-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Towing Range
- Thread starter ThomasD
- Start date
Really depends on the shape of what is being towed. A travel trailer is going to require more energy to counter wind resistance than a utility trailer with a load of pavers.
Towing with the X reportedly cuts range up to half.
I really hope they make an Extended cab long bed version without a slant back. Or I will wait for a wrecked one and make it how I want. I'm sure I will find one the first few weeks they are out. Do you think it will come with 4 corner air ride? Like say I want to raise the left front corner and leave the rest at the height they are. Will that be possible?
The shocks are individualy adjustable, so it only depends if they add that feature. Seems like they would have autoleveling for camping mode.
The bed sidewalls are structural, cutting them would weaken the truck.
seattlite2004
Active Member
Only on the inside and top. The outer panel of the sail is a door for storage and does not contribute much to the stiffness. My theory is that the sloped sides are not so much needed for stiffness as they are necessary for the covered "vault" needed to achieve the aerodynamic efficiency needed to hit the range goal (at the desired battery cost and weight).
Even if it turns out that there is too much stiffness loss from removing the sails, there appears to be enough room inside the bed sides to weld in a double thickness of steel or a truss beam in there to make it stiff enough with the sails completely removed.
Reworking the tracks for the power bed cover is also likely something that could be done to make it still cover the reconfigured bed. That would be a good feature to keep, and might result in less drag than an open bed (but in any case still more drag than the sloped cover).
All of the above seems reasonable to do, and I might consider doing it to mine after I see how much the high sides really annoy me or if I can life with it as-is.
Another mod that might be interesting to consider would be to cut out just the inside panel of the sail, leaving the top and the track for the cover. Then the bed area could be accessed for reaching in from the sides by opening the sail storage doors.
Reworking the roof line of the cab is a lot more involved because it involves the C-pillar, back of the cab and window, back doors and back side windows, top glass, and a lot of interior trim parts. I think it even involves the B pillar, and the corner of the front doors and front side windows. I doubt anybody would attempt all of that.
I wonder if the towing range of the CyberTruck as listed is the max during towing under full load.
TriMotor is 500+
Dual Motor 300+
Single Motor 250+
So would that mean for the Tri Motor that towing 14,000 pounds you will get the 500 miles and if you are not towing you will get the "+" and the same goes for the Dual and Single motor option.
TriMotor is 500+
Dual Motor 300+
Single Motor 250+
So would that mean for the Tri Motor that towing 14,000 pounds you will get the 500 miles and if you are not towing you will get the "+" and the same goes for the Dual and Single motor option.
I don’t think there is much question that this will definitely NOT be the case. Towing 14k for 500mi would take a battery pack bigger than the whole car don’t you think? As said too many variables in towing. Height and wind resistance, hills etc. A cars rage is easier to Calc because it has known parameters and even in hills the regen going down will be enough to slow the car but with heavy trailer probably won’t, therefore wasted energy using brakes.
eprosenx
Active Member
Hahahahaha, no. I can guarantee you that is not the case. ;-) Towing (especially due to aerodynamic drag) take a crazy amount of energy. The reason they are making a 500+ mile range version is clearly to offset that loss when towing. I am guessing more like 200 miles of range when towing a good size trailer (on the 500 mile version of the truck).
When I tow camp trailers with my Tundra I have to stop at basically every gas station along the way...
Yes, when towing with my X my 17 ft trailer cuts the range by at least 30% at 55mph. I never go over 60mph when towing, but at that speed and if there is rain, or a headwind, or a lot of uphill, my range drops by 50% or more.
No. The range numbers Tesla has given for the different Cybertruck versions are NOT when towing. They will be much less when towing.
I would love the Tri Motor Cybertruck range of 500 miles because that would mean I would get at least 250 miles of range when towing, maybe 300 at 55mph.
The towing range of the Single Motor would be less than my X100D and the Dual Motor just a bit better.
I’ve done rough math based on my data from the Black rock 22BHS i tow 5-10k miles a summer with my LX 570. Camper is ~26’ long 10.5’ tall 8’ wide, ~6800 lbs loaded, GVW of my Lexus+camper loaded is just under 14k lbs. on long trips without the trailer I get 16 mpg. Towing running 55-60 I get 9.2 mpg and if I run 65-70 I get 8 mpg if I have a strong head wind around Turnagain arm (fairly common) I’ve seen 6 mpg for that flat 50 miles.
Physics is physics regardless of if it’s an ICE or EV towing and I’m estimating it takes an additional 700-900+ Wh/mi on average to pull my camper over the course of a summer. Im running 34” AT tires and the CT will have a better cd but I’m betting 200 miles max is what I’ll be lucky to get out of the 500+ mile CT pulling my camper in the real world.
