Towing with an EV - trip report
Comments
-
Why ask for a towing course? did you have any when you first towed? I didn't but I think one learns quickly enough.
Also, do you leave your car there and come home some other way?, or do you go home with it and then return? Either way not good for the planet and as you said once you can't ignore the effect on GW just for a holiday?
2 -
You may not have done a course, but did you learn to tow using someone else’s car and caravan?
Seems to me that asking someone to have some experience of towing before lending them your pride and joy is perfectly reasonable.
When I started towing I did one of the towing taster sessions at the NEC caravan show just to get the basics. Then my FIL was kind enough to let me tow his caravan for a couple of miles using my car and insurance, with him as shotgun before I had to pick up our first ‘van, and he came with us to collect it and helped with lessons on the way home.
0 -
Did not do any training beforehand with a caravan, but I did learn to drive in the army, using small lorries and various other vehicles, and was afterwards towing various trailers, so had a modicum of experience.
Started towing here in 1970 using our own car and FIL's small 2 berth caravan, plus his business trailer, then graduated to our own slightly larger 4 berth van, which we towed in UK, and to Sweden and Norway in 1977, adding Finland in 1980, and again in 1981, so did not leap straight in using an 8m twin axle! Not sure if towing courses even existed back then.
For the next 10 years, from 1984, we had only smaller trailers, then our next van was a 1998 Eccles Emerald, 4 berth, which we had for 10 years, then bought our present van in 2008.
So I have "worked my way up" in size, and having done many miles of driving in my job....20-30k miles annually for 25 years.....was well used to increasing traffic volumes.
DD and SIL on the other hand both only drive smaller cars, mainly in and around town, and have absolutely no towing experience........going on a towing course is something THEY also want to do, to gain confidence.
Meantime, yes, I have to take the van for them, and return for it later, so the distance their destination can be from home is pretty limited. Their last trip was from Glasgow to North Berwick. We also try to make the journeys part of the holiday as far as possible, by finding interesting places to stop for picnic lunches on the way home.
1 -
If you have a ‘van that has lots of available payload then using some of it for the header tank (and some in the holding tank) seems like a perfectly sensible use. And we used to do exactly that on two previous vans (Bailey Pageant S7 Bretagne and Pegasus S3 Ancona). However, with the Vigo, we had two issues. 1) before the 1st trip out, I took the van to our local weigh bridge with our regular “kit out” excluding clothes and fridge items, and discovered that we were already pretty much at the MTPLM of the van. That made us totally re-weigh all our items from scratch and be far more selective over what we take with us. We also added the max weight upgrade during that exercise .
2) we used to tow with our (empty) bagged aqua rolls in the shower for storage. The shower in the Vigo is at the extreme rear kerbside. On the 1st trip we discovered there was more bounce in the van than we were used to, so we moved the aqua rolls to the centre, and some other gear from then front to then centre to maintain nose weight. The bounce disappears.
Net net - using public loos on route is for us a useful trade off for weight to be used elsewhere, and we don’t have a loading problem specifically because we keep weight to the centre. Not despite adding 5+ kg to the rear.0 -
... but did you learn to tow using someone else’s car and caravan?
No. I drove to Barrons in Chorley with my newly fitted towbar, hitched up & drove home, 'practicing' on the way. Admittedly it was a small caravan, but I'd towed large trailers on a farm as a lad with a tractor & reversed them too.
2 -
I was reading today that Mercedes have run a prototype for 600 miles, Lands End to Inverness IIRC, on a single charge. Whilst only a prototype and production vehicles might most probably be less, even a range of say 400 miles would be a significant development for an E vehicle. About 250 miles seems to be the going rate atm.
1 -
Your point about fuel pumps is of course correct but you then forget the point that the majority of EV owners have home chargers and that 90% of their charging is done at home. I don't believe that most fossil fuel cars have a fuel source at home. So that needs to be factored into the calculations.
However the building of the charging network needs to keep pace with the increase in EVs which it's certainly not doing at the moment.
Recently on a trip back from London to Ross On Wye (not towing) we pulled into two service areas where all the chargers were already in use
0 -
So I've gone for it.. the all electric family. We already have a Zoe and have had it for 18 months so used to the EV world. Planning routes on long journeys via ZapMap is second nature. We don't think about it much anymore. But, up until now we've also got a diesel Kodiaq for towing our VIP 520 (1500KG) and long two person journeys.
