Towed with 20 MYP today = abysmal

[a2t2]

Towed 2 dirtbikes on a 5x8 landscape trailer prob total weight not exceeding 1000 lbs

full charge range of 261. Drive 96 miles and only had 42 miles range remaining. About 30 of those miles was highway at 70. The remaining miles were back roads at 45 mph some moderate hills but mostly flat. Ac on 90 degrees.

I’ll bet in winter this car can’t go 100 miles towing a small trailer. How the heck are people loading this with a 3500 lbs trailer ? It wouldn’t go 50 miles.

starting to think the hitch install was useless except for bike rack. This thing is only meant for short Home Depot runs and you better have a full charge

 

[jpy1980]

Good reference point. If I want to tow something, get a different car hahaha

This guy has a pretty good video about range and towing a trailer but on a LR:

 

[glide]

Towed 2 dirtbikes on a 5x8 landscape trailer prob total weight not exceeding 1000 lbs

full charge range of 261. Drive 96 miles and only had 42 miles range remaining. About 30 of those miles was highway at 70. The remaining miles were back roads at 45 mph some moderate hills but mostly flat. Ac on 90 degrees.

I’ll bet in winter this car can’t go 100 miles towing a small trailer. How the heck are people loading this with a 3500 lbs trailer ? It wouldn’t go 50 miles.

starting to think the hitch install was useless except for bike rack. This thing is only meant for short Home Depot runs and you better have a full charge

Tesla’s are great for towing…bike racks. That’s about it. I got less than 100 miles in my MY with travel trailer attached.

Road-tripping with them is impossible. Look how the super chargers are set up. You need to unhitch at nearly every stop.

 

[ElectroCat]

Tow our Alto trailer with our Y, get 225km to 250km range depending on wind and hiils, easy to get to the next super charger, charge overnight in camp grounds, works for us on long trips.
Our Outback lost about 40% of its range therefore very close in range loss.

 

[RedTesY]

We've towed a 17' Casita trailer (about 3,000 lbs) and averaged about 40% range decrease, same as our 2006 Highlander Hybrid while towing. We drove conservatively and had no problems.

 

[a2t2]

Maybe the performance Y is totally different then. I averaged 550 wh/mi and avg speed was 45 mph max 70. What’s crazy is there is a small road at the dirtbike spot which is 2 miles long so you have to stop and pay then keep going so the app I use clocked it as a 2nd trip. At 28 mph average the draw was still 350 wh/mi even crawling. Are you guys towing at 30 mph lol ?

all this was in the summer I can’t imagine winter, it would be sub 100 miles.

and yes to the point regarding the Subaru. My Durango r/t would be working hard and getting 10 mpg towing as well. But the difference is there are 160,000 gas stations in the us which you can fill up that Subaru at in 5 minutes. There are exactly zero supercharger stations anywhere near remote areas. So your taking a huge chance towing to camp grounds that are more remote

also I’ve used a bike rack recently too, average was 283 wh/mi with avg speed of 40 mph. So that would have a max range of Maybe 150 mi for me if I had to to go hwy, Prob 100 in winter.

I think ev’s have a long way to go to compete with suv / truck market. The Ford lightning would be an absolute joke towing due to its “epa” range of 300.

 

[Physicslawyer]

Your max range is 261 with your performance at 100%? Or, did you charge to less than 100%?

 

[EVer Hopeful]

We've been to some of the state parks in Texas and they have sections for RVs with power points. Not sure what kind of power they provide, but I figured an EV would be able to use it and charge up overnight. I'll check next time I go (ie once the temperature gets below 200 degrees)

 

[jsight]

We've been to some of the state parks in Texas and they have sections for RVs with power points. Not sure what kind of power they provide, but I figured an EV would be able to use it and charge up overnight. I'll check next time I go (ie once the temperature gets below 200 degrees)

In the early days, stopping at an rv park was a common way to travel long distances with the Model S.

 

[Saxgod]

We've been to some of the state parks in Texas and they have sections for RVs with power points. Not sure what kind of power they provide, but I figured an EV would be able to use it and charge up overnight. I'll check next time I go (ie once the temperature gets below 200 degrees)

Most of the time it is 50 amp 220v or 30 amp 110. Most state parks have plentiful of the former nowadays in Texas.

 

[idoco]

I averaged 550 wh/mi and avg speed was 45 mph max 70.

So something is not right there. When we tow an open 5x8 utility trailer it's < 400 wh/mi. This is at speeds up to 62-65 mph.

I have an MX, not a MY. So absolute numbers will differ. But my point is that although towing the utility trailer results in an increase in power consumption, about 20% in my case, it shouldn't be causing the almost 100% increase you are seeing.

I'm going to assume you weren't going up hill the entire trip. Or into a headwind or rainstorm or cold weather. So the biggest losses from towing come from increase in air resistance from the trailer/load and increase in rolling resistance.

For the air resistance portion, if the load was extending above or outside the profile of the MY than this would be a likely cause. For the rolling resistance portion, the weight you are describing shouldn't be too much of a factor. OTOH bad axle bearings, a locked or rubbing trailer brake, or other impediment to free rolling would definitely bump up the consumption.

I would take just the trailer for a thirty mile trip on the highway. Should be well less than 400 wh/mi. If not check the axles, brakes, etc. If the trailer alone is less than 400 wh/mi than you'll need to figure out a way to load the bikes so the don't disrupt the aerodynamics as much.

