less likely to be practical people that use their vehicles for that kind of activity.

Edited by Richard-D on Wednesday 26th August 23:36

[kambites]

Richard-D said:

edit: thinking about it I suppose that EV owners are less likely to be practical people that use their vehicles for that kind of activity.

Very few people tow with their cars at all - I suspect the figure is well under 1% of drivers. For now I think the lack of ability to tow behind EVs is simply a matter of numbers - with EVs making up a handful of percent of the market, a manufacturer would never recoup the cost of getting type approval for towing.

The lack of an affordable EV which can tow a small trailer is a major turn-off for me.

[SWoll]

Richard-D said:

edit: thinking about it I suppose that EV owners are less likely to be practical people that use their vehicles for that kind of activity.

Go on then, lets hear the reasoning behind that conclusion. Should be interesting.

[Richard-D]

SWoll said:

Richard-D said:

edit: thinking about it I suppose that EV owners are less likely to be practical people that use their vehicles for that kind of activity.

Go on then, lets hear the reasoning behind that conclusion. Should be interesting.

Easy. Early adopters of expensive new technology are likely to be higher earners. Higher earners in the UK will have a higher proportion of job roles that are graduate based. People in those job roles are less likely to be practical 'hands on' and more likely to pay someone else. Therefore proportionally [insert sentence you quoted here]

Do you see it differently?

Edited by Richard-D on Thursday 27th August 17:09

[kambites]

Hmm, my experience is the opposite - that people in relatively well payed technical jobs are far more likely to be into DIY than people in lower paid jobs. Not sure why though, perhaps people who spend their day sitting in front of a computer screens just feel the need to attack things with power tools.

Certainly the majority of people I work with (at a multinational IT company) so some form of DIY on a regular basis.

[Richard-D]

Of course your experience is the opposite. You're looking for an argument. However if you look at what I said and your response you may notice that my statement doesn't preclude what you're saying from being the case. You'll only notice that if you fight your natural instinct to to be objectionable though.

[sjg]

Norway likes both EVs and towing things (apparently it's the driver of more EVs being offered with towbars) so there's quite a few tests of it. I've seen a few out of Australia too.

https://electrek.co/2019/10/08/tesla-model-x-merce...

There's a guy on one of the facebook groups who's been towing things with his eNV200. Reckons weight isn't the issue for range hit, surface area is. A lightweight caravan uses way more energy to tow than a trailer tent.

Very few chargers are set up for cars that are towing so it's an annoying unhitch, charge, hitch back up process.

[Richard-D]

Ta for your comment. I had to look up what an ENV200 was, never heard of that before. Just been to Nissan's site and it states a maximum towing capability of 410kg. He must be well over that with any caravan. Not criticising here, I've done worse, just an observation.

Charging sounds like a potential PITA, particularly as you don't want to be leaving your trailer unattended at a motorway services. Pretty much means you're going to have to sit there and watch it charge I suppose.

Edited by Richard-D on Thursday 27th August 21:12

[SWoll]

Richard-D said:

SWoll said:

Richard-D said:

edit: thinking about it I suppose that EV owners are less likely to be practical people that use their vehicles for that kind of activity.

Go on then, lets hear the reasoning behind that conclusion. Should be interesting.

Easy. Early adopters of expensive new technology are likely to be higher earners. Higher earners in the UK will have a higher proportion of job roles that are graduate based. People in those job roles are less likely to be practical 'hands on' and more likely to pay someone else. Therefore proportionally [insert sentence you quoted here]

Do you see it differently?

Edited by Richard-D on Thursday 27th August 17:09

TBH I was confirming the suspicion you are just another keyboard warrior with zero experience who bases his comments on assumption and lazy stereotypes.

Job done I'd say?

[Richard-D]

Couldn't fight the urge then, shame.

You really seem desperate to have that argument though. May I suggest the SP+L sub-forum.

Edited by Richard-D on Thursday 27th August 21:56

[dhutch]

I would say most people who do motor racing, certainly sprinting and circuit racing are in well paid jobs and the tow car is the cheap bit! Many will be early adopter types, but might also be petrol heads. The only caravan/motorhome in our lane I know of is owned by one of the only two EVs I know of, the dicks with the Outlander. The other EV is owned by a DIY and powertools but who's moved here from a small holding in Wales.

[RobDickinson]

sjg said:

Reckons weight isn't the issue for range hit, surface area is. A lightweight caravan uses way more energy to tow than a trailer tent.

Very few chargers are set up for cars that are towing so it's an annoying unhitch, charge, hitch back up process.