Physics is physics regardless of if it’s an ICE or EV towing and I’m estimating it takes an additional 700-900+ Wh/mi on average to pull my camper over the course of a summer. Im running 34” AT tires and the CT will have a better cd but I’m betting 200 miles max is what I’ll be lucky to get out of the 500+ mile CT pulling my camper in the real world.
RV travel trailers are fairly ridiculous in terms of aerodynamics. In particular the fact that the most volume of material they actually transport is air, which there is plenty of at the destination anyway... ;-) The point is that we need "EV trailers", which collapse to make a compact aerodyamic shape whilst unoccupied or empty, and then expand as much as required to fit whatever you want to transport, or when they're on the camp site. That way you'd save a heap of energy, giving the EV more range whilst towing.
It's time to improve all parts of the transportation industry, and this is a simply consequence of making things more efficient, in that everything that isn't efficient, or cost effective for the task, becomes redundant, and no longer will be in demand. At some point, with FSD, one then has to ask the question if the travel trailer should actually be abandoned for a "EV motorhome", that then drives itself to your destination, and you can either be a passenger on it, or be driven there with your CT. Maybe we should question if trailers should actually be allowed to continue in their current form at all.
As for range I'd also expect half the CT range whilst towing a conventional trailer. And that only at lower cruising speeds.
A 5sqm cross section trailer at 55mph needs about 3x as much kW for aero as it does for rolling, but at 65mph it needs nearly 4x as much kW. So driving slow with a EV and a trailer will be essential.
It's time to improve all parts of the transportation industry, and this is a simply consequence of making things more efficient, in that everything that isn't efficient, or cost effective for the task, becomes redundant, and no longer will be in demand. At some point, with FSD, one then has to ask the question if the travel trailer should actually be abandoned for a "EV motorhome", that then drives itself to your destination, and you can either be a passenger on it, or be driven there with your CT. Maybe we should question if trailers should actually be allowed to continue in their current form at all.
As for range I'd also expect half the CT range whilst towing a conventional trailer. And that only at lower cruising speeds.
A 5sqm cross section trailer at 55mph needs about 3x as much kW for aero as it does for rolling, but at 65mph it needs nearly 4x as much kW. So driving slow with a EV and a trailer will be essential.
They have made collapsing trailers that are more aerodynamic for years. Both hard side and soft side, universally called pop ups.
lol yeah for sure for the RV side of things, haven't seen any pop-up cargo trailers like that though.
But even with the RV pop-ups 99% of them are not solid side walled, meaning they're not 4 season, and can't be heated or cooled in summer efficiently. The easiest way would be to make shoe box style slide up roofs, that way you can have it fully insulated and have it set to whatever height you need for transporting goods.
But even with the RV pop-ups 99% of them are not solid side walled, meaning they're not 4 season, and can't be heated or cooled in summer efficiently. The easiest way would be to make shoe box style slide up roofs, that way you can have it fully insulated and have it set to whatever height you need for transporting goods.
Yes up here in Alaska the soft sided ones are not “bear resistant” which is another minus. A-liners are hard side pop ups and they are everywhere up here being pulled by Subaru’s and small SUVs. My camper is 4 season rated and all the plumbing is heated and we’ve used it down to the -10’F but it weights a good 15-20% more than most comparable campers it’s size.
jackbowers
Jack Bowers
He fails to point out that the system efficiency of an F150 is less than 20% (more than 80% of the energy in the gasoline ends up as waste heat; that's why pickups overheat all the time when towing uphill). In reality a 200 kWh pack in the Cybertruck provides roughly the same towing range as 30 gallons of gasoline in an F-150 (even if you run the air-conditioners on high in both vehicles). Be happy to take a wager on that and prove it in two years.
Last edited:
I’ve done the math as well. It takes an additional 400-700 Wh/mi to tow my ~6800 lb black rock 22BHS camper if I keep it under 60mph That is over what it takes to drive without the camper in tow. So if the CT is rated at 500 miles at say ~300 Wh/mi it will take 700-1000 Wh/mi pulling my camper. I’m betting 200 mile usable range between charges out of the tri motor. When I pull the camper with my LX570 I have about 200 miles between fill ups so you are pretty accurate in a range to range comparison. The problem is I have no superchargers within thousands of miles from me but do have gas stations and Jerry cans.
geoffmanley
Member
Additionally he assumes you will be pulling a 14,000 lb trailer. I'd like to see the numbers with a normal size trailer, maybe 5,000 lbs.
Similar threads
