ohmman, We will be at the Petaluma supercharger on Monday, probably in the early afternoon, and we would love to see you if you are free. I'll try to post times as we get close to being there.
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Initial trailer pulling report - 90D and Airstream 22ft Bambi Sport
- Thread starter JimVandegriff
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- Model X
Sounds great. I should be available and it would be great to see you as well.
Jim, Ukiah to Eureka is 157 miles. Are you planning to go extra slow to ensure you make it? Given that your typical energy usage is 566wh/m on level ground at 50-55mph, that means you could use 88.8kWh or more to make it to Eureka at that speed. If your average speed for that trip is 40-45 then I would think you can do it.
However, if you can charge your X on even 120V overnight at the Willits campground that will help a lot. Where are you staying in Willits?
However, if you can charge your X on even 120V overnight at the Willits campground that will help a lot. Where are you staying in Willits?
Dublin was a bit of a mess when I was there a couple of weeks ago. Two of chargers were offline and lots of construction. They are apparently adding a SC or two in back for use by Tesla, leaving the ones in front just for us.
ecarfan, we usually charge at night at whatever campground/rvpark we are staying at, and will do that at the Golden Rule RV park (where Seabiscuit lived out his life) just south of Willits. It is a lovely park with wild turkeys and good hookups for campers, and then will spend the next night at an RV park either in Myers Flat, or Redcrest before the Eureka leg and home on Thursday.
I think a trip from Ukiah to Eureka with the trailer is iffy on a single charge given the hills, but we plan to take it easy on the way with stops in rv parks.
Thanks for the update! I hope we don't run into construction but we will deal with it one way or another. I'm glad they are adding chargers for use by Tesla.
Xminus6
Member
I was just there yesterday. Seemed fine but it is generally a busy supercharger being near a high density of Tesla owners and off of a major thoroughfare. I know a lot of locals charge there because the times when I've picked up my car there from the Service Center in the mornings and given it a bit of a charge there are a lot of folks who look like they just use that as a stop on their commute.
Solarman004
Member
Jim, I really enjoy reading about your trip and appreciate your taking the time to send the updates.
I know most of your recharging has been at RV sites, but I'm curious to know at how many superchargers did you have to unhitch the trailer? It would be great if you could provide TM some feedback on supercharger "trailer friendliness."
I'm also curious to know how closely @ohmman looks like his avatar? ☺ He should have been easy to spot at your meeting today...
I know most of your recharging has been at RV sites, but I'm curious to know at how many superchargers did you have to unhitch the trailer? It would be great if you could provide TM some feedback on supercharger "trailer friendliness."
I'm also curious to know how closely @ohmman looks like his avatar? ☺ He should have been easy to spot at your meeting today...
ohmman, after many adventures, we are at the NAPA supercharger for the next hour or so. Come on over if you can. Can't miss us (taking up 3 spaces). Jim
I had the absolute pleasure of meeting up with Jim and Illijana today at the Napa Supercharger. When I got back in my car, I realized how long I'd been visiting with them (sorry for the delay, guys!). This gracious couple spent time answering my questions as if I were the first one asking them, even though I know they've been answering the same stuff for weeks.
Their success with this trailer is really a trailblazing event for everyone going forward. It's "proof of concept" and I hope they find the time to submit their experience to Tesla's "customer stories." I may thrust them there by tweeting their photo at Tesla...
The trailer itself is very spacious with an ideal full bathroom setup. There is a lot of obvious storage, and it appears to have met all of their needs for the trip.
I was extremely impressed with everything they've accomplished, and the positive attitude they have about their experience.
Thanks again to both of you for taking the time to answer my questions and meet with me.
Their success with this trailer is really a trailblazing event for everyone going forward. It's "proof of concept" and I hope they find the time to submit their experience to Tesla's "customer stories." I may thrust them there by tweeting their photo at Tesla...
The trailer itself is very spacious with an ideal full bathroom setup. There is a lot of obvious storage, and it appears to have met all of their needs for the trip.
I was extremely impressed with everything they've accomplished, and the positive attitude they have about their experience.
Thanks again to both of you for taking the time to answer my questions and meet with me.
Hey Jim, a question: what do you use for a rear view camera on your trailer, and is the X rear camera useful in any way when towing?
We had a wonderful time meeting with you, ohmman. We both really appreciated you stopping by the Napa supercharger while we were there. We felt very affirmed, and enjoyed getting to know you better.
