Oct 2, 2022·edited Oct 2, 2022Liked by Andrew Ditton
I tow my caravan with a Tesla Model X. Have taken it to Cornwall, Scotland and Norfolk from Oxfordshire with no stress.
The Tesla supercharging network makes all the difference. It’s reliable and generally well sited. I plan to tow my caravan with the MX down to Spain next year.
The range of my car when towing is equal to the capacity of my bladder, so no issue there.
Only real downside is as Andrew says, the need to unhitch most of the time when one is charging, however it’s a small price to pay for the lower cost per mile, and the sublime towing/driving experience. In particular the torque of an EV is phenomenal and suits towing perfectly
Welcome aboard Steve! Interesting to hear about how the Supercharger Network improves the experience. I think Ionity was meant to be an equivalent for other brands but it's nowhere near as widespread or reliable. Looking forward to hearing how you get on.
Well the Tesla Supercharger network just.... works. Can't put it any simpler than that. Of course owning a Tesla also means I just plug in. No faf with payment.
The integration with the car's navigation is also important. I can see instantly how many stalls are available at my intended stop, and its extremely rare for a whole site to be off line, indeed quite rare for a single stall to be faulty.
Another point for discussion: I find my range increases dramatically if I cruise at 50mph compared to 60mph. Of course there is a significant reduction in wind resistance to explain this, However it can make the difference between needing a stop or getting home/ to my destination without stopping
Andrews videos convinced me to commit to full electric and now we tow our 1600kg Coachman Amara with a Tesla model Y. I echo everything Andrew says about range (half of what you usually get) costs (much cheaper to run if you have home charging) and have found that charging on the tow every 100 miles is the perfect distance to stop with a family of a 5 and 7 year old who usually want a leg stretch anyway.
We're excited to explore further afield with an EV tow car and will be tuning into Andrew's videos and tapping into his experience all the way!
Great stuff Andrew! As a kid upon whom many hours were inflicted in the car without a break, I vouch for the importance of breaks on a long journey. Looking forward to hearing how you get on.
https://www.lightshiprv.com/ the three key concepts here being: 1) a van that follows you so maintaining full range, 2) two modes (towing and camping) and 3) gas and generator free off grid capabilities are going to be interesting to see developed by other manufacturers over the next few years.
Very interesting! But it's huge. It's certainly innovative, but I for one would love to see such innovation going in to making smaller spaces more versatile and more comfortable. Thanks for sharing!
Good to hear positive input from Tesla owners. Just got my Model Y a few weeks ago, it's my 5th EV in 8 years but the first one capable of being a tow vehicle. We currently have an old 2004 Knaus motorhome (our first MH, bought 14 months ago) and are thinking of trading it in next spring for a cheapish caravan to see how we like it. As an experienced EV owner I am already very well used to planning around charging, so there's basically nothing I can see which would put me off!
Yes Andrew, I would say that it does. Obviously Tesla recently opened up a small number of them to other brands and ultimately this will expand, I know many Tesla owners were upset by it but personally I am okay with it if it helps drive adoption and also drives further competition among other network providers. Hopefully we can all benefit in the long run.
It's not all about Tesla though, I've been impressed by the Instavolt network too having used some of them recently. It's a shame some of the others like BP and Shell seem to see the market as a way of getting better green credentials with the public, but are not really keeping up too well with maintenance and reliability.
Anyway, keep up the great work with the videos and the EV touring. Yes it needs more planning, as does EV travel in general. Yes there are lots of people who will never be won round because they simply don't want to be. After 8 years I've given up spending the energy on those folks. I'll happily talk all day to people who seem genuinely open and interested, the rest I ignore. At some point in the future they'll probably actually have a *go* in an EV and realise it's not the milk float experience they expected, nor did the batteries explode half a mile down the road. I don't need them to be on board today for me to benefit from my EV journey!
I've been towing with an EV for two years. When I started there was very little information to help so I started blogging about my experiences https://evcaravaner.wordpress.com/blog/
It's good to see some more info appearing now, good luck with this page.
