Xenoilphobe
Well-Known Member
I believe the limitation on the S and X is due to the air suspension and or wheels/tires. The wheels are already carrying a heavy load, especially the crappy 21s on the S and the 22's on the X and also lack a significant amount of rubber between the wheel and road, adding weight just makes this more risky.
Let's say your car has tires that are load index rated at 102Y, which has a maximum load rating of 1874 lbs X 4 for the whole GVWR of the car and it yields 7496 lbs, well over the GVWR of 6085 lbs (5185 base weight +900 cargo) for the X and 5360 GVWR (4560 lbs + 800 lbs) for the S.
Here is the catch, the wheels are only rated to carry 6800 lbs (in my use case with 19 inch wheels on a S). The 21 and 22 inch wheels are even worse with a lower load per axle and closer to the GVWR of both the S with 21's and X with 22's increasing the risk of catastrophic failure as you exceed the GVWR and tow rating of the vehicle. Note that a Model X with 22 inch wheels is limited to 3500 lbs towing and with 20 inch wheels limited to 5000 lbs towing.
I'm with you, I lived in Europe and saw people tow with cars weighing 2200 lbs with massive campers AKA caravans, however there are key differences in European campers (lighter, no blackwater tanks, no slide outs, etc). The difference in Europe is they train you how to drive and require a special license (B+E) to tow a caravan...
That Bosal hitch is pretty standard in Europe and can handle way more load than what Tesla has limited it to, it is not the limiting factor on the Tesla. I need to check my X, but the same Bosal hitch on my old Touareg was rated for 3500 kg or 7,700 lbs of tow weight.
Let's say your car has tires that are load index rated at 102Y, which has a maximum load rating of 1874 lbs X 4 for the whole GVWR of the car and it yields 7496 lbs, well over the GVWR of 6085 lbs (5185 base weight +900 cargo) for the X and 5360 GVWR (4560 lbs + 800 lbs) for the S.
Here is the catch, the wheels are only rated to carry 6800 lbs (in my use case with 19 inch wheels on a S). The 21 and 22 inch wheels are even worse with a lower load per axle and closer to the GVWR of both the S with 21's and X with 22's increasing the risk of catastrophic failure as you exceed the GVWR and tow rating of the vehicle. Note that a Model X with 22 inch wheels is limited to 3500 lbs towing and with 20 inch wheels limited to 5000 lbs towing.
I'm with you, I lived in Europe and saw people tow with cars weighing 2200 lbs with massive campers AKA caravans, however there are key differences in European campers (lighter, no blackwater tanks, no slide outs, etc). The difference in Europe is they train you how to drive and require a special license (B+E) to tow a caravan...
That Bosal hitch is pretty standard in Europe and can handle way more load than what Tesla has limited it to, it is not the limiting factor on the Tesla. I need to check my X, but the same Bosal hitch on my old Touareg was rated for 3500 kg or 7,700 lbs of tow weight.
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