Towing with Tesla Model X

[adrianp89]

umm i missed this.

I'm incredibly intrigued.

Jeep will have it's first EV Wrangler in 2023, unsure if it will be this or not but there is hope for you stick shift guys.

 

[Peelz]

Jeep will have it's first EV Wrangler in 2023, unsure if it will be this or not but there is hope for you stick shift guys.

I have some friends I took on a ride in the Y. They have since told me theyre looking into the hybrid jeep 4xe. Thats a start!! Get 20 miles from a charge-good as they both only work in town they live in. But you can still do the normal jeep stuff on the weekend. top down cruising, off roading...

I say good for them. no manual though lol

 

[adrianp89]

I have some friends I took on a ride in the Y. They have since told me theyre looking into the hybrid jeep 4xe. Thats a start!! Get 20 miles from a charge-good as they both only work in town they live in. But you can still do the normal jeep stuff on the weekend. top down cruising, off roading...

I say good for them. no manual though lol

With work from a home a thing now, 20 miles probably more than a enough for 90% of commutes. I'd worry about the gas going bad lol.

 

[robert843]

So when I first started this thread it was about towing with a model X so I will kind of take it back to that path a little.

One of the big questions everybody asks is how bad is it to road trip with a Tesla and as we can see over the last couple pages some pretty impressive numbers actually have been thrown out but that’s because they’re mostly being tossed out using teslas most efficient and fastest charging car unfortunately the model X is teslas least efficient and slowest charging car.

i’m currently in the car right now on the way to Wytheville Virginia when I was leaving Myrtle Beach I screen shorted my maps on my phone and it says the most efficient route should’ve took me four hours and 35 minutes the Tesla route planner is telling me it’s going to take six hours and 11 minutes. That’s right what should’ve been a 4 1/2 hour trip is being extended by an hour and a half in a Tesla model X I will keep you guys posted hopefully I arrive before the planner says but I highly doubt it.

oh also just a slight mention as well the car has already beeped at me twice for not having my hand on the wheel once while I was typing this message LOL one more time I get locked out of the auto drive feature unless I pull over and turn the car off.

 

[Peelz]

That time sounds about what Id expect...

And, I was thinking earlier I was part of the thread drift lol sorry guys.

The cars are fantastic, I think Ive made my point. but, If you're towing...and you have to go far. It isnt the best solution due to range loss and charge hassles.. Though it can be done if needed, and be done cheaper.

For us, it works for the weekend tow to the river. No probs. I dont see us towing the boat with the tesla on our annual ozarks trip. at least as the system is right now.

 

[robert843]

Yeah I agree there’s no way I would want to tow for distance with this thing it would likely double your trip time at least based on the wh/mi used the couple times I’ve towed.

We do love the car and will likely always own an EV of some kind but we’re still a ways away from it being the only thing my crew owns.

 

[robert843]

This is cruising down a flat highway at 75.

 

[robert843]

First supercharger this actually is pretty good for this car but once it hits about 50% it will be down to 75kw.

 

[BlkGS]

That time sounds about what Id expect...

And, I was thinking earlier I was part of the thread drift lol sorry guys.

The cars are fantastic, I think Ive made my point. but, If you're towing...and you have to go far. It isnt the best solution due to range loss and charge hassles.. Though it can be done if needed, and be done cheaper.

For us, it works for the weekend tow to the river. No probs. I dont see us towing the boat with the tesla on our annual ozarks trip. at least as the system is right now.

And those situations are exactly where a small diesel generator that recharges the battery when needed (likely to keep it at whatever happy place it has where the battery is most efficient) makes total sense.

Something a roughly 30kWh battery pack (assuming this would be a big suv) that got you 100 miles of charge, and a small 1L or so diesel generator with a 10 to 15 Gallon fuel tank would weigh less, have the electric motor advantage, and work for just about everyone.

I was looking at the Volvo xc90 PHEV, and outside of it being implemented really poorly, it allows this. You end up getting 29mpg, which is pretty pathetic, but they're also using a 300hp turbod and supercharged engine to do it because for some reason the automakers insist on trying to make all EVs accelerate faster than necessary. I don't need an xc90 that'd does 0 to 60 under 5 seconds. 8 or 9 seconds would be fine if it got 40mpg, hell probably even slower would be fine.

