Towing travel trailer with Model Y

[GleanerC]

Plugshare has a "Submit Feedback" option. I haven't used it since EVgo acquired the site but they used to respond fairly quickly.

Hey Earl. Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I actually just tried that with one of the locations that you can pull around to the back side of the pedestals and not have to drop the trailer. I was hoping you or someone had happened upon a way for users to make that update ourselves. Like the Camping, Lodging, etc editable buttons under Amenities. It will be interesting if/what I hear back.

There's very little chance of this data ever being reliable, thus useful. When only 1 out of 20 stalls are "pull in" (which is often the case), how will you even know it is available when you get there?

Yup, but there's a chance. I also usually take a picture and share it on PlugShare when we find a trailer friendly spot. When we're traveling my co-pilot often gives the PlugShare pictures a look before we arrive at a new to us Supercharger when pulling.

It takes very little effort to unhitch and hitch up again. I can unhitch in 2 minutes and hitch up in less than 3. I don’t like to wait for one stall that lets me avoid spending that 5 minutes.

Yup, we're off and on in 2 minutes both ways so it's really not a big deal at all. But we have been pretty fortunate so far with weather when needing to drop. (look at that, I just jinxed myself).

 

[flybone89]

Tesla says that Tow Mode can detect trailer sway and attempt to control it through selectively applying the brakes

I was not aware - so good to know! I agree it would be tough to provide full backup assist but even our Volvo XC60 had a few nice features to help such as really good 360 view that helped even though it was partially blocked and a display line in the center to lineup the hitch ball. So just a few more trailer assists would be nice.

As for the hitch / unhitch - I appreciate the tips and agree it’s not too bad if I have to do it especially with a small trailer. Agree I’m not in a hurry with a trailer. It’s just frustrating to have to do it when there could be an easier pull-in if it wasn’t occupied. That said even some pull-ins aren’t ideal either - depends on how much space is behind the pull-in and there is always risk backing out from it.

Overall I didn’t find the stopping / charging experience with a trailer unbearable and it is easily offset by how nice the Model Y is to tow! Bigger trip is coming up soon though - 1000 miles+ to Assateague seashore…

 

[MrFixit1094]

As a new owner, I am disappointed that the excellent Tesla trip planning seems to have no option to configure it for a known, expected load increase. It seems to assume a nominal efficiency (~243 W / mi.). You know your trailer (or other excessive load like a rooftop carrier, hitch mounted cargo carrier, or even a full load of passengers and luggage) impacts efficiency. AND you will likely have a pretty good idea as to how much.

If experience shows that trailering results in an efficiency of maybe 500 W / mi., the trip planner will be effectively rendered useless. It would seem to be trivial for the Tesla planner to let you override the nominal efficiency with an expected one and it could once again yield excellent results for your actual scenario when planning supercharger stops, etc.

Do those of us with trailers just have to abandon the Tesla trip planner and plan manually, or is there some work-around to get it to understand a little more about your actual configuration? I am aware of ABRP and I know it does have features like this, but I find a non-integrated solution to be awkward and would much prefer it if Tesla provided a little more flexibility to take better advantage of an already good tool.

 

[Webeevdrivers]

As a new owner, I am disappointed that the excellent Tesla trip planning seems to have no option to configure it for a known, expected load increase. It seems to assume a nominal efficiency (~243 W / mi.). You know your trailer (or other excessive load like a rooftop carrier, hitch mounted cargo carrier, or even a full load of passengers and luggage) impacts efficiency. AND you will likely have a pretty good idea as to how much.

If experience shows that trailering results in an efficiency of maybe 500 W / mi., the trip planner will be effectively rendered useless. It would seem to be trivial for the Tesla planner to let you override the nominal efficiency with an expected one and it could once again yield excellent results for your actual scenario when planning supercharger stops, etc.

Do those of us with trailers just have to abandon the Tesla trip planner and plan manually, or is there some work-around to get it to understand a little more about your actual configuration? I am aware of ABRP and I know it does have features like this, but I find a non-integrated solution to be awkward and would much prefer it if Tesla provided a little more flexibility to take better advantage of an already good tool.

Agreed. It would be nice to have a planner that takes into consideration a trailer. Maybe that will come with Cybertruck.

 

[VandalSibs]

As a new owner, I am disappointed that the excellent Tesla trip planning seems to have no option to configure it for a known, expected load increase. It seems to assume a nominal efficiency (~243 W / mi.). You know your trailer (or other excessive load like a rooftop carrier, hitch mounted cargo carrier, or even a full load of passengers and luggage) impacts efficiency. AND you will likely have a pretty good idea as to how much.

