Towing + Efficiency: Please post your experience!

[TheIglu]

For those of us waiting (patiently.... or otherwise) for our trucks who tow, having some real life data of towing from you all fortunate enough to have gotten deliveries already would be helpful.

If it's not too much trouble, could you post up trip examples with conditions, trip length, type of driving (mostly highway, city, etc), energy usage, type/weight of trailer, etc?

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[NorthernOak]

OK, so I was actually trying to gather some of this information for a post of my own but this seems like a good place to put it. I pull a trailer for a mowing business that I do as a side gig. The trailer is 18' long not including the tongue. I don't know the weight of the trailer but its not exactly the lightest thing built out of steel and has a wooden deck and wooden sides. On it I carry 3 large zero turn mowers that each weigh around 1200lbs.

Normally I don't need to travel very far with the trailer/mowers but this week I needed to do an errand while I was out mowing and didn't have time to drop them back at home so everything came with me. I reset the trip meter so I could capture some data. I traveled just over 32 miles round trip. 16 miles were into the wind and 16 miles with the wind at my back. Cruise was set at 60mph but I did start in town, drive to/through another town, and then go back with a few stop signs mixed in there as well. Wind was 20 mph and it was 65F out. The R1T has been pulling this trailer/load a few times now and does great. Most of the time you forget the trailer is even there as the truck doesn't struggle at all. It really is a great towing vehicle. When I get my boat out in a few weeks I'll be doing some further towing and gather data then too.

 

[Zoidz]

I have a similar trailer. With the sides, the weight is probably in the 2200 - 2300 lb range, so you were close to 6,000 lbs total with 3 ZTRs.

 

[bmac]

I towed my camper trailer for the first time last weekend. Most of the driving was on the freeway at 60 mph with some rolling hills, and some traffic in spots, but no mountain passes. The trailer probably weighs around 7000lbs+ including gear. If you are towing anything heavy and not aerodynamic do not expect 50% range loss as advertised. Expect more like 2/3 range loss. I got less than 1 mile per KWH and went from 100% battery to 40% battery in 55 miles. I was hoping to be able to get at least 100 miles per charge, but reality is I wouldn't push it any further than 75 miles per charge. With the limited infrastructure out West, that really limits where you can go. I have a Max pack on order and will definitely be upgrading once it's available. Hopefully that enables me to comfortably get 100 miles of usable range.

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[Ripped]

I think even with the max pack battery I will be struggling to get 100 miles/ 160 km in the mountains with trailer towing.
It's mostly an uphill 300+ mile dive that usually takes 4.5 hours with light traffic, and 5.5-6 in heavy traffic towing.
I think towing with the Rivian, one would have to add about 2 hours to the trip, considering parking, unhooking the trailer, charging up fully, rinse and repeat.

I wonder also how much effect vehicle speed would have on the steep uphill portions. Would slower be less/more efficient or harder on the motors.

I already have this nightmare vision of being stuck on the side of the road in the mountains at zero charge with the trailer hooked up and significant other 'unhappy.'

 

[s12dxer]

I've done some initial tests with my boat (5k lbs) and have similar experience, having about 1.2 mi/kwh. Range was showing about 50 miles with 46% charge. One thing I did notice is that regen seemed to be more effective with the extra weight. I'll be doing some more tests locally to see what the real range would be.

 

[bmac]

I just did another tow test this last weekend when I brought my boat back from storage. Total trip was 119 miles from Longbeach Washington to Portland Oregon. I stopped and charged to 97% in Warrenton at the Electrify America station and made it home following HWY 30 (98 miles) with 24%/22 miles remaining. This was better range than when I towed my camper trailer. The boat is heavier (8500lbs), but more aerodynamic. The route also had slower speeds, but more hills (mostly 55mph vs 65mph). Next time I might try going up and over the coast range on HWY 26. The route is shorter by 10 miles, but the hills are 3X higher and there are no available chargers along the way.

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[s12dxer]

I just did another tow test this last weekend when I brought my boat back from storage. Total trip was 119 miles from Longbeach Washington to Portland Oregon. I stopped and charged to 97% in Warrenton at the Electrify America station and made it home following HWY 30 (98 miles) with 24%/22 miles remaining. This was better range than when I towed my camper trailer. The boat is heavier (8500lbs), but more aerodynamic. The route also had slower speeds, but more hills (mostly 55mph vs 65mph). Next time I might try going up and over the coast range on HWY 26. The route is shorter by 10 miles, but the hills are 3X higher and there are no available chargers along the way.

