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Originally Posted by twinkee75
There is a great video on Youtube by Can-Am where they put an Airstream on a Tesla using a weight distribution hitch. This Tesla is smaller than mine too. Pretty cool stuff. Check it out.
https://youtu.be/JrgCNR6HvRI |
This is one of the best WDH setup videos I have seen. Andy Thompson of Can-Am RV, an Airstream dealership, shows a great deal of understandable detail on proper setup of a weight-distributing hitch. He uses a 2019 Airstream Tommy Bahama 19’ trailer for the demo, hitching it to a Tesla. I don’t know much about Teslas, so I didn’t recognize the model. When it was done, I was left with one question. That trailer has a dry weight of 6400 pounds, including battery and propane. Once you add all your camping stuff (food, water, clothes, tools, furniture, bedding, chairs, etc etc,) it will exceed easily 7000 pounds. Is that Tesla rated to tow anywhere near 7000 pounds? I can’t find a Tesla rated for anywhere near that. Maybe the video is just using the Tesla because, as Andy says toward the end, it shows well on the camera.
But then the same guy has done another Tesla-and-Airstream video here
https://www.rvlifemag.com/long-dista...-an-airstream/.
In this case he is towing a 27’ Airstream with a 2021 Model S Long Range Tesla. He doesn’t name the Airstream model, but it is quite likely a Flying Cloud. That trailer is actually a bit lighter than the Tommy Bahama, with dry weight coming in at about 5900 pounds. Again when you add your stuff, it will weigh at least 6500 pounds. The info I find says that this Tesla has a tow rating of 1600 kg (about 3500 pounds).
This video spends a lot of time talking about power, acceleration, hill-climbing, range, charge time, distance between chargers, and all the other things that occupy most discussions of EVs. It says exactly nothing about weight of the trailer or towing capacity of the vehicle. So what is going on? Is there something about Teslas that I don’t know? Does tow rating mean something different for EVs than it does for a gas/diesel vehicle? Will this seemingly-excess weight damage the Tesla after while? Are these towing setups even safe?
I’m confused. But I'm pretty sure that if someone on this forum put a 10,000-pound trailer behind one of the 5000-pound-rated vehicles that many of our members use, there would be an outcry.
Bill