EternalChampion
Member
That would be a great use of some of these upcoming recycled 90 kW batteries.
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Initial trailer pulling report - 90D and Airstream 22ft Bambi Sport
- Thread starter JimVandegriff
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- Model X
My wife put in the new adapter to enable the Tesla Model X to read LED lighting in our trailer. There are two adapters out there that I know of which accomplish that purpose, the Tow Ready #20142, and the Curt #57003. After losing the Tow Ready adapter to the road, getting a new one but being unsatisfied about its position under the car, we installed the Curt adapter today. The pictures tell part of the story. The Curt adapter comes in two parts, the adapter and a cord which the 7 pin plug from the trailer plugs into. We have now secured it to the trailer hitch receiver supplied by Tesla, and hope this will be a more stable configuration.
We are getting more comfortable with our fix and it is working well. Tomorrow we head form Astoria, Oregon across the mouth of the Columbia River on a long bridge, go to Longview Washinton, cross back to Oregon and head for a tiny county campground in Scappoose Oregon (about 100 miles). I expect about 575 wh/m.
I wondered about your Alto. I'm not sure if this problem of needing an adapter is solely a newer Airstream problem or not. I've heard from a few people with the same problem affecting their new Airstreams with all LED lighting but I am unsure about why.
We are getting more comfortable with our fix and it is working well. Tomorrow we head form Astoria, Oregon across the mouth of the Columbia River on a long bridge, go to Longview Washinton, cross back to Oregon and head for a tiny county campground in Scappoose Oregon (about 100 miles). I expect about 575 wh/m.
We completed the 111.0 mile trip through beautiful, bucolic southern Washington state to our campground in Scappoose, OR at 578 Wh/m.
Hey, great job estimating consumption. Only 3 Wh/mi off.
Last evening we had our first experience of the dreaded Tesla back-up camera split screen (two images of different views with the back-up camera. A simple reboot resolved the problem.
We are heading for the Columbia River gorge tomorrow and will soon be headed for more mountainous terrain as we head for Montana.
We are heading for the Columbia River gorge tomorrow and will soon be headed for more mountainous terrain as we head for Montana.
ecrsail
Member
The Columbia River Gorge area is incredibly beautiful. Stay a few days in Hood River if you can!
ccutrer
Active Member
Oh hey, I hadn't hear of this, but my wife sent me a picture last night. So others have seen this too? She didn't do anything, and it went away (I didn't push her on if it was while she was driving, or after she left the vehicle and came back).
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Extremely comfortable. By far the best seats in a car that I have ever experienced.
P90D
Member
(apologies if this has already been addressed)
Check with Tesla on using a WD hitch -- it could be stressing the chassis in unintended load scenarios.
The use of a WD (weight distributing) hitch on a unitary chassis is not approved by other manufacturers (e.g. Porsche) and the purpose of the WD hitch is to transfer load through torsion springs to the ladder frame of the tow vehicle (irrelevant to a "unibody" vehicle.)
A WD hitch is also irrelevant for vehicles operating within specifications not requiring a WD hitch as part of those specifications.
For the Tesla, limited to a few hundred pounds rear axle total load (including cargo and trailer tongue weight, the X is limited to 500lbs or max 10% of trailer gross weight) it's ironic to be adding 100lbs of WD hitch -- it's expensive, too!
I'd recommend getting an aluminum height adjustable drawbar rated for the specifications of the vehicle and limiting tongue load to the factory specifications.
Check with Tesla on using a WD hitch -- it could be stressing the chassis in unintended load scenarios.
The use of a WD (weight distributing) hitch on a unitary chassis is not approved by other manufacturers (e.g. Porsche) and the purpose of the WD hitch is to transfer load through torsion springs to the ladder frame of the tow vehicle (irrelevant to a "unibody" vehicle.)
A WD hitch is also irrelevant for vehicles operating within specifications not requiring a WD hitch as part of those specifications.
For the Tesla, limited to a few hundred pounds rear axle total load (including cargo and trailer tongue weight, the X is limited to 500lbs or max 10% of trailer gross weight) it's ironic to be adding 100lbs of WD hitch -- it's expensive, too!
I'd recommend getting an aluminum height adjustable drawbar rated for the specifications of the vehicle and limiting tongue load to the factory specifications.
A little note from Memaloose state park in the Columbia Gorge in Oregon where we are ensconced for the evening: Wh/mile increased with rain this morning to 619 Wh/mile at 51 mph over similar terrain to where we have been getting 575 Wh/mile. It rained the entire short trip here. Weather cleared up later. I still need to check out P90D's ideas about weight distribution hitches. I will say, I am quite happy with how the trailer is being pulled by the Tesla. I'm a big anti-sway fan.