I watched the 'video version' of this post last night and thought it was very rational. I've been driving electric for over 10 years so that section on having to listen to people force their opinion on you (without asking) rang very true although I tended to stop caring about that a long time ago. This subject really does bring out the angry nutters :)
I currently have a Model Y Long Range and have been using it for camping trips but not towing (https://i.imgur.com/jW4oYk3.jpg). A friend has offered me an old Elddis Avante 362 so I'm tempted to give it a go as a first step into the world of caravanning. The caravan has similar weight and external dimensions to your Xplore Active 304 and the EV6 battery/efficiency is similar to the MYLR so I'd like to think that I'd be getting a similar amount of towing range.
It's just me and 2 dogs so I don't really need a larger van to start off with so I think I'm going to go for it.
I’m a little late to the party, however I have only just discovered this blog/newsletter.
We have a Tesla Model 3, so our towing is limited to 1000kg. This together with wishing to have some more efficiency and ability to store in our garage meant we went the folding camper route with an Opus All-Road. We’ve been towing the Opus with our 3 for the past year and it has been a breeze. With all the torque an EV provides, it’s easy to forget you’re towing! Range wise, as you state it’s around half, though with the more aerodynamic profile of the Opus (height of 1.2m) we get a little more and generally see between 2.5 to 2.8 mi/kWh (giving us between 150 and 175 realistic miles). I’ve even seen 3 mi/kWh on a particularly thrifty drive. As others have mentioned, the Tesla Supercharger network makes a massive difference. When sites generally have anywhere between 8 and 16 chargers, it’s rare to turn up and not find an available charger. Unfortunately, unlike in Scandinavia pull-through chargers are rare in this country, however I’ve occasionally been able to plug in to an end charger without unhitching without inconveniencing others. When there’s a need to unhitch, my routine is to unhitch, plug in, then use the motor movers to drive the Opus into a nearby parking spot. Luxury! We’re taking a trip through Spain over the next few months, where I’ll be doing some serious mileage towing the Opus, so this will be an interesting experience! Fingers crossed the EV love affair doesn’t fade…
Drawback of the folding camper over a regular caravan is we can’t hop in for a cup of tea whilst charging! First world problems, am I right?
I tow my caravan with a Tesla Model X. Have taken it to Cornwall, Scotland and Norfolk from Oxfordshire with no stress.
The Tesla supercharging network makes all the difference. It’s reliable and generally well sited. I plan to tow my caravan with the MX down to Spain next year.
The range of my car when towing is equal to the capacity of my bladder, so no issue there.
Only real downside is as Andrew says, the need to unhitch most of the time when one is charging, however it’s a small price to pay for the lower cost per mile, and the sublime towing/driving experience. In particular the torque of an EV is phenomenal and suits towing perfectly
Welcome aboard Steve! Interesting to hear about how the Supercharger Network improves the experience. I think Ionity was meant to be an equivalent for other brands but it's nowhere near as widespread or reliable. Looking forward to hearing how you get on.
Thanks Andrew
Well the Tesla Supercharger network just.... works. Can't put it any simpler than that. Of course owning a Tesla also means I just plug in. No faf with payment.
The integration with the car's navigation is also important. I can see instantly how many stalls are available at my intended stop, and its extremely rare for a whole site to be off line, indeed quite rare for a single stall to be faulty.
Another point for discussion: I find my range increases dramatically if I cruise at 50mph compared to 60mph. Of course there is a significant reduction in wind resistance to explain this, However it can make the difference between needing a stop or getting home/ to my destination without stopping
Andrews videos convinced me to commit to full electric and now we tow our 1600kg Coachman Amara with a Tesla model Y. I echo everything Andrew says about range (half of what you usually get) costs (much cheaper to run if you have home charging) and have found that charging on the tow every 100 miles is the perfect distance to stop with a family of a 5 and 7 year old who usually want a leg stretch anyway.
We're excited to explore further afield with an EV tow car and will be tuning into Andrew's videos and tapping into his experience all the way!
Great stuff Andrew! As a kid upon whom many hours were inflicted in the car without a break, I vouch for the importance of breaks on a long journey. Looking forward to hearing how you get on.
https://www.lightshiprv.com/ the three key concepts here being: 1) a van that follows you so maintaining full range, 2) two modes (towing and camping) and 3) gas and generator free off grid capabilities are going to be interesting to see developed by other manufacturers over the next few years.