If experience shows that trailering results in an efficiency of maybe 500 W / mi., the trip planner will be effectively rendered useless. It would seem to be trivial for the Tesla planner to let you override the nominal efficiency with an expected one and it could once again yield excellent results for your actual scenario when planning supercharger stops, etc.

Do those of us with trailers just have to abandon the Tesla trip planner and plan manually, or is there some work-around to get it to understand a little more about your actual configuration? I am aware of ABRP and I know it does have features like this, but I find a non-integrated solution to be awkward and would much prefer it if Tesla provided a little more flexibility to take better advantage of an already good tool.

With the five total towing drives I did this year, the trip planner would adjust after about five or so minutes on the freeway, if not sooner. Yeah, it doesn't know from the start that you are towing (which is weird, as putting it into tow mode should at least do something in regards to trip planning) but in my uses it does do something.

I know Rivian just did an update for their trucks and SUVs that has profiles for particular trailers, but even then, its trip planning just does a straight 50% range cut until some driving has happened (from what I've read, anyway - don't own a Rivian yet, but want to!).

 

[MrFixit1094]

With the five total towing drives I did this year, the trip planner would adjust after about five or so minutes on the freeway, if not sooner. Yeah, it doesn't know from the start that you are towing (which is weird, as putting it into tow mode should at least do something in regards to trip planning) but in my uses it does do something.

When you say that it adjusts, what do you mean?

I had assumed after a while (more than a few minutes), it would realize that you aren't going to make it to the first supercharger on your route.

Are you saying that much earlier, it 'sees' the extra load and re-plans your entire route forward (adding and/or removing superchargers) so that you will be fine throughout the entire route? It assumes (without confirmation) that this extra load will exist throughout the rest of your trip and adjusts the entire plan? Like you say, it would be nice to do something in advance, but this is not as bad as I was thinking...

Although I have a utility trailer, my specific reason for the question is that I am planning a ~1000 mile trip with a load of people and a hitch-mounted cargo carrier rack. I have seen some YouTube videos where someone tested this (compared to a roof rack) and the efficiency penalty was about 20% for a roof rack and 10% for a cargo carrier. If your experience applies, then maybe it will recognize this extra 10% and re-plan accordingly.

 

[VandalSibs]

When you say that it adjusts, what do you mean?

I had assumed after a while (more than a few minutes), it would realize that you aren't going to make it to the first supercharger on your route.

Are you saying that much earlier, it 'sees' the extra load and re-plans your entire route forward (adding and/or removing superchargers) so that you will be fine throughout the entire route? It assumes (without confirmation) that this extra load will exist throughout the rest of your trip and adjusts the entire plan? Like you say, it would be nice to do something in advance, but this is not as bad as I was thinking...

Although I have a utility trailer, my specific reason for the question is that I am planning a ~1000 mile trip with a load of people and a hitch-mounted cargo carrier rack. I have seen some YouTube videos where someone tested this (compared to a roof rack) and the efficiency penalty was about 20% for a roof rack and 10% for a cargo carrier. If your experience applies, then maybe it will recognize this extra 10% and re-plan accordingly.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I mean - after a little bit of driving, it re-calculates route and charging stops because it notices that the power usage is way off of expected.

Currently I tow a 2,800ish lbs, 16-foot camping trailer. When I pull with that, I'm getting anywhere between 500-750 wi/mi, as opposed to the normal 250-300 at freeway speeds. So, it sees that discrepancy & re-routes if needed (which isn't usually needed, Eastern Washington has a decent number or superchargers along I-90...).

 

[TesLEEZ]

Yeah, that's pretty much what I mean - after a little bit of driving, it re-calculates route and charging stops because it notices that the power usage is way off of expected.

Currently I tow a 2,800ish lbs, 16-foot camping trailer. When I pull with that, I'm getting anywhere between 500-750 wi/mi, as opposed to the normal 250-300 at freeway speeds. So, it sees that discrepancy & re-routes if needed (which isn't usually needed, Eastern Washington has a decent number or superchargers along I-90...).

Would be nice to save trailer profile. In the driver profiles, you could save another with a certain trailer, and it would remember the usage data for that trailer.

 

[VandalSibs]

Would be nice to save trailer profile. In the driver profiles, you could save another with a certain trailer, and it would remember the usage data for that trailer.

Indeed, and I think the latest "towing" update for Rivian trucks & SUVs do just this.... minus the driving profile bit. You can have different trailer profiles.

Again, I don't have a Rivian, but would really like to...

 

[Misterbee]

As a new owner, I am disappointed that the excellent Tesla trip planning seems to have no option to configure it for a known, expected load increase. It seems to assume a nominal efficiency (~243 W / mi.). You know your trailer (or other excessive load like a rooftop carrier, hitch mounted cargo carrier, or even a full load of passengers and luggage) impacts efficiency. AND you will likely have a pretty good idea as to how much.