Another thing I don't get is why automakers aren't taking advantage of the linear power band of EVs to gear for a reasonable max speed. Nobody cares is their EV can hit 120 mpg, so why not just give it 85 mpg and cap it there, you can size you motors and everything for that reduced need and boost efficiency. I get in a sports car it mattering, but in a big suv or sedan it's dumb, and electric motor tech makes it really easy to optimize for that.

 

[thefortunes]

This is cruising down a flat highway at 75.

View attachment 159327

Good info, but it would help if your tires were inflated

Many other factors matter too, but thought I'd throw a little shade at you.

Safe travels.

 

[robert843]

Good info, but it would help if your tires were inflated

Many other factors matter too, but thought I'd throw a little shade at you.

Safe travels.

lol the tires are all at 38 does it count if they are even. It took longer then forecasted just got to the hotel a few minutes ago. I showed up to the second supercharger and the car said supercharging was disabled.

We never take this car on trips so it’s been probably been a year since the last trip we used a supercharger. Apparently the credit card that was linked to the Tesla account has been replaced with a new number and so when it tried to charge the first super chargers bill the card declined disabling super charging. I fixed it on the account but took a 20 minute call with Tesla to get it turned back on so I could charge right then. Not their fault but another pesky quirk but lesson learned to make sure the card linked to the account is still active before traveling.

 

[buckbuck]

I just reserved my F150 Lightning. It is number 11,135,636. I guess that means it may be awhile before I get one.

 

[Peelz]

Very interesting here.

The "EV's are just as dirty as ICE" isn't a valid argument already, because its false... but this seems like were going in the right direction even further. I hope it comes out close to what their claim for the patent is.

For comparison, gasoline is 0% recyclable.

Tesla claims 92% battery cell material recovery in new recycling process

Tesla released more details about its effort to deploy large-scale battery recycling, and it claims that it can recover about 92% of battery cell materials with its recycling process. When it comes to emissions throughout the entire lifecycle, electric vehicles have two main advantages over...

electrek.co

 

[Peelz]

I just reserved my F150 Lightning. It is number 11,135,636. I guess that means it may be awhile before I get one.

wow.

I read that wrong the first time. I thought it was 1 mil. Did the reservation cost anything?

 

[BlkGS]

Very interesting here.

The "EV's are just as dirty as ICE" isn't a valid argument already, because its false... but this seems like were going in the right direction even further. I hope it comes out close to what their claim for the patent is.

For comparison, gasoline is 0% recyclable.

Tesla claims 92% battery cell material recovery in new recycling process

Tesla released more details about its effort to deploy large-scale battery recycling, and it claims that it can recover about 92% of battery cell materials with its recycling process. When it comes to emissions throughout the entire lifecycle, electric vehicles have two main advantages over...

electrek.co

Well that's just verifiably false.

Gasoline gets recycled literally on its own by trees and other plant life. They take in the co2 and break it down into o2, and use the carbon to sustainn themselves. Most of the other byproducts plants also break down, or they separate into harmless things on their own fairly quickly.

Truth be told, if we weren't insistent on razing as much vegetation as we can for food production, housing, solar panels, etc... We really wouldn't have to worry about co2 levels as much. But when your population growth is growing as our world's is, and we insist on trying to industrialized the whole world, we insist on e surfing population growth isn't checked in place, especially in the polluting 3rd world... It's kinda a combo effect.

 

[2kwik4u]

I just reserved my F150 Lightning. It is number 11,135,636. I guess that means it may be awhile before I get one.

Wait, number 11million? Surely that can't be right?

They haven't sold a single million in a year, much less 11 million in one year. Guess you're in line for a 2033 model!?!??!

<--F150 sales by year from google. I had to go look.

 

[BlkGS]

Wait, number 11million? Surely that can't be right?

They haven't sold a single million in a year, much less 11 million in one year. Guess you're in line for a 2033 model!?!??!

View attachment 159665 <--F150 sales by year from google. I had to go look.

I assumed it was a joke, lol.

 

[2kwik4u]

I was thinking about this last weekend trip. I MIGHT have been able to make it with an EV. Maybe.

Left the house on Thursday morning and drove to work and home (-60mi range) unloaded. Spent an hour there getting the boat out, hooked up and loaded up. Then towed to the lake (-90mi range - actually 45mi drive, but working on a double consumption while towing). Once there we stayed overnight at a friends camper. I would have had access to 110V to recharge for ~8hrs or so (+24mi range). We towed to the ramp and back (-10mi range - 2x 5mi). Then stayed the night in the cabin for ~16hrs with 110V access (+64mi range). Another trip to/from the ramp (-10mi range) then another ~16hrs at the cabin (+64mi range). Then a drive home towing (-90mi range).