Very interesting! But it's huge. It's certainly innovative, but I for one would love to see such innovation going in to making smaller spaces more versatile and more comfortable. Thanks for sharing!
Yes indeed : a uk type interior build with the innovation of the power train and size reduction for towing.
Good to hear positive input from Tesla owners. Just got my Model Y a few weeks ago, it's my 5th EV in 8 years but the first one capable of being a tow vehicle. We currently have an old 2004 Knaus motorhome (our first MH, bought 14 months ago) and are thinking of trading it in next spring for a cheapish caravan to see how we like it. As an experienced EV owner I am already very well used to planning around charging, so there's basically nothing I can see which would put me off!
Nice one Ashley. It seems that the Supercharger network really does remove a substantial layer of anxiety.
Yes Andrew, I would say that it does. Obviously Tesla recently opened up a small number of them to other brands and ultimately this will expand, I know many Tesla owners were upset by it but personally I am okay with it if it helps drive adoption and also drives further competition among other network providers. Hopefully we can all benefit in the long run.
It's not all about Tesla though, I've been impressed by the Instavolt network too having used some of them recently. It's a shame some of the others like BP and Shell seem to see the market as a way of getting better green credentials with the public, but are not really keeping up too well with maintenance and reliability.
Anyway, keep up the great work with the videos and the EV touring. Yes it needs more planning, as does EV travel in general. Yes there are lots of people who will never be won round because they simply don't want to be. After 8 years I've given up spending the energy on those folks. I'll happily talk all day to people who seem genuinely open and interested, the rest I ignore. At some point in the future they'll probably actually have a *go* in an EV and realise it's not the milk float experience they expected, nor did the batteries explode half a mile down the road. I don't need them to be on board today for me to benefit from my EV journey!
I've been towing with an EV for two years. When I started there was very little information to help so I started blogging about my experiences https://evcaravaner.wordpress.com/blog/
It's good to see some more info appearing now, good luck with this page.
I watched the 'video version' of this post last night and thought it was very rational. I've been driving electric for over 10 years so that section on having to listen to people force their opinion on you (without asking) rang very true although I tended to stop caring about that a long time ago. This subject really does bring out the angry nutters :)
I currently have a Model Y Long Range and have been using it for camping trips but not towing (https://i.imgur.com/jW4oYk3.jpg). A friend has offered me an old Elddis Avante 362 so I'm tempted to give it a go as a first step into the world of caravanning. The caravan has similar weight and external dimensions to your Xplore Active 304 and the EV6 battery/efficiency is similar to the MYLR so I'd like to think that I'd be getting a similar amount of towing range.
It's just me and 2 dogs so I don't really need a larger van to start off with so I think I'm going to go for it.
I’m a little late to the party, however I have only just discovered this blog/newsletter.
We have a Tesla Model 3, so our towing is limited to 1000kg. This together with wishing to have some more efficiency and ability to store in our garage meant we went the folding camper route with an Opus All-Road. We’ve been towing the Opus with our 3 for the past year and it has been a breeze. With all the torque an EV provides, it’s easy to forget you’re towing! Range wise, as you state it’s around half, though with the more aerodynamic profile of the Opus (height of 1.2m) we get a little more and generally see between 2.5 to 2.8 mi/kWh (giving us between 150 and 175 realistic miles). I’ve even seen 3 mi/kWh on a particularly thrifty drive. As others have mentioned, the Tesla Supercharger network makes a massive difference. When sites generally have anywhere between 8 and 16 chargers, it’s rare to turn up and not find an available charger. Unfortunately, unlike in Scandinavia pull-through chargers are rare in this country, however I’ve occasionally been able to plug in to an end charger without unhitching without inconveniencing others. When there’s a need to unhitch, my routine is to unhitch, plug in, then use the motor movers to drive the Opus into a nearby parking spot. Luxury! We’re taking a trip through Spain over the next few months, where I’ll be doing some serious mileage towing the Opus, so this will be an interesting experience! Fingers crossed the EV love affair doesn’t fade…
Drawback of the folding camper over a regular caravan is we can’t hop in for a cup of tea whilst charging! First world problems, am I right?