US Cross Country Trailmanor Gas $ problem / solutions

[Kmikesell]

Originally Posted by Tymanthius

Everyone here says you only use an extra gallon per 100 miles.

If that's true, I don't see an electric vehicle losing 2/3 of its range pulling a TM. In my car losing a gallon per hundred makes me lose 4 gallons, or about 120 miles at top MPGs. That's a quater.

I think you might be comparing apples to .... Fish.

I'm in NO way an expert on electric vehicles, but I'm not sure towing with an all electric vehicle for a cross counrty trip is "do-able". BUT YMMV

Can you plug in anelectgric vehicle to a standard 20/30/50 amp service? Is there an adapter? And as waverly said, it would take many hours to do so... This may be off topic. So maybe it would be good to start a new thread?

Theorectical towing mussings with an electric truck!

[Larryjb]

Originally Posted by Kmikesell

I think you might be comparing apples to .... Fish.

I'm in NO way an expert on electric vehicles, but I'm not sure towing with an all electric vehicle for a cross counrty trip is "do-able". BUT YMMV

Can you plug in anelectgric vehicle to a standard 20/30/50 amp service? Is there an adapter? And as waverly said, it would take many hours to do so... This may be off topic. So maybe it would be good to start a new thread?

Theorectical towing mussings with an electric truck!

Experiment's been done! (with a Tesla)

This guy lives in North Vancouver, just outside Vancouver BC. His route took up up a major mountain pass that is similar to the Grapevine in CA. I was rather impressed, not with energy consumption so much, but with the ability to actually tow a Trailmanor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6LRnTSuNeA

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by Larryjb

Experiment's been done! (with a Tesla)

This guy lives in North Vancouver, just outside Vancouver BC. His route took up up a major mountain pass that is similar to the Grapevine in CA. I was rather impressed, not with energy consumption so much, but with the ability to actually tow a Trailmanor.

Notice that it's a TrailMini.

[Kmikesell]

Wow... Just wow. Again is't a very small trailer. But... Wow. Not my cup o tea.. But an interesting experiment.

[Tymanthius]

Originally Posted by Kmikesell

I think you might be comparing apples to .... Fish.

I'm in NO way an expert on electric vehicles, but I'm not sure towing with an all electric vehicle for a cross counrty trip is "do-able". BUT YMMV

Can you plug in anelectgric vehicle to a standard 20/30/50 amp service? Is there an adapter? And as waverly said, it would take many hours to do so... This may be off topic. So maybe it would be good to start a new thread?

Theorectical towing mussings with an electric truck!

Apples vs Fish: Not really Energy is energy. If it eats 1/4 of your power to tow something, it eats 1/4 of your power.

Now, where I may be wrong is that how much electricity is 1 gallon of fuel? I'll completely conceede that's a point.

Fast chargers (generally, not Tesla specific) are about 100A. So using 50A service from an RV park means roughly twice as long to charge. Not an issue for lots of places, could be an issue for places that only have 1 plug and you want to run an AC.

Going to go watch the posted video b/c I'm curious.

But yes, it's doable with only a bit more planning than usual, and will only get more so as time goes on.

[Wavery]

Now...... if we were talking about a REAL truck...... that might be a different story.

One could probably tow a 5th wheel 700-1,000 miles between charges with one of these bad boys.

https://www.tesla.com/semi

[ShrimpBurrito]

Originally Posted by Tymanthius

Apples vs Fish:
Fast chargers (generally, not Tesla specific) are about 100A. So using 50A service from an RV park means roughly twice as long to charge. Not an issue for lots of places, could be an issue for places that only have 1 plug and you want to run an AC.

Actually, that is not correct. 100A (or whatever) from a Tesla charger is NOT 2x as much power as the 50A service from an RV park. It's twice as much current, yes, but when talking about battery capacity, or the capability to do work (run your car), you need to compare watts.

Ohms law says power = current x voltage, and so a critical missing piece of info here is voltage. Voltage at all RV parks is 120 volts. Voltage at Tesla chargers is at least 240V, and may even be higher at fast chargers (480V?). So those chargers are able to deliver the same power 2x-4x faster than a charger that would run off 120V at an RV park if the current was the SAME at both places.

Dave

[Bill]

I saw this video a few years ago. It was a really nicely-done real-world experiment. I was impressed with the test, and with the guy's ability to tow a trailer at all. For me, it took a while to figure out the conclusions because of the need to convert kilometers to miles, liters to gallons, and Canadian dollars to US dollars. Sadly, a quick check suggests that the numbers were not impressive, at least by today's expectations. The total distance was 598 km (about 310 miles), which could be done in a single tank of gas and about 5 hours. Depending on speed (the test was run several times at different speeds), the drive took more than twice that long because of the need for multiple charging stops. Of course the difference would have widened with a heavier trailer. In my world, a 10-hour or 12-hour trip means an overnight stop, which adds to both time and cost.

As battery technology improves, the gap will narrow, of course. But for a long trip, it is not yet practical. There is no doubt in my mind that in a few years, electric vehicles will be usable in some camping situations. But they really aren't there yet. And cross-country trips will be tough for a while.

Incidentally, I have read - and have witnessed only once - that RV parks are beginning to put electric vehicles in sites with metered electricity. I understand the need to do so. After all, campgrounds don't give you free gas as part of your fee.

Bill

[Kmikesell]

Originally Posted by Bill

I saw this video a few years ago. It was a really nicely-done real-world experiment. I was impressed with the test, and with the guy's ability to tow a trailer at all. For me, it took a while to figure out the conclusions because of the need to convert kilometers to miles, liters to gallons, and Canadian dollars to US dollars. Sadly, a quick check suggests that the numbers were not impressive, at least by today's expectations. The total distance was 598 km (about 310 miles), which could be done in a single tank of gas and about 5 hours. Depending on speed (the test was run several times at different speeds), the drive took more than twice that long because of the need for multiple charging stops. Of course the difference would have widened with a heavier trailer. In my world, a 10-hour or 12-hour trip means an overnight stop, which adds to both time and cost.

As battery technology improves, the gap will narrow, of course. But for a long trip, it is not yet practical. There is no doubt in my mind that in a few years, electric vehicles will be usable in some camping situations. But they really aren't there yet. And cross-country trips will be tough for a while.

Incidentally, I have read - and have witnessed only once - that RV parks are beginning to put electric vehicles in sites with metered electricity. I understand the need to do so. After all, campgrounds don't give you free gas as part of your fee.

Bill

I drew similar conclutrions.. But was impressed that it was possible. I don't think we'll see it my lifetime, but a affordable cross country trip pulling a trailermay someday happen.

[Bill]

Even today, professional reviews (meaning Motor Trend, etc) of electric trucks such as Rivian conclude that towing a trailer will cut the truck's stated range more or less in half - depending on the weight of the trailer, of course. So if the stated range of a bare truck is 400 miles, you can expect the range with a trailer to be on the order of 200 miles. Beyond that, there is usually no mention of the fact in the world of electric trucks, as in the world of gas or diesel trucks, "stated range" means fully fueling the vehicle, then driving until you run out of fuel. Of course this is not practical in the real world. I usually begin looking for fuel when the gauge drops to 1/4 or so. So if the bare truck has a stated range of 400 miles, its useful range is 300 miles, more or less, especially if you are out on the highway where fueling stations may be far apart. And that makes the practical range of the electric truck with a trailer 150 miles or so.

This is a significant handicap in my mind. This will be a tough hurdle for the industry to overcome. Today, electric trucks have significant towing capacity - but not for very far.

Bill