“The Truth About Electric Towing” - Video

[E365]

A bunch of good EV towing tests from the “Aging Wheels” YouTube channel.

Some interesting things. He made this flat-front trailer with terrible aero. That trailer with and without a Polestar on it was almost the exact same efficiency on the freeway. Weight almost doesn’t matter when it comes to freeway towing - it’s about aerodynamics.

They freeway towed the same trailer with a Silverado EV and Rivian. The Silverado EV ended up being slightly more efficient.

 

[johnmyster]

Weight almost doesn’t matter when it comes to towing [on practically flat interstate] - it’s about aerodynamics.

Duh.

 

[E365]

Duh.

Duh

The whole point here is to demonstrate actual tests.

 

[Jetronic]

Duh.

It doesn't matter if you end up at the same height.

I run (sometimes) an electric bus in city traffic, with very little flat roads. Stops are a quarter mile apart and I can do 1mile/kWh, weather permitting. Heating or cooling the bus can cost as much as driving it.

 

[johnmyster]

It doesn't matter if you end up at the same height.

I run (sometimes) an electric bus in city traffic, with very little flat roads. Stops are a quarter mile apart and I can do 1mile/kWh, weather permitting. Heating or cooling the bus can cost as much as driving it.

If the vehicle is equally efficient at all points on the power band, then in theory, sure. I know for ICE towing this is very much not the case, where even for our turbodiesel that has the torque to maintain a gear at steady speed, BSFC takes a dump at each end of the power band.

 

[Jetronic]

If the vehicle is equally efficient at all points on the power band, then in theory, sure. I know for ICE towing this is very much not the case, where even for our turbodiesel that has the torque to maintain a gear at steady speed, BSFC takes a dump at each end of the power band.

Yes bsfc is best around max torque for ice vehicles. But for gas engines we get throttle losses aswell, which reduce with larger throttle openings, so I'd say best bsfc slightly above max torque rpm, and for diesel at or slightly below.

 

[Chris142]

Maybe someone will do a real test..say from las Vegas to Los Angeles on the 15 up mountain pass?

 

[cptbarkey]

Have yet to see any truth in towing with an EV when gas is cheaper than milk.

 

[E365]

Maybe someone will do a real test..say from las Vegas to Los Angeles on the 15 up mountain pass?

There’s this one. They basically all got the same efficiency, but the Silverado EV w/Max Range pack charged once or twice vs. 4 or 5 times on all the other trucks (I don’t remember the exact details) .

 

[oil pan 4]

My empty flat bed utility trailer reduces my range by around 20% on my Nissan leaf.

 

[jghall00]

Have yet to see any truth in towing with an EV when gas is cheaper than milk.

It's because there isn't much savings when using public chargers. EV towing has very specific use cases. Towing frequently around town, like a trade, where you recharge to full at home or at a business. Or for personal use where you tow a boat or trailer to a local lake or campground. For anyone towing a trailer long distance frequently, it's not really suitable because there aren't enough pull through chargers and public charging costs will chew through any savings from going electric. Here's an EV calculator you can play with.

https://chooseev.com/savings-calculator/

My numbers look like this:
Ford Expedition EL - 9 mpg towing, $3.00 premium (Costco FTW)
Silverado EV (hypothetical ) 1 mile / kWh towing, .40 cents kWh public charging

The public kWh rate is like 3x - 5x the residential rate. So for local driving, the savings are substantial over ICE. For most people, towing makes a comparatively small portion of their overall mileage. more than enough to offset any additional costs from occasional public charger use.

 

[LavaRand]

It sounds like having an EV is like having a gas car, where all the gas stations are the price of California high-octane. But you have a gas pump in your garage that sells as much gas as you want at 1990s Texas prices.

 

[PandaBear]

They can be as efficient as they want but the main concern is recharge time and distance.

You can have a 100% efficient towing and still be worthless if you are stuck with a boat mid mountain going up, people will be scared of it and likely take way too many charging stop or take another truck instead, or overbuy a battery capacity or trade in a truck when it is good enough for daily use still. For most people they will never be able to utilize this.

Now for known duty like delivery in city or within a large campus in loops, it is perfect. For inner city bus it is also perfect due to stop and go, idle time, and the typical 10 miles per hour of distance driven. EV bus is also perfect for these routes.