Just got home from a cross country trip from Salina, KS to Vancouver, WA (1755 mi). We towed a small U-Haul (4x8') trailer with my model Y. It was fairly easy to hook up the trailer. I had Tesla install the trailer hitch after I bought the car. The Tesla service guy in Vancouver told me the self driving would work on the highway but this is not true. We could only use the cruise control. The car handled well and as everyone else has stated the only draw back is the loss in range. We used the consumption graph and also ABRP (A Better Route Planner) to plan the trip. In ABRP I set the Tesla energy consumption to 500 Wh/mi. We used ABRP in the hotel rooms at night and as a double check to the Tesla's routing. The Tesla quickly adjusted to our new towing range and gave very good estimates of what our range was likely to be. The biggest affect on the range seemed to be wind resistance followed by the steepness of the road. It was the lowest in Kansas where there was a lot of wind and a small but constant uphill. The steep uphills in CO were offset by the downhill regen. We crossed the continental divide at 11000' in the Eisenhower Tunnel. We used the consumption graph on the Tesla screen to show us when we had to slow down to increase range. If our 30 mi average consumption was close to or above 500 Wh/mi we'd slow down. The longest and biggest risk was between Twin Falls and Boise, ID at 127 mi. We charged to 100% in Twin Falls and got to Boise with 20% range going 55 to 60 mph on an 80 mph road. I'm not sure what the trailer weighed--we hauled 2 solid wood heirloom buffets. We charged 22 times and found 3 pull up chargers where we didn't have to unhook the trailer. We unhooked the trailer at the other 19 charging stations. We got only got stuck once in Limon CO but this was because lightning knocked out the power to the charging station. We stayed overnight there but Tesla had the chargers back on line in 4 or 5 hours. I'd recommend getting a CCS charger adapter. We didn't think of this until too late to purchase one ahead of the trip. It wouldn't have helped in Limon where chargers of all types were down but it could have helped in Idaho where the Tesla chargers are further apart.
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I towed a 4x8' U Haul trailer from Kansas to Washington state in my model Y
- Thread starter Lisa P
- Start date
I lived in the 'Couve for a few years and drove that route to Arkansas to visit family multiple times (all pre-Tesla), and have since driven a portion of it in our Model Y. Getting an average of 500wh/mi while towing a trailer seems pretty good! Though I'm not sure I agree with driving 55mph on an 80mph interstate. Unfortunately it looks like there are many good alternatives for US and state highways while keeping the mileage down.
Thanks for the trip report!
Thanks for the trip report!
Good work!
But isn't that one of the trailers that indicated 55 mph is the max speed it should go?
But isn't that one of the trailers that indicated 55 mph is the max speed it should go?
Huh, that is really interesting. I drive that Twin Falls to Boise segment fairly often, and I wouldn't have thought of that being an issue. It's mostly flat, and 127 miles doesn't seem like much, but this does illustrate the very real problem that electric pickup trucks have, and it's mostly because of that wind resistance factor where the trailer is like an extra vehicle. Sure, gas and diesel get horrible efficiency towing too, but they get to compensate for that by just carrying an insanely large amount of energy because liquid fuel is so energy dense, so their actual distance between stops is still tolerable.
And refueling is abundant and quick.
davewill
Active Member
I'm really glad you posted about this. Not many people have towed trailers this kind of distance with a Tesla, and come here to talk about it.
Yes that's true but I don't know why U Haul wants you to go that slow. On other parts of the trip we drove 70 mph with no issues at all. I didn't mention that we drove to Kansas without the trailer so got the fun of going 90 mph in the 80 mph sections.
Because the know how well they maintain them???
Great writeup. Thanks for sharing. As you had mentioned, running low of range, just slow down. We've towed many times with our MX. I've use the MY to tow a motorcycle trailer but most of our towing has been one shot. I would think un hooking the trailer to charge takes a little fun out of it but it appears to be doable. Great picture. Looks like a something U-Haul would have hanging in one of their stores.
In addition to that, some states have laws that limit speeds while towing - some as low as 45 MPH.
Cargo Trailer Speed Limits By State | Trailers For Less | Trailers in GA | Cargo, Flatbed, Enclosed, Dump, and Equipment Trailers in GA
Cargo trailer speed limits by state
www.trailersforless.com
Those U-Haul trailers are extremely heavy empty. They are built like tanks to take renter abuse.
And it seems like there's a lot of room for improvement in the aerodynamics department.
Trailers of the future will push themselves to solve the range problem.
Watch how Range Energy turns a semi-truck electric just by adding a trailer
Range Energy's RA-01 trailer adds EV tech to a standard class 8 trailer to enable hybrid operation without any change to the tractor.
electrek.co
geordi
Mr Fusion V.1
geordi
Mr Fusion V.1
I’ve towed plenty of things now with my S and X…. The range sucks butt every time. It doesn’t seem to matter much about the weight, it is ALL about the wind resistance.
What a great experience to have documented on the forum!
Did the navigation system update your projected range based on the weight of your trailer ahead of time accurately, or did it constantly update the nearest charging station after you began driving?
gtae07
Member
I haven't pulled Uhaul trailers specifically, but I have two Carry-on ones used for different purposes that use four pin connectors. This adapter has worked fine:
I have found it to be a bit difficult to remove but trimming the bumper cutout (where the stock panel clips in) makes it easier. But, I use a quick removal cover instead of the stock one.
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