Has anyone Towed a trailer, boat, camper with their new R1T?

[jcook01]

Hi all,

We had an R1S preorder earlier in the year but cancelled due to range anxiety after the lack of 400+ range battery was announced. I've been second guessing ever since I made the call.

That being said I'm looking for any real world reports from new customers on towing with their new R1Ts. If the numbers are better than I expected than I may consider an RIT with the biggest battery.

We've a gross/loaded 6000lb camper and are looking for some towing comparisons from the R1T owners here on this forum.

We're looking for battery range observed while towing your trailer, boat, camper and gross weight of your towed vehicle.

I hope you new owners are happy with your new Trucks, we're Jellin here.

Regards, John

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[Aroohoo]

As all deliveries to date are suspected of being people associated with Rivian directly (employees, investors, etc), you won't find anyone on here that could/would answer that.

Wait another month after some of the"scheduled" deliveries happen to forum members.

 

[jcook01]

Thanks for response I wasn't aware that the current allotment weren't going to the Average Joe.

That makes sense.

Living here in the middle of nowhere, limited DCFC, and absolutely no pass through chargers (all of them appear to be pull in and park only) pulling our camper looks like a pipe dream at the moment.

I'm still curious to see how far a sub-maxed out trailer can be towed....champing at the bit.

 

[pc500]

People do it with Tesla's all the time. It's a pain in the ass and with that size of a trailer your range will be half.

It's better for around town toes or to take the boat to a lake an hour away. A cross country with an RV trailer would be max packed territory which should get you 200 miles between charges.

 

[Rivuylkill]

Yeah set expectations at around half range. Maybe better in some situations, potentially worse in others. Any electric trucks definitely won't be cross country heavy RV towers yet without a lot of patience.

If you don't tow very often, but have a few routine trips, try playing around with them on www.abetterrouteplanner.com . In the advanced settings you can change the reference consumption from default estimate for an R1T (516) to some different guesses. 1032 is double, but for trailer around half of towing capacity, if it's reasonably aerodynamic your consumption would hopefully be better, but you can play with the number and make guesses until there are some better real world examples to use.

The trip time will likely go up from what you're used to, but if it's only a few times a year does it really matter? Or at is it at least worth the trade off for the benefits the rest of the time? Personal decision, but it might be.

 

[OldGoat]

Thanks for response I wasn't aware that the current allotment weren't going to the Average Joe.

That makes sense.

Living here in the middle of nowhere, limited DCFC, and absolutely no pass through chargers (all of them appear to be pull in and park only) pulling our camper looks like a pipe dream at the moment.

I'm still curious to see how far a sub-maxed out trailer can be towed....champing at the bit.

Major props for using champing instead of chomping!

 

[jcook01]

This horse has been beaten, and yeah there's a bit of me not wanting to hear the current 50% answer but let me briefly explain why.

R1T has 11k tow capacity, Rivian states 50% range at that load capacity. I'm truly wondering what happens at 6k or 7k, 35% loss, or closer to 50٪‽

A max pack at 35% loss would get us there running at 65mph.

That to me is doable. Only remaining problem is current EV station architecture, you can't pull through to charge with a trailer in tow.

Exciting times Gents...

 

[Zoidz]

It will be interesting to see real world results, but as others have said, with a trailer that size, expect somewhere around 50%. Trailer weight, wind and rolling resistance are by far the energy consumers when towing. None of that changes with an EV. Energy is energy, so it's going to be similar to the range reduction you get on an ICE. If your gas/diesel range drops by 50%, an EV reduction will be similar.

 

[ajdelange]

R1T has 11k tow capacity, Rivian states 50% range at that load capacity. I'm truly wondering what happens at 6k or 7k, 35% loss, or closer to 50٪‽

They'd be foolish to do that as it depends on so many other things with the main determinant being drag which relates to the trailer's shape and how fast it is towed.

 

[NorthernOak]

The thing that annoys me when talking to anyone about towing with an EV is the instant assumption of 50% range loss. As others have said there are so many factors that play into it. Wind, weight, elevation changes, etc. But how often are you actually maxing out the towing capacity?

When I had a 75D Model X for a few years I pulled my boat on an annual family trip around 600 miles one way. The boat with its gear, gas tank full, and trailer is somewhere around 2500lbs, so its not a huge boat but its not exactly light either. The Model X max towing was 5000lbs. On the trip I was averaging a range loss between 25-30% which was pretty good considering driving into the wind, keeping up with traffic at 65mph, and the car was loaded up with 4 people and their luggage. I had the small battery but it didn't deter me from towing when I needed/wanted to.