Wild times in eastern Oregon! We travelled 131.4 miles today, used 81.0 Kwh of energy, at 617 wh/m with consistent 53 mph speed and using the air conditioning. We would not have made it from our fully charged start (with 260 miles) unless we charged at a Chademo charger in Arlington, Oregon after 80 miles. Plugshare was useful for this charger, warning us that the card reader was not working, and that a technician would have to be contacted by phone to get it going. Of course, towing a trailer made it harder to charge (we didn't want to unhook the trailer) because the charging station was built for backing into a spot next to it. We had to ride the Tesla up over a short curb to get into position to charge, and then support the chademo charging adapter and the chademo charger cable with a chair to keep them together. Charging was done at about 67 miles per hour since the station was putting out 60 amps. Cost was $10 flat fee. We charged for a bit over an hour, and had plenty of juice to get here to our RV park. We will be going to the Kennewick Washington supercharger tomorrow, then on to another RV park.
Everywhere we go we are getting questioned about the Tesla and about its towing ability. People from all economic classes, backgrounds, and political persuasions have very positive things to say about Tesla. If the wi-fi was better, I'd post some pics, but it is problematic at the moment. Onward!
Everywhere we go we are getting questioned about the Tesla and about its towing ability. People from all economic classes, backgrounds, and political persuasions have very positive things to say about Tesla. If the wi-fi was better, I'd post some pics, but it is problematic at the moment. Onward!
Jim, you will from now on be known as the Chairman of Charging.
Today's jaunt through eastern Washington state was a short but informative one - we had our first brush with climbing some long hills and watched the trip planning graph (set to the 5 minute interval) climb to over 1000wh/m. Of course coming back down the hills led to some significant braking gains so that the entire route of 63.8 miles used 34.0 Kwh and ended at 533 wh/m at 51 mph with a/c on.
We stopped at the Kennewick Washington supercharger along the way, and ended up taking over 4 spots of the 8 available because the chargers are not trailer friendly. We did chat with one other Tesla Model S owner there who was amused to see the X pulling the Airstream.
Tomorrow we head to Spokane, Washington and will charge midway at the Ritzville supercharger.
We stopped at the Kennewick Washington supercharger along the way, and ended up taking over 4 spots of the 8 available because the chargers are not trailer friendly. We did chat with one other Tesla Model S owner there who was amused to see the X pulling the Airstream.
Tomorrow we head to Spokane, Washington and will charge midway at the Ritzville supercharger.
Did some hill climbing today getting up to Spokane at 1800+ feet. We upped our pulling speed to 55mph, and charged at the Ritzville WA supercharger. It was another of those relatively trailer unfriendly sites, but we charged nonetheless. Right at the end a Tesla Model S pulled up and asked if we would share the site as she had only 2 miles of charge left. We were almost done charging in any case, so we got her in to charge. We travelled 117.9 miles today, used 73.9 Kwh of battery power at 626 wh/m. I really hope Tesla will make more trailer friendly sites in the future. Maybe if they actually tow those pop-up design lab Airstream trailers, the difficulties will hit home.
A quick note - we travelled from Spokane through Couer d' Alene, Idaho and over the first major mountain pass of our trip ( 4th of July pass) at around 3100 ft. Energy use went up a bit to 660 wh/m at 55 mph for the trip through the pass. Tomorrow we go through Lookout mountain pass at about 4725 ft on our way to Missoula, Montana.
Everyday we are continuing our Tesla education tour with folks we meet along the way. Met an IBEW member today who stopped when he saw us charging at the Courr d'Alene supercharger, and numerous people at each campground we stay in. We will be in Missoula for several days.
Everyday we are continuing our Tesla education tour with folks we meet along the way. Met an IBEW member today who stopped when he saw us charging at the Courr d'Alene supercharger, and numerous people at each campground we stay in. We will be in Missoula for several days.
More data - mountain pass edition. Lookout mountain pass (4725 feet) was wild - I watched as our energy consumption rate skyrocketed as we ascended - it topped out at 1735 wh/m ( 1 3/4 KW per mile) near the top. We had just charged at the campground we stayed at and 20 miles later we had 35 miles of remaining charge at the top of the pass. Thank goodness and Tesla for good regenerative braking. We ended our travels in Missoula having gone 121.6 miles, using 73.4 KWh at 604 wh/m. We will be here for a few days visiting family, then it is onward through Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, and California. Data galore to come.
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