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Beautiful setup, i'm eager to try a longer trip with mine, and also how it does with launching.

 

[swazi]

My data collection sucked a bit but here's what I have;
Towing a travel trailer (e-Pro). 20ft and just over 3000lbs. Single axle.
69 miles on 50% battery.

O just did a quick out and back. First half was stop and go traffic. Didn't record the avg speed. Used 23%. On the way back was flowing and drove 65-70 most of the time.

I was wondering what the effect would be on low vs standard height? I tested on standard. In theory if the primary issue is drag then low would probably not help.

 

[MarcyB]

We are towing our Jayco Octane TT (that we live in) and collecting data as we go. Here's a very quick first-pass bit of data from our journey from northern NM to southern MT:

Efficiency (miles per kWh) as reported by our R1T = anywhere from 0.95 to 1.40

Obviously this varies based on speed, grade, temperature, and heat/AC usage; also seems to be highly affected by wind (including a good push from a tailwind and negative effects from a strong side wind)

A lot of this has been highway driving; parallel local roads when we can find them are a nicer time

The actual towing experience has been awesome = smooth ride, easy handling, quiet

Our trailer needs to be weighed for a current #; we estimate it's about 8000 pounds (depending on tank levels)

Occasionally we find a charger where we don't have to unhook (yay!) but mostly we're getting good at dropping the trailer to charge

Really appreciate the ability to charge up at RV park 50A plugs; normally we prefer boondocking and Harvest Hosts, but we're willing to adapt our lifestyle at the moment to allow us to tow our all-electric travel trailer with an electric truck!

 

[swazi]

Reporting back here after a camping trip;
155 miles one way. Average speed in the mid 40s (max speed on highway 70mph).
See my above post for the trailer. 3000lbs unloaded. Anybody's guess how much after my wife and I were done loading it up.

138kwh. So 1.12

It's disappointing that I cannot get to the 3hr mark (160-180 miles) but it looks like the max pack would get there.
It's great charging at campgrounds.
I was the most popular person at the campground but I can see the scepticism on the diehard trucker's eyes.
In the end the problem is not battery size or range, but charging infrastructure that supports towing.
Battling the app and charger screen for 5minutes before even starting to charge is not acceptable. I hate to say this, but again Tesla handles this so much better.

 

[mindstormsguy]

Battling the app and charger screen for 5minutes before even starting to charge is not acceptable. I hate to say this, but again Tesla handles this so much better.

One reason I went with Rivian instead of the Lightning is because I’m hopeful the RAN will do a lot better on the charging experience front.

 

[scooter]

This is a great thread. I'm looking at buying a smaller teardrop trailer next spring that should weigh ~1000 lbs dry and have been curious as to mi/kWh you guys are seeing. Based on results so far is 1.5 to 1.75 even possible with that little weight?

 

[Smlee]

According to this test by Rivian dad. He was pulling a campworks trailer and getting about 1.6 to 1.75 mi/kWh. Here is a link to the tread. If you want to skip to the end for some details. The NS-1 weight is 1,750 dry. Also not advertise, it’s pricy, just trying to answer the question about range with tear drop and about 2k weight range impact. Rivian without towing range was about 2-2.1. So tear drop impact of 15-20% range hit on small teardrop.

https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...railer-first-impressions-towed-with-r1t.7007/

 

[FzzyNoNoseChimp]

I meant to post my results from a camping trip a few weeks ago. 1.4 mi/kWh at roughly 65 mph towing a 1500 lb trailer on 20” AT’s. Trip was almost 600 miles and up some mountainous terrain in the Eastern Sierras. See the original post on Reddit (link)
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Had a great time this weekend seeing what the R1T could do with towing our Taxa Cricket. I was a max pack holder who converted to large when I saw my configuration show up on the R1 Shop. So far no regrets on the large size battery pack, it wouldn’t have made much of a difference for this use case (still 2 charging stops each way).

The Cricket is somewhat aerodynamic - has tapered shape and smaller frontal area than most trailers when closed. Definitely a great option to pair with the R1T and being able to camp in remote camp spots.

Final efficiency was 1.4 mi/kWh @ 65 MPH, 577.8 miles round trip.

Looking forward to better built-in route planning (and on the phone app too) and more DCFC to charge at optimal spots along the way.
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