Some people know they will be maxing it out and will need to plan for the larger range loss accordingly, but claiming that EVs are no good for towing or it should only be used around town is just silly. Is it as easy as driving an ICE, no cause chargers are not everywhere yet. Can it be done with a little planning, yes, and after the first time on that particular route you'll probably not worry about it again.

Everyone's situation is going to be different. Your trailer size, weight, extra luggage, route, wind, starting location, temp, charge rate, etc, its all going to be different. It wont always be 50% loss. @ohmman is a big time EV towing aficionado over on the Tesla Motors Club forum if you want to look at EV towing stories and data go check out some of his posts over there. He has been a fountain of knowledge when it comes to EV towing.

 

[Rivuylkill]

The thing that annoys me when talking to anyone about towing with an EV is the instant assumption of 50% range loss.

Because there are so many variables, and the only thing Rivian has said is around 50%, and there is no real data yet(from R1Ts), using it as a hopefully pessimistic expectation means that ideally most people are surprised when real life turns out better.

 

[nfrank]

This horse has been beaten, and yeah there's a bit of me not wanting to hear the current 50% answer but let me briefly explain why.

R1T has 11k tow capacity, Rivian states 50% range at that load capacity. I'm truly wondering what happens at 6k or 7k, 35% loss, or closer to 50٪‽

A max pack at 35% loss would get us there running at 65mph.

That to me is doable. Only remaining problem is current EV station architecture, you can't pull through to charge with a trailer in tow.

Exciting times Gents...

I've towed many trailers with an F-150, Tundra, Explorer, etc... I'd regularly lose more than half the range on those vehicles towing boxy trailers, boats get cut down by a third. Weight generally wasn't as important as drag when it comes to range loss. I can see a 10,000lb flatbed loaded with steel pipes or something fairly low profile leading to better range than a 5,000lb enclosed trailer.

Also, your coefficient of drag effects the force needed to overcome aero linearly. The velocity effect is squared. Drive slow if you want your range to be decent. That goes for both ICE and electric.

 

[NorthernOak]

Because there are so many variables, and the only thing Rivian has said is around 50%, and there is no real data yet(from R1Ts), using it as a hopefully pessimistic expectation means that ideally most people are surprised when real life turns out better.

I can agree with that. Mt concern is I see many journalist, bloggers, YouTubers, every day people using 50% as their baseline for any EV towing and then act not as if that's worst case scenario, but that it's best case. At least this has been my experience. I think its just one of those areas that as EV advocates we need to push back on and help educate others. Could it be 50% loss, yes. Could it be worse, in some situations sure. But more than likely, most situations will be much better than 50%.

 

[Luke42]

This horse has been beaten, and yeah there's a bit of me not wanting to hear the current 50% answer but let me briefly explain why.

R1T has 11k tow capacity, Rivian states 50% range at that load capacity. I'm truly wondering what happens at 6k or 7k, 35% loss, or closer to 50٪‽

A max pack at 35% loss would get us there running at 65mph.

That to me is doable. Only remaining problem is current EV station architecture, you can't pull through to charge with a trailer in tow.

Exciting times Gents...

I see a 50% range-loss (MPG loss) when towing my travel trailer with my hybrid-powered ICE truck.

I don't see why the losses would be any lower on an EV, because the trailer takes the same amount of ∫drag/dt to move.

My travel trailer has the aerodynamics of a garden shed. A more efficient truck will take a bigger range-hit, because the trailer's energy-use is fixed, and the truck's energy use scales with its efficiency. The travel trailer's drag is a bigger proportion of an efficient truck's energy usage.

 

[Aroohoo]

This is really basic physics, isn't it? As others have said, there are a number of variables that would affect range with towing. Those same variables apply to ICE towing too. Variables related to towing the trailer such as weight and drag would be equivalent between ICE and BEV. Variables that might not be directly equivalent would be the hit related to running the engine (ICE) and motor/battery (BEV) harder/hotter (e.g. is the efficiency loss higher for one or the other under load?).

Isn't the real crux of the issue access to charging infrastructure? When I have towed with an ICE truck, I've seen effecieny hits from 30-60%, which is what we seem to be talking about with BEVs also. The difference is that with an ICE vehicle you can easily fuel up at a truck stop or even a regular gas station by pulling through and not have to worry about disconnecting your trailer. From what I am aware of, the vast majority of BEV charging stations do not have this pull through capability.

I surmise that until we have the equivalent of pull through charging stations and the ubiquity, the towing range anxiety will not subside.

I do recognize that with ICE trucks you can get a range of 300miles with towing a load because some of those trucks have massive fuel tanks. The lower power/energy density of a battery cell compared to a hydro-carbon fuel will always be a factor that works against BEVs when comparing to ICE towing range per 'fuel up'.

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