Oh yeah, speed is the towing killer for sure! One of the reasons why I stick to 60-65mph at the most when towing my camper.
My napkin calculations are always 1 mile per kWh, and I'm pleasantly surprised if I get more than that. At 150 miles I would plan for a 'splash and dash' quick charge just to throw a couple kWh in your battery pack.
I traded my '24 Toyota Sequoia in for a '23 R1T quad motor with only 8000 miles about 3 weeks ago. There were a lot of reason for the switch, but I will just say that I will never own another American made Toyota (I owned a 4Runner for almost 13 years).
Now that the weather in NC is finally warming up, I decided to hit up a local lake this Saturday. My boat is a 20'11" Egret Moccasin 210 with a Mercury 250 ProXS 4 stroke, it rolls on a RamLin single axle all aluminum trailer. The Rivian bounced around estimating the weight between 2000 and 3000lbs. My napkin math says the combo should be around 2800lbs, but I've never been to a weigh station. I only had a short tow this trip with mostly back roads, but the R1T estimates 200 miles on a full charge. I hope that's accurate, I need to be able to make a 150 miles tow from Raleigh to Wilmington.
That sucks, but I guess it is what it is. I was hoping since the boat sits quite low on the trailer it wouldn't have as much impact on aero drag. I need to just take some time out of a day and go tow on the highway for about 30 minutes each direction to get better data points. Either way, it's not like I'm doing this trip a whole lot. My wife and I work from home and our kiddo is in school. We typically only go down to my in-laws beach town house for long trips, it's not back and forth a whole lot.
You just might be able to do it. I have been towing this the 190 miles between my house and camp for 2 summers now. Over 5k miles of towing and averaging just under 2 mi/kwh. Other than a stretch of ~20 miles of 65mph, the rest is 55mph or less speed limits, but lots of hills and elevation change. I forget what the weight of the trailer is, and the truck usually estimates it as 0 lbs, lol. While the estimated range at 100% is always over reality even after the 5k miles of accumulated real data, I could easily go 220-250 miles towing it. And the ramp trailers with the ramp vertical were supposed to be a significant drag. I've been more than happy and never had to stop to charge once. Doing a couple test runs will answer a lot for you. I'll be curious to see how it does.
As I mentioned in my earlier post, I went 153 miles and used 79% of my battery pack. I try to stay between 65-70 mph. My TrailManor has a low profile, like your boat, but is heavier so you should have no problem going the distance without a charge. I average 1.35mi/kWh towing that trailer. Do a test run and tow it for 15 min to see what your efficiency is.
Fingers crossed. We're going down to the beach the end of the month for the kiddo's spring break. I'll report back when the tow is finished.
I tow an Airstream Basecamp (4,500lbs) and have averaged 1.4 over the last 10,000 miles. However, I don’t drive fast. I love places with 55 mph speed limits as it makes me feel less guilty doing 55-60. That said, in the overall scheme of things, does an extra 30-60 minutes on your trip really make a difference to your life? I listen to audiobooks so sometimes I want the trip to last longer
To me the added time to charge isn't a big deal. I'm sure I will hear lot of grumbling from the wife and daughter about it since even my old trusty dusty 4Runner could make the trip without filling up.I tow an Airstream Basecamp (4,500lbs) and have averaged 1.4 over the last 10,000 miles. However, I don’t drive fast. I love places with 55 mph speed limits as it makes me feel less guilty doing 55-60. That said, in the overall scheme of things, does an extra 30-60 minutes on your trip really make a difference to your life? I listen to audiobooks so sometimes I want the trip to last longer
And my wife likes the charging time, both towing and not - gives us time to stretch out legs, crack our backs and be not in the truck. But everyone is different.
Man, there is something about the InTech that I love. We currently have a 2022 Basecamp 20x and while I like it, I keep looking at the InTech trailers. How do you like it so far?We decided to upgrade our RV from our InTech Flyer Explore to an InTech Sol Dusk. Basically, I'm not doing motorcycle track days anymore, and so I don't need a toy hauler. That, and we wanted a bathroom and a king-sized bed. The Dusk fit the bill, so we started looking for one. The Dusk came out in 2024, so there weren't many used models to be found. We noticed a 2025 (last year) model for sale in Billings, Montana and I decided to got get it and tow it back with my '23 R1T.
So, I charged up to 100% Thursday night, and left home at 5 AM. I took I-94 up to Fargo, ND, then across North Dakota to Glendive, MT, then turning southwest to MIles City and then Billings. I used a combination of Tesla and Electrify America on the way out, and running 75 MPH in MN and 80 MPH in ND & MT netted me 1.46 miles per kWh. Temps started at 7 F, and rose as I got closer to Montana, ending up at 25 F when I got to Billings. I didn't have any issues with charging on the way out.
I spent the night in Billings (the RV place I was buying from comped me a hotel room), and decided to charge up to 90% before going over to pick up the trailer. With finance, trailer walkthrough, and the dealership re-winterizing the Dusk, I didn't get out of the dealership untll noon. I decided to top up to 100% before leaving Billings, as the first leg of the return trip from the Tesla Charger in Billings to the EA station in MIles City is 139 miles. I was pretty sure I could make it, so I decided to leave at 97% as the truck was charging very slowly. I started out at 60 mph, but ended up slowing down to 55 mph to make sure I'd make it. I arrived at Miles City with 5% charge remaining, got plugged in recharged.
I won't bore you with the rest of the trip - here's a quick table showing the distance, efficiency and energy I charged up to. Some of the charging is more than I need to get to the next town, mostly because I would sleep in the back seat of the truck while charging.
Billings MT - MIles City, MT: 138 miles, 1.13 mi/kWh, added 111.6909 kWh(EA)
MIles City MT - Glendive MT: 75.1 miles, 0.89 mi/kWh, added 98.2131 (EA)
Glendive - Dickinson MT: 96.8 miles, 0.99 mi/kWh, added 120.2753 (Tesla)
Dickinson - Bismarck ND: 98.5 miles, 0.91 mi/kWh, added 129.0202 (EA)
Bismarck - Jamestown ND: 101.6 miles, 0.89 mi/kWh, added 126.8679 (EA)
Jamestown - Fargo ND: 91.8 miles, 0.76 mi/kWh, added 108.9677 (Tesla)
Fargo - Fergus Falls, MN: 59.7 miles, 0.87 mi/kWh, added 40.4137 (Tesla)
Fergus Falls - Alexandria, MN: 49.8 miles, 0.93 mi/kWh, added 96.5812 (Tesla)
Alexandria-Monticello, MN: 91.7 miles, 1.00 mi/kWh, added 38.9614 (Tesla)
That was enough to get me home to Maple Grove. Overall, on the way back I got 0.97 miles per kWh. Total cost for the trip was $540.25 in charging, with Tesla & EA memberships. I'm aticipating getting around 1.0 - 1.1 miles per kWh once the weather warms up.
We haven't had a chance to do any camping with it yet, but we're having fun getting it outfitted for our first trip, which is in May. So far, we've found a couple minor details that need fixing (missing screw and the plastic on the grab handle by the front door is cracked), but I'm really looking forward to this spring. I'll be sure to add my experience so anyone who want a similar trailer can know what to expect.
