Towing extension cable

[dhrivnak]

For those of you who tow, I would LOVE to buy an extension charging cable so I do not have to unhook the trailer to charge. I have seen a few SuperCharger stations with a charger that could work for towing but they seen to be in the majority. A cable about 15' long would allow us to nose in and then reach the charge port. With range nearly cut in half by towing the unhooking of the trailer every 150 miles makes towing essentially unusable.

Are there others that would like to purchase such an extension cable? Yes I know it will be heavy and require some low gauge wire.

 

[DCGOO]

For those of you who tow, I would LOVE to buy an extension charging cable so I do not have to unhook the trailer to charge. I have seen a few SuperCharger stations with a charger that could work for towing but they seen to be in the majority. A cable about 15' long would allow us to nose in and then reach the charge port. With range nearly cut in half by towing the unhooking of the trailer every 150 miles makes towing essentially unusable.

Are there others that would like to purchase such an extension cable? Yes I know it will be heavy and require some low gauge wire.

There are none available. Even if there were, you would likely not be able to lift it. In order to carry the current with a reasonable amount of loss, a 15 foot cable would have to be roughly three times the size of the existing short cable on the Supercharger. Guessing It would probably weigh in around 200 Lb.

 

[dhrivnak]

There are none available. Even if there were, you would likely not be able to lift it. In order to carry the current with a reasonable amount of loss, a 15 foot cable would have to be roughly three times the size of the existing short cable on the Supercharger. Guessing It would probably weigh in around 200 Lb.

I would be very surprised at that. 25 lbs but not 200. I have built a few EVs with 00 cable which ran at over 400 amps. Big but definitely doable.

 

[Fellsteruk]

Sadly not for sale but Tesla do have something like this. They used them for charging the semi trucks at normal super chargers.

 

[BerTX]

For those of you who tow, I would LOVE to buy an extension charging cable so I do not have to unhook the trailer to charge. I have seen a few SuperCharger stations with a charger that could work for towing but they seen to be in the majority. A cable about 15' long would allow us to nose in and then reach the charge port. With range nearly cut in half by towing the unhooking of the trailer every 150 miles makes towing essentially unusable.

Are there others that would like to purchase such an extension cable? Yes I know it will be heavy and require some low gauge wire.

There are definitely Suprcharger locations where this would be helpful, even on my Model S with the luggage carrier or bikes on the back. I wouldn't mind having a short extension so that I can back into the stupidly constructed locations where they have to put the signs in the way so that I can't back in. But what you are talking about would probably have to be 50 feet long to do what you need.

In general, outside of high traffic areas (which I try to avoid anyway), you can often find a way to park such that you are blocking a minimal number of stalls. Many times, depending on the location and Supercharger arrangement, you can pull n such that you are only blocking two stalls, and the second stall is the one that would be paired with you anyway.

My personal opinion is that if you can't physically perform unhooking your trailer to charge, or if you are in such a big hurry that you can't take the time to do so, then yes, you should give up the idea of towing a trailer with an MX. It works well for retired people who stop at campgrounds frequently along the way to get places and only Supercharge once or twice a day. Hopping into the rig and driving 1000 miles to a destination for the week is better suited to an ICE for now.

 

[dhrivnak]

My personal opinion is that if you can't physically perform unhooking your trailer to charge, or if you are in such a big hurry that you can't take the time to do so, then yes, you should give up the idea of towing a trailer with an MX. It works well for retired people who stop at campgrounds frequently along the way to get places and only Supercharge once or twice a day. Hopping into the rig and driving 1000 miles to a destination for the week is better suited to an ICE for now.

Not trying to do 1000 miles but would like to be able to do 400 a day on occasion so that is maybe 3 charges. If you can nose in, in most cases you could charge with about 15' of cable. If you unhook the trailer you have the chains, break away cable, electrical connection, lock and the hitch. Doable yes but also a pain.

 

[BerTX]

Not trying to do 1000 miles but would like to be able to do 400 a day on occasion so that is maybe 3 charges. If you can nose in, in most cases you could charge with about 15' of cable. If you unhook the trailer you have the chains, break away cable, electrical connection, lock and the hitch. Doable yes but also a pain.

It could work in some places. For the most part, you'd be blocking traffic flow behind you. It's often not going to work, and the places where it would work are probably pretty deserted and you could pull in sideways anyway.

 

[dhrivnak]

It could work in some places. For the most part, you'd be blocking traffic flow behind you. It's often not going to work, and the places where it would work are probably pretty deserted and you could pull in sideways anyway.

When I pull in sideways I can easily block 5 stalls, 4 at a minimum. I hate doing that. For a lot of stalls there is room to drive around with my 15' trailer behind me. But it sounds like there is not a lot of demand from other owners for an extension cable.

 

[BerTX]

You might check with Quick Charge Power. They sell the PARTS to make an 80 amp cable (for $450). Maybe they could tell you if they could make a larger one, or if not, why not.

https://www.quickchargepower.com/

 

[ewoodrick]

You might check with Quick Charge Power. They sell the PARTS to make an 80 amp cable (for $450). Maybe they could tell you if they could make a larger one, or if not, why not.

https://www.quickchargepower.com/

Looking at their site, I don't see any of the parts. The do have the Tesla connectors, but they aren't rated for Supercharger currents.

 

[BerTX]

I thought I said it couldn't handle Supercharger currents. I think I said 80 amps max. Sorry if I wasn't clear.

Here's the receptacle:
Tesla Inlet ONLY

Here's the cable and handle:
Tesla 80 amp cable, HPWC, Wall Connector

I was just trying to give an idea of a MINIMUM price, if it could even work at all. Not suggesting it could work.

 

[Teknaform]

I have built a 75’ extension cord for my home charger. Works great.
During snow/ice conditions I keep the car by the road as my house is downhill crom the road.
Have been thinking of building the extension cord for supercharger for a while....will take some research to do it. Definetely a great part for those who pull trailers!