Our story today: after leaving Santa Cruz fully charged we planned to travel on hwy 17 "over the hill" to San Jose and up to Dublin to charge at the Dublin supercharger. The warnings from Xminus6 and napabill were apropos as when we got to Dublin there was a full parking lot with cars charging and 6 cars waiting in line to charge. I checked in with the service center desk to see if they could fix our seat controls (front seat had become unaware of where middle seats were, so driver profiles could not operate). Our ranger could not fix this before we left on the trip because we live in an area with poor cell reception so his computer could not link up to the server at Tesla he needed. Ah the joys of living in a rural area.) In any case, it didn't look good for getting that fixed at Dublin today, so we decided to skip charging (we would have had to disconnect the trailer in any case) and to try to make it to Napa to charge instead.
One interesting note: the drive over hwy 17 to San Jose was 29.5 miles and used 583 wh/m despite the 1800 ft climb and descent over the mountains.
We proceeded to Napa. The best spot was blocked off by a little tent that had been erected in front of the charging electrical equipment by the service station as advertising, so we had to park covering up three chargers, leaving the rest open to other Teslas. Total mileage from Santa Cruz to Napa was 112.9 miles, using 57.2 kWh at 507Wh/mile generally at 50 mph in the high 60's temperature with little wind. Quite impressive numbers from Illijana's driving.
We enjoyably met with ohmman, then proceeded on to Santa Rosa to camp. My driving to Santa Rosa could not match Illijana's numbers as the 40.5 miles used 24.2 kWh, at 597 wh/m. Totals for the day were thus 153.4 miles driven using 81.4kWh at 530 wh/m. I think the driving conditions were pretty ideal today, so while I think 575 is still close to our average on level ground at 55mph or so, one can get lower usage with lower speeds and good conditions.
We are off to the Ukiah supercharger tomorrow, then camping in Willits (a short day).
The backup camera is extremely useful for hitching up to the trailer, ecarfan! It would be much harder without the camera. If you take a careful look at the picture ohmman posted you will note that we have extended mirrors attached to the car on the both front mirrors. These mirrors are extremely valuable to view behind the trailer. We bought them in Eugene, OR, when we had the 7 pin connector replaced at an RV dealer. The service people recommended the Milenco brand and the mirrors have been terrific, allowing us to see closely behind the trailer and helping us to see what was happening to cars back there. Originally, we wanted to get an electronic system, but the Bay Area airstream dealer's tech people were not confident about trying to tie it in with the Tesla, so we decided that if they weren't confident about it, neither were we. The mirrors work great for the purpose of seeing behind the trailer.
Thanks Jim. I wasn't very clear with my question. I wanted to know if you had a rear view camera mounted on the back of your Airstream to see directly behind the trailer. I can readily imagine that the X rear camera is indeed very helpful for positioning the car hitch in relationship with the trailer hitch.
Sorry, I hadn't notice the mirrors you added to the X. I have never towed a trailer but suppose those added side mirrors are essential with such a wide trailer like the Airstream. Here is a rear view camera built into a license plate frame Pearl - No New Car Required however it likely won't work with your Airstream because the wireless connection probably won't transmit from the rear of your trailer to the front seat of your Tesla.
Sorry, I hadn't notice the mirrors you added to the X. I have never towed a trailer but suppose those added side mirrors are essential with such a wide trailer like the Airstream. Here is a rear view camera built into a license plate frame Pearl - No New Car Required however it likely won't work with your Airstream because the wireless connection probably won't transmit from the rear of your trailer to the front seat of your Tesla.
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In which we save the worst for last... after reaching Santa Rosa and spending a good night at the fairgrounds RV park, we decided to head for the Ukiah supercharger and then head for Redcrest on the Avenue of the Giants and the RV park rather than camp in Willits. Big mistake. The various estimates of distance ranged from 92 miles to 118 miles. Actual distance from Ukiah was 119.8 miles. We left Ukiah with a full charge (261 miles) after a lovely Japanese lunch at OCO time restaurant.
Ohmman and I had discussed mileage killers when we met. Near the top of the list was rain/wet roads. Needless to say, it was raining off and on during the trip between Ukiah and Redcrest and the roads were wet the entire distance. We travelled at 50 mph, and thought we would make the trip easily, but the uneven terrain (a pass at 1900 feet) and wet roads left us perilously close to full battery discharge. We pulled into the RV park with 6 miles left on the battery (about 3 miles with the trailer). That was by far the closest we have come to a problem with range.