If experience shows that trailering results in an efficiency of maybe 500 W / mi., the trip planner will be effectively rendered useless. It would seem to be trivial for the Tesla planner to let you override the nominal efficiency with an expected one and it could once again yield excellent results for your actual scenario when planning supercharger stops, etc.

Do those of us with trailers just have to abandon the Tesla trip planner and plan manually, or is there some work-around to get it to understand a little more about your actual configuration? I am aware of ABRP and I know it does have features like this, but I find a non-integrated solution to be awkward and would much prefer it if Tesla provided a little more flexibility to take better advantage of an already good tool.

In 2019, I took a 9000 mile road trip, towing a teardrop trailer. The only trip planner I could find that could adjust for towing was EV Trip Optimizer, which has a slider called “power factor” that allows you to adjust for the extra load of a trailer. I knew that the baseline for 65mph in my model 3 was 240Kwh per mile. so I towed the the trailer at that speed and found that I was using about 400KWh per mile. With a little experimentation, I was able to reliably predict my range for each segment of the trip.

Sadly, EVTO has been surpassed by other options, and will cease operations in July 2024. I now use A Better Route Planner, which has a “Reference consumption” setting, that allows me to enter the 400Kwh per mile setting. Works well for me, your mileage may quite literally vary.

 

[ecarfan]

Sadly, EVTO has been surpassed by other options, and will cease operations in July 2024.

Sorry to hear that. I’ve used EVTO for years, but not so much recently because the onboard Tesla nav software has become better at adjusting for the extra energy consumption when towing. Still, if a planned route has a lot of elevation changes EVTO is very good.

What “other options” are there?

 

[DayTrippin]

In 2019, I took a 9000 mile road trip, towing a teardrop trailer. The only trip planner I could find that could adjust for towing was EV Trip Optimizer, which has a slider called “power factor” that allows you to adjust for the extra load of a trailer. I knew that the baseline for 65mph in my model 3 was 240Kwh per mile. so I towed the the trailer at that speed and found that I was using about 400KWh per mile. With a little experimentation, I was able to reliably predict my range for each segment of the trip.

Sadly, EVTO has been surpassed by other options, and will cease operations in July 2024. I now use A Better Route Planner, which has a “Reference consumption” setting, that allows me to enter the 400Kwh per mile setting. Works well for me, your mileage may quite literally vary.

In the paid-for version of ABRP, you can set up different profiles (unless they removed it). I did different ones for my 2 large jetskis, my single motorcycle trailer and tandem motorcycle trailer. Another option is to add extra weight under vehicle.

 

[ecarfan]

What “other options” are there?

Sorry, I should pay more attention: I see that people are using ABRP.

 

[MrFixit1094]

In the paid-for version of ABRP, you can set up different profiles (unless they removed it). I did different ones for my 2 large jetskis, my single motorcycle trailer and tandem motorcycle trailer. Another option is to add extra weight under vehicle.

I think the fact that ABRP allows you to override the efficiency (wh/mi) is the best approach once you learn how a given setup actually performs. And, I assume you can have this in your multiple profiles if desired. Vehicle weight may also have some utility but I think that has a secondary impact compared to the aerodynamic impact of towing.

For those who use ABRP - Do you use it just for an initial plan, or do you use it in a 'live' mode where it is navigating and tracking your route? In the live mode, it is supposed to be able to monitor your actual SOC (but you have to give it your Tesla credentials so it can access the vehicle via the API). This is undesirable enough for me to not want to operate that way, but may allow it to behave more like the Tesla nav system. Dynamically being aware of charge status, being able to recognize the need and alter supercharger stops as required, being aware of supercharger status (occupied stalls or dead stalls) is why the Tesla navigation is superior in many ways.

As others have suggested earlier, if Tesla navigation [fairly quickly] recognizes that your efficiency is quite low due to the trailer, and adapts the rest of the trip planning accordingly, then I am almost OK with that... It would just be nice to be able to inform the planner in advance so the initial plan is 'accurate' rather than waiting for it to react to the unexpected load.

Tesla has the perfect hook here with the 'Trailer Mode'. When Trailer mode is invoked, it could simply give you the option to enter a value to override the default efficiency. When Trailer Mode is exited, it could revert back to default.

 

[Misterbee]

Sorry to hear that. I’ve used EVTO for years, but not so much recently because the onboard Tesla nav software has become better at adjusting for the extra energy consumption when towing. Still, if a planned route has a lot of elevation changes EVTO is very good.

What “other options” are there?

Yeah, I am pretty sure you were the person who introduced me to EVTO. I will miss it.