When the guys of the TFLNow YouTube channel took a Tesla Model X to check its towing capacities, among others, we thought it was a really great move. And these guys proved us correct with their newest finding on EV towing. Yes, electric cars have a lot of torque, but towing depletes the battery charge much, much faster. And range anxiety gets back to say a big hello.
More EV Towing News:
What TFLNow did was to pull a work trailer with three horses. Something ordinary for anyone that really needs to tow anything. Preparation was not as easy as expected and, when they got moving, they got shocked at how fast they were losing range: three times faster than usual.
'After running around 30 miles with the trailer, they discovered the batteries had lost 30 percent of charge. Or 1 percent of charge per mile. And they would not have enough charge to get back.
After panic mode struck, they calmed down, lowered the speed, turned off the air-conditioning off – at 94ºF – and got back with 10 percent of charge left.
Some people got mad in comments with what happened, but they should be thankful. Especially because this showed a situation that may occur when someone really needs to tow anything larger with an electric pickup truck, for example. And what they did was just a test.
'There were many issues associated with the range anxiety. They could not stop at a Supercharger because there was none in the way. Charging, even at a fast pace, takes time. And you cannot stop with a trailer to charge because there is not enough room for that.
Even with bigger battery packs, electric pickup trucks are not favored by aerodynamics, which will imply similar or even lower ranges to cars that have better aerodynamics but a smaller battery pack.
How will Rivian, Tesla and Bollinger address that? With even larger battery packs? Trailers that have battery packs themselves, to help with the extra effort they pose? Canadian farmers now have a strong reason to laugh at electric work vehicles. At least while no solution appears.