This basically, its drag thats the issue. Weight not at all, EVs have plenty of power/torque to deal with that.


I know people who tow low trailers full of building stuff with model 3's no problem 350km return but try tow a horse box or car trailer would be a different matter.

[dhutch]

sjg said:

N


There's a guy on one of the facebook groups who's been towing things..
Reckons weight isn't the issue for range hit, surface area is....

Very few chargers are set up for cars that are towing so it's an annoying unhitch, charge, hitch back up process.

Makes sense.

You need power to get it rolling and up hill, but it's only for a moment and get it back under breaking and downhill. However the drag is just a battery drain all the time your doing more than about 30mph.

Tbh it's the same with a ICE car, I've towed a 1200kg car trailer behind a 1,6 8v and it makes good progress around town and lanes, but get on a DC or Motorway and you really notice it, taking the car out halves the weight but bearly effects progess.

Most service station charge bays appear to be front-in jobs, so other than the trailer blocking the road behind somewhat it would still work.... fine by me.


Daniel

[jason61c]

I've got a polestar 2 on order, having a towbar fitted. Planning to use it to tow a track car+bike trailer. Should be ideal given the instant torque. It'll also pull a 8x5 field trailer for diy/tip runs etc.

[Heres Johnny]

EV towing experience, and by that I assume pure EV.

Model S doesn’t allow it, some do it but numbers are v low as it’s unofficial
Same for many other EVs
model 3 has pretty small towing capacity although tow option is an official factory fit option
Model x is where to look for anything like a caravan. They nearly all have towing as standard (early cars it was an option, later it became standard).

Tow hitch bike racks are fairly common, losses increases with speed, maybe 25%, charging is usually tight but not impossible depending on location.

Small trailers, I suspect most are used for local use and can’t say I recall anyone posting about the use

Bigger stuff, only ever seen a few comments (people with boats and horse boxes as well as caravans) and halving the range is typical and charging generally requires unhitching. The combination makes any sort of distance (100 miles+) a time consuming journey. The ability to tow is generally seen as very easy with lots of torque. So I’d say local towing is fine if you have a car that supports it, but otherwise touring is a step too far except for the hard core.

[DrJFoster]

Heres Johnny said:

EV towing experience, and by that I assume pure EV.

Model S doesn’t allow it, some do it but numbers are v low as it’s unofficial
Same for many other EVs
model 3 has pretty small towing capacity although tow option is an official factory fit option
Model x is where to look for anything like a caravan. They nearly all have towing as standard (early cars it was an option, later it became standard).

Tow hitch bike racks are fairly common, losses increases with speed, maybe 25%, charging is usually tight but not impossible depending on location.

Small trailers, I suspect most are used for local use and can’t say I recall anyone posting about the use

Bigger stuff, only ever seen a few comments (people with boats and horse boxes as well as caravans) and halving the range is typical and charging generally requires unhitching. The combination makes any sort of distance (100 miles+) a time consuming journey. The ability to tow is generally seen as very easy with lots of torque. So I’d say local towing is fine if you have a car that supports it, but otherwise touring is a step too far except for the hard core.

Useful information - thx. The tow option on the Model 3 does appear to be in name only rather than being useful to tow, but it is still useful for a bike rack. I've seen people comment on the M3 load capacity recently and its hard to imagine with the size of the average American what they were thinking.

[kambites]

DrJFoster said:

Useful information - thx. The tow option on the Model 3 does appear to be in name only rather than being useful to tow, but it is still useful for a bike rack. I've seen people comment on the M3 load capacity recently and its hard to imagine with the size of the average American what they were thinking.

A very large proportion of people who tow, at least in the UK, only tow a small box trailer for taking stuff to the tip, etc. It looks like the Model-3 is rated to about 900kg; most people in the UK aren't licenced to tow much more than that behind a model-3 anyway.

Edited by kambites on Monday 31st August 11:14

[dhutch]

Sounds like sensible comments.

You could obviously easily make the charge points trailer friendly, pending demand etc. An it would not be impossible to do an amount of planning and stop for a family coffee break to range extend. If not practical for say a plant hire business where you are towing all the time.

Equally as said, 900kg with cover any small unbraked trailer (750kg max) of the sort used for tip runs and as a 'boot extension' for family trips, and as said, as much as you can tow in the UK (Europe) without doing a second test. Don't know the rules in the US. If short of what if needed for even a small racecar or horsebox, which is understandably not core the target market.

Very interesting as we move towards another 'new normal' assuming electric vehicles continue to increase.

Daniel