The View From Alaska
I received from our sketchy internet enough bandwidth to learn of the photo of that X mule towing a dump trailer. This has warmed the cockles of my heart so much that I have had to scramble to find enough signal to be able to re-join the forum, at least for a little while.
1. We already know that a "D" Model S puts to shame both the horsepower out put of my PowerStroke F-350
AND its available torque. So there we have a:
++++++!!!+++++
2. We do
not know for how long a Model X Towmeister could keep up the gruntwork - neither in terms of battery life nor from any heat build-up. So needs rate a
--???-- until such time as Tesla releases stats
3. Nor do we know how grunty the X's frame is going to be, nor what kind of tongue-weight capacity Tesla will have given the vehicle's suspension.
HOWEVER, in that the overall
weight of a Model X very most likely will come close to the F-350 (prolly very, very close to an F-150), then the latter criterion likely will be close. I'll give this one a
++.
4. Now, with my F-350, I was able to haul to Alaska for 3,900 miles the CAT 305 excavator and a whole bunch of other stuff on a 30' gooseneck. That was 32,000 lbs total weight (verified by a roving Montana trooper....
...but he didn't ticket me:smile:... The horsepower and torque of an X thus, ceteris paribus, would allow such haulage. Given what we
don't know, yet, about the X, we can't say that ceteris is up to that paribus....but.... So a
+ in this regard.
5. Here is where I am really excited. I also have a 14' dump trailer, with a 14,000 lb rating. Regardless of what rating the X comes out as, I can see that for
most of my purposes, I could use the X rather than the 350 to haul it. That for me rates a
++++.
6. Much, much more exciting than that is that I've just dreamed up a camper-conversion for that dump trailer. This coming week I'll be off to converse with our "local" (that's Alaskan for 240 miles away) camper-builder to learn what we (he) can fab for us - but he's a whizz at light-weight creations. The 7' x 14' interior of the dump gives all sorts of room; there is
no foundation stouter than a good dump trailer for hauling around anything, even on our roads up here. Best of all, we could drive to our warm winter home with such a confab, then evict the camper and
still have a dump trailer to use down south. I am giddy. Rates a
+++++!!!!!+++++.