 

[a2t2]

Your max range is 261 with your performance at 100%? Or, did you charge to less than 100%?

Its 261 max at 100%

 

[Flybuddy]

Towed a single M/C on utility trailer last week. Here's pics (tow setup and screen) of test ride the day before I did a 300 mile trip with it. Mostly interstate driving at around 60 mph. Averaged 297 wh/mi on the 300 mile trip.

 

[DayTrippin]

I had a single bike trailer towing a large cruise and at 70 mph, I was seeing 369 wh/mi. I towed 2 large jetskis (300HP 3 seat SeaDoos), on a trailer about 8.5"'wide (much wider than the car) and I was at about 450 wh/mi towing 55-60. Total weight was over 2500 pounds for that rig. I have a MY LR with AB running on 19" Martian Wheels.

 

[Flybuddy]

Here's a tow of another motorcycle on a different trailer using substantially more juice (489 wh/mi). Although there is a few hundred pounds more involved with this tow (over post 13), it's the aerodynamics that sucks the juice. The large rock deflector in front and the tailgate, along with the width make this a more difficult tow. This was same route, same speed to same location. Note that after 100 miles of towing, it's still showing 100 miles of reserve. Not optimal, but still a viable tow vehicle.

 

[Impaler]

Towed 2 dirtbikes on a 5x8 landscape trailer prob total weight not exceeding 1000 lbs

full charge range of 261. Drive 96 miles and only had 42 miles range remaining. About 30 of those miles was highway at 70. The remaining miles were back roads at 45 mph some moderate hills but mostly flat. Ac on 90 degrees.

I’ll bet in winter this car can’t go 100 miles towing a small trailer. How the heck are people loading this with a 3500 lbs trailer ? It wouldn’t go 50 miles.

starting to think the hitch install was useless except for bike rack. This thing is only meant for short Home Depot runs and you better have a full charge

Yeah, plenty of videos on the abysmal range for towing. Not a great use case for Teslas.

 

[mark95476]

Tow anything signficant and you can expect ~50% range in a gasser. Nothing changes with an EV--You can expect about ~50% range.

MY has been out for >1 year and people have been towing all sorts of stuff since. There's a thread where people post their towing experiences with pictures, videos, and articles.

Model Y Towing - Experiences Post here

Given that the Model Y has been shipping with the tow package for a while now I have yet to see any experiences being posted. If you have one or have found any please post here. I’m specifically looking at towing a 1900lb “bushwhacker” trailer. I’ve read about Model x towing but am looking...

teslamotorsclub.com

MX has been out for a long time. There are threads if you look and you'll probably see the same thing: expect ~50% range.

 

[a2t2]

I have the teslifi app so I can see the usage on every trip. This one was 49 miles each way and elevation change of 574'. Avg speed was 45mph max was 73 mph. The trip was 2/3 back roads at 45 or so and 1/3 hwy where i tried to keep it at 70 which is the speed limit. The trailer is the home depot 5x8 which weighs about 500#. Power usage was 550 wh/mi going (uphill) and 542 wh/mi coming back

Triple Crown 1520 lb. Capacity 5 ft. x 8 ft. Utility Trailer TCHD5X82K

Rugged Triple Crown 5 ft. x 8 ft. open bed utility trailer with 1520 lb. payload capacity and wood plank flooring. Capable of hauling lawn tractors and golf carts with ease. Perfect for week home improvement

www.homedepot.com

The dirt bikes weigh about 250# ea so we should of been right at 1,000 #. The trailer wheels werent locked up, I moved the whole trailer by hand to load it to the hitch and it rolled fine. So I dont know what the heck happened here, the bikes arent especially un-aerodynamic not like I was pulling a bill board sideways or anything. Just a hell of alot of power used !

I get the comparison to gas, yes. It kills gas mileage too. The difference is there are 160K gas stations in atlanta i can fill up in 5 minutes. Theres 10 supercharger locations in north atlanta, and nowhere near where I would of needed them.

I guess you could tow with this thing but I wont again its stressful. Kinda sucks, its supposed to be a SUV but there aint much U in that if you can only tow safely 100 miles. I cant imagine running out of charge while towing a trailer with expensive stuff in it. would take days to sort out tow trucks just to get back home.

Im really curious how ford will address this in the F150. That thing wont go 50 miles in the winter towing up hills ...

 

[LoudMusic]

What kind of consumption numbers do you typically see when you aren't towing?

 

[glide]

Tow anything signficant and you can expect ~50% range in a gasser. Nothing changes with an EV--You can expect about ~50% range.

MY has been out for >1 year and people have been towing all sorts of stuff since. There's a thread where people post their towing experiences with pictures, videos, and articles.

Model Y Towing - Experiences Post here

Given that the Model Y has been shipping with the tow package for a while now I have yet to see any experiences being posted. If you have one or have found any please post here. I’m specifically looking at towing a 1900lb “bushwhacker” trailer. I’ve read about Model x towing but am looking...

teslamotorsclub.com

MX has been out for a long time. There are threads if you look and you'll probably see the same thing: expect ~50% range.

Difference being, it takes 5 minutes to refuel at a gas station (which are everywhere) and you do not have to unhitch your tow vehicle at every stop.

it probably saves 45 minutes vs. using a supercharger.

Towing in any Tesla is completely impractical if you are going > 50 miles in either direction.