In a thread about towing in the MY subreddit, a couple people asked about range. This led me to writing a post w/ my experience towing boats, and I thought I'd share it here in case anyone was interested. The MY's tow limit is 3500 lbs, and both of these were close to that (photos at end). My car is a '20 MYP non-PUP (i.e. it has 19" Gemini wheels w/ OEM tires).
I've had two good distance drives towing two different boats. One weighs 3160 lbs with its trailer. The other hasn't been weighed, but we estimate it is probably right around 3500 lbs with trailer, maybe more like 3700. Both boats are significantly taller & wider than the car, so going above 55mph causes a significant range hit.
When I bought the lighter boat, the drive home involved four legs, three of which were for charging purposes. The first leg was short b/c I was already down to 27% charge when I picked up the boat. The 2nd leg was short b/c I wanted a super-accessible charger that didn't require getting off the highway, the best option was when I still had 57% battery. The last two legs were on a single charge, I just stopped to weigh the boat & trailer at a truck stop. The latter of those two was non-interstate slower highways and rural roads, so keeping speed down was easy - but I was also cutting it close on charge, I got home w/ 8%. There was another supercharger available, but it would have been about 10 miles out of the way, and the range estimating was proving to be pretty accurate, so I didn't bother.
Here are the stats for this trip:
I had one drive with the heavier boat:
I've had two good distance drives towing two different boats. One weighs 3160 lbs with its trailer. The other hasn't been weighed, but we estimate it is probably right around 3500 lbs with trailer, maybe more like 3700. Both boats are significantly taller & wider than the car, so going above 55mph causes a significant range hit.
When I bought the lighter boat, the drive home involved four legs, three of which were for charging purposes. The first leg was short b/c I was already down to 27% charge when I picked up the boat. The 2nd leg was short b/c I wanted a super-accessible charger that didn't require getting off the highway, the best option was when I still had 57% battery. The last two legs were on a single charge, I just stopped to weigh the boat & trailer at a truck stop. The latter of those two was non-interstate slower highways and rural roads, so keeping speed down was easy - but I was also cutting it close on charge, I got home w/ 8%. There was another supercharger available, but it would have been about 10 miles out of the way, and the range estimating was proving to be pretty accurate, so I didn't bother.
Here are the stats for this trip:
- 25 mi, 580 Wh/mi, 40.8% efficiency, 49mph avg, 67mph max, elev +/-: +368/-371'
- 28 mi, 652 Wh/mi, 35.8% efficiency, 53mph avg, 66mph max, elev +/-: +535/-512'
- 57 miles, 725 Wh/mi, 32.3% efficiency, 58mph avg, 76mph max, elev +/-: +2197/-1768'
- 24 miles, 487 Wh/mi, 48% efficiency, 40mph avg, 60mph max, elev +/-: ??? (bogus data, 80k' +/-)
- Note: there was 4 miles of fiddling around between the last two drives that I'm not bothering to report. I started the 3rd drive at 90%, and finished the 2nd one at 8%. The missing 10% is in those in-between drives.
I had one drive with the heavier boat:
- 46 mi, 622 Wh/mi, 37.6% efficiency, 48mph avg, 69mph max, elev +/-: +916,-968'