The crap wasn't over yet. The rv park which was supposed to have 50 and 30 amp charging sites turned out to have only 2 50 amp chargers, and neither would accommodate our rig. We then found a 30 amp site, and proceeded to start charging but realized that it was 30 amps at 110 volts (and the voltage was fluctuating so the car reduced it to 107 volts and charged at 6 to 7 miles per hour). The power cut out during the night but we caught it soon thereafter and figured out a way to keep it on during the rest of the night. We figured we needed at least 100 miles of charge to get to the Eureka supercharger (about 40 miles away), and we had 112 by the time we left.
We made it to Eureka's lovely 8 supercharger station, and charged up. While there I ran into a friend who had just leased a new model S 60, and who had used me as a reference and gotten the $1000 taken off his price. We spent about an hour there answering questions from a number of people who stopped by to discuss Tesla and electric drive and thoroughly enjoyed the superchargers there (easy access for charging with a trailer by using one end of the bank of chargers). We drove home from there, and were easily able to back our trailer into its parking spot next to our house (the ease was a far cry from three months ago when we were new to backing a trailer).
I'll post some final numbers and thoughts in the next few days. We are both enthused about our electric adventure, and already planning the next one. Thanks for reading these missives, asking questions, and encouraging us.
Ohmman and I had discussed mileage killers when we met. Near the top of the list was rain/wet roads. Needless to say, it was raining off and on during the trip between Ukiah and Redcrest and the roads were wet the entire distance. We travelled at 50 mph, and thought we would make the trip easily, but the uneven terrain (a pass at 1900 feet) and wet roads left us perilously close to full battery discharge. We pulled into the RV park with 6 miles left on the battery (about 3 miles with the trailer). That was by far the closest we have come to a problem with range.
The crap wasn't over yet. The rv park which was supposed to have 50 and 30 amp charging sites turned out to have only 2 50 amp chargers, and neither would accommodate our rig. We then found a 30 amp site, and proceeded to start charging but realized that it was 30 amps at 110 volts (and the voltage was fluctuating so the car reduced it to 107 volts and charged at 6 to 7 miles per hour). The power cut out during the night but we caught it soon thereafter and figured out a way to keep it on during the rest of the night. We figured we needed at least 100 miles of charge to get to the Eureka supercharger (about 40 miles away), and we had 112 by the time we left.
We made it to Eureka's lovely 8 supercharger station, and charged up. While there I ran into a friend who had just leased a new model S 60, and who had used me as a reference and gotten the $1000 taken off his price. We spent about an hour there answering questions from a number of people who stopped by to discuss Tesla and electric drive and thoroughly enjoyed the superchargers there (easy access for charging with a trailer by using one end of the bank of chargers). We drove home from there, and were easily able to back our trailer into its parking spot next to our house (the ease was a far cry from three months ago when we were new to backing a trailer).
I'll post some final numbers and thoughts in the next few days. We are both enthused about our electric adventure, and already planning the next one. Thanks for reading these missives, asking questions, and encouraging us.
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Solarman004
Member
@JimVandegriff Outstanding series of posts! Thank you.
Don't know if you saw my earlier question, but I'm wondering at what percentage of supercharger stations did you have to unhitch in order to charge? Were there any SC stations that were particularly"trailer unfriendly?"
Don't know if you saw my earlier question, but I'm wondering at what percentage of supercharger stations did you have to unhitch in order to charge? Were there any SC stations that were particularly"trailer unfriendly?"
Jim and Illijana, welcome home. That little bit of drama at the end was perfectly timed. It'll make sure you don't forget about those range-killers that can pop up at any time. And as you mentioned, we just discussed the range evils of rain! Glad you made it.
I'm very much looking forward to your "Second trailer pulling report..." thread.
I'm very much looking forward to your "Second trailer pulling report..." thread.
Jim, glad you made it home safely and didn't have to run your car down to zero range! But that was pretty close. Was glad to read that on a nominally 30A/110V circuit you got a charging rate of 6-7mph.
We had to unhitch in Big Timber, Montana which had both an unfriendly to trailers 4 station charger bounded by curbs that made access difficult (as well as passed out druggies sitting in a non-Tesla car in a supercharger slot), and Flagstaff, Arizona which is the by far most difficult supercharger to negotiate with a trailer, even when unhooking. Best supercharger design for trailers was in Seaside, Oregon, which featured an easy pull through. Most superchargers were doable but involved blocking other Tesla chargers (best case scenario, only blocking one other charger than the one we were using, worst case blocking three or four others). I don't like blocking other chargers!
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