In a weeks time the Kodiaq will be gone and we'll have a tow car that can tow 2500Kg with a WLTP range of 380 miles. 4 wheel drive of course. so that means that towing range will be 'ballpark' 150 miles, maybe more. We already have a 22Kw 3 phase charger at home and the Zoe of course can pull the full 32A per phase. Annoyingly the BMW will only pull 16A per phase but still pretty good to charge overnight.
DC charging at services it can pull 195Kw when the chargers have that capability.
We'll see how it goes. We will also tow in France but have a 2nd small van there already weighing only 1100Kg but we'll not be towing between the UK and France, only solo.
1 -
Is that the iX ? Will be very interested to hear how you get on!
0 -
Please excuse my grammar I suffered a brain injury a few years ago.
The increase in energy cost how will affect EV vehicles,
Our previous vehicle 2017 Ford Kuga 2 litre diesel 150 Powershift realistically averaged 40 mpg, 8,000 miles per year @ £6.50 gallon = £1,300
An efficient Hyundia Kona EV 8,000 miles realistic 3.5 kWh mile per kWh @ £0.40 kW =£914, @ £0.50 kW = £1.143
Unfortunately not all EV are as efficient as the Kona for example Nissan leaf and assuming you achieving 3.5 kWh ?
0 -
Shockingly I’m still not a fan of taxation & I’ve never met an enthusiast yet🤔😊
0 -
Does anyone know the effects of towing on battery life? I assume that if you tow regularly you get through the charge cycles more rapidly?. I read that batteries capacity can degrade by 10-25% over 100,000 miles, Will this be accelerated by towing?
Questions that prospective purchasers of used EV's probably need to know the answers to.
I note that most EV warranties cover battery failure but not % loss of range.
0 -
Oscarmax - those numbers look good if you are only comparing public charging. With home charging, it can still be 7.5p/kWh = £171
0 -
We are quite fortunate we have a 7kW Podpoint, Octopus Energy Go tariff 5p off peak and 13.92 normal until March 2023, We have a 2020 Outlander PHEV and later in March 4.4kWh solar system, however, all these tariffs I believe are closed to new users or coming to an end for existing customers.
0 -
I am on Go! too (currently 5p until April 2nd). After April the low price rate is going up to 7.5p. The Go tariff is still available for new EV drivers, but the day rate is high. (27p to 30p / kWh).
0 -
Cuba & UK are worlds apart. We have choice Cuba does not, their life is make do & mend. Cuba is 176th in World economies, UK is 6th? There is just no comparison, to attempt to make one is unfair on Cuba. Cubans have their lives thrust upon them we have choice.
0 -
I thought it was aimed at providing people with the info they're interested in, ie range, rather than displaying any anxiety.🤷♂️
0 -
A company called Quantumscape are perfecting a new solid-state battery that will change the whole industry going forward. What’s even better are a further 3 companies are chasing them with their own types of chemistry, lithium is being tamed so they say👍🏻
0 -
Really no range anxiety at all. I was not worried at any point I would run out or get stuck. I was absolutely looking at the economy to see how long it might be until I had to charge again, and so which of the multiple charging locations I had pre-identified I might use. Certainly on the return journey heading from Keswick up to Penrith and Shap, I was fascinated to see how much energy was being used towing up hill in the rain.
but I made it to my planned location just fine and was absolutely confident I would be able to once am made it onto the motorway.I would say my experience was no different to towing with any new car / caravan combination.
0 -
Just came across this Carnow video which tests an electric car in various forms of loading, attachments to the roof (ski rack, bike, roof box) and towing a caravan. The idea being to test the range under each of the conditions. The caravan bit is about three quarters of the way through if you want to skip to that.
David
0 -
The EV tariffs are interesting and some have good rates. We're fixed on a dual fuel tarriff with British Gas till 2023 so don't enjoy cheaper overnight rates, we charge in the day time, very rarely a full charge and probably three times a week. I think this is the average for the type of mileage we do. If we switched now to find a cheaper electricity rate our gas costs would leap from 3.65 per kwh to a whopping 40.54!
It's certainly worth considering the rates available even though fuel prices are set to rise.
0 -
The EV tariff for this lucky enough to be able to charge at their properties are fine so far. But those of us mullions who do not , and will not for many years to come that facility pay on top of the commercial rates at charging points pay 20%vat
0