I'll make a few assumptions.
2021 Audi Etron has 222mi of range to start, and with 4k towing can handle my AR190 (3,130lbs)
Towing takes 2x range (if it's 45mi travel distance, then I'll subtract 90mi of range). I think this is conservative, and could very likely do better.
110V charging gets me 4mi of ranger per hour. Quick google shows this is close to accurate. Would need to test at home to verify.
No access to anything other charging while on this trip.

Leave home - 222mi
Arrive work - 192mi
Charge 110V@8hrs - 216mi
Arrive home - 186mi
Arrive Camp - 96mi
Charge 110V@8hrs - 120mi
Ramp and back - 110mi
Charge 110V@16hrs - 174mi
Ramp and back - 164mi
Charge 110V@16hrs - 222mi (it's full again at this point. Otherwise would have been 228mi range)
Drive home - 138mi

The couple of nights of not really driving anywhere made it happen. If I had just gone up and back I would be dangerously close to being out of energy to get home. Even just the 8hrs of overnight gets me back to an acceptable level of "range cushion". We're often on the lake for 8+hrs on a weekend day. Sure would be nice to have a charging station at the ramp, however I'm sure some jackleg in a diesel pickup would get a kick out of blocking it on a regular basis.

Model X has 340mi range to start, but I'm not a fan of Tesla (for a myriad of reasons beyond just the vehicles), so I'm using the Etron as the example here. Clearly that just adds to the cushion, and honestly might make it possible to do the day trip there and back without issue. I might have to do this again with some actual estimated usage numbers and see where I land. I think I'm closer to making it happen than I think I am.

Boss's wife has a Model X. Wonder if I can trade her for the Q7 for a weekend to give it a try?!?!?!

 

[2kwik4u]

Not sure how we missed this article along the way. Some good data in here about consumption while towing.

Tesla Model X beats Mercedes-Benz EQC and Audi e-tron in camper trailer towing test

The Norwegian EV association put a Tesla Model X, a Mercedes-Benz EQC and a Audi e-tron through an interesting towing test with identical camper trailers. Here are the results… Many people still think that you can’t tow a trailer with an electric car, but the Model X became the first one with...

electrek.co

 

[Peelz]

Well that's just verifiably false.

Gasoline gets recycled literally on its own by trees and other plant life. They take in the co2 and break it down into o2, and use the carbon to sustain themselves. Most of the other byproducts plants also break down, or they separate into harmless things on their own fairly quickly.

Truth be told, if we weren't insistent on razing as much vegetation as we can for food production, housing, solar panels, etc... We really wouldn't have to worry about co2 levels as much. But when your population growth is growing as our world's is, and we insist on trying to industrialized the whole world, we insist on e surfing population growth isn't checked in place, especially in the polluting 3rd world... It's kinda a combo effect.

hmmmmm.... Over millions of years maybe it gets "recycled"

Oil Does NOT recycle itself in a useable way though-Once its gone, its gone, as far as human consumption goes. It certainly isn't re-developing itself as quickly as we are using it. The amount of time and material it took to make that fuel-it just isnt possible... and the plants dont recycle it into 02 as quickly either.

here is an interesting but old article about a study on that. I came across this researching whether or not electric cars were better in this regard.

The estimate is We are using this Oil 400 times faster than it took natural processes to create it. Probably much more since this study was done.

Bad Mileage: 98 tons of plants per gallon

A staggering 98 tons of prehistoric, buried plant material – that's 196,000 pounds – is required to produce each gallon of gasoline we burn in our cars, SUVs, trucks and other vehicles, according to a study conducted at the University of Utah.

www.eurekalert.org

I included my two favorite quotes

"98 tons of prehistoric, buried plant material – that's 196,000 pounds – is required to produce each gallon of gasoline we burn in our cars, SUVs, trucks and other vehicles, according to a study conducted at the University of Utah"

the amount of fossil fuel burned in a single year – 1997 was used in the study – totals 97 million billion pounds of carbon, which is equivalent to more than 400 times "all the plant matter that grows in the world in a year,"


Also, i read somewhere, A gallon of gas right now takes 5kw/h just to produce it. That same 5 kw takes me prob. 15 miles. and more often than not, that kw/h is generated by wind.