3,400 miles towing a camping trailer w/ Cybertruck -- 19' Airstream (~4,500 lbs) to see solar eclipse

[Stinky10r]

Have you ever timed yourself?

I know that when I was pumping 17g, the overall time was more.
And if you want to be fair, how many of those 3 minutes fill-ups did you do in a year. Now total all the time waiting for power in an EV. Charging at home takes maybe 5 seconds? 1 or 2 500 mile trips take how long?

The process of putting the charger into the port takes 5 seconds. The process of charging is a bit different. Can we agree? Also, not everyone has the ability to charge at home and we are discussing road trips so let's stay on topic.

Sponsored

 

[Woodrick]

The process of putting the charger into the port takes 5 seconds. The process of charging is a bit different. Can we agree? Also, not everyone has the ability to charge at home and we are discussing road trips so let's stay on topic.

You missed my point.

Total up all the time you spent refueling with gas last year.
Total up all the time you spent recharging (at home and the road).

Even having to take that time to recharge on the road may be competitive against that only 3 minutes a week.

Many times while recharging, you can eat, not as easy if getting gas.

 

[CyberTruckeeTheOne]

Am not pulling hairs nor splitting it on the charging debate.

In my use case, as my SUV RV puller, I plan for 150 miles in between campsites and make a one-stop lunch break in between.

A 200 to 300 miles run is rare and happens only on the way home for some urgent matters.

 

[Stinky10r]

You missed my point.

Total up all the time you spent refueling with gas last year.
Total up all the time you spent recharging (at home and the road).

Even having to take that time to recharge on the road may be competitive against that only 3 minutes a week.

Many times while recharging, you can eat, not as easy if getting gas.

I see your point absolutely. However, we are discussing a road trip. I value my time as much as the next person and if I can save 30 seconds on a commute every day in a year it's a big deal. However, the math doesn't work the same when discussing a road trip. I'm not just plugging in and merely taking off at moments notice. It takes time to charge. The time I saved by pumping gas in the year in my mind is irrelevant while I sit and wait for my charge. Now once again, not everyone has the luxury of having a charger at home so, ymmv applies.

For my basic math here's where I'm at. In a year, I fill up once every other week or more. 26 weeks, even if we say 5 minutes for fill ups, that is 130 minutes or 1 hour and 10 minutes spent filling up in a year. On a road trip, that time would be met in an EV after 3 stops.

Also, why can't you eat while getting gas?

 

[ElectricSheep]

I did use Teslafi - let's see how this roadtrip sharing works:
SLC to Houston - Cybertruck dual motor w/ 19' Airstream

Looks like Teslafi says I paid more for supercharging than I expected, since I did charge some off the Supercharging network.

30 times in 50 hours of driving?

That's like, four exhausting days of driving. So there's twelve meals. Throw in a soda and snack between each meal and you're up to twenty.

Assumably you'll need to pee, too.

-Crissa

Don't currently own an EV, but the one aspect I don't like about the limited charging options is that although you have 20-50 minutes to kill (depending on state of charge at beginning and target state of charge at end) is the limited food choices near the chargers. Once charging stations are as ubiquitous as gas stations this will provide a greater variety of choices.

 

[ElectricSheep]

Here is a selection of various trip legs with more details. It's not easy to draw any straightforward conclusions, and I think Teslafi gives the average MPH based on distance divided by drivetime - so if you are sitting at stoplights for half of the drive, and driving 100 MPH half the time, you'd get an average of 50 MPH - I wish I'd noted more what my cruise control was set to for each leg. Based on my impressions:
- Drag had more of an impact on the efficiency than weight. The computer constantly overestimated how much regen we'd get on a downhill stretch, while often overestimating how much energy we'd use going uphill.
- Headwinds are a terror to range.
- Going 55 MPH is much more efficient than going 65 MPH; I'll be able to go further when heading into the mountains at low speed, compared to cruising on the interstate.
- The CT does not tow long distances faster or cheaper than ICE options. Cost is not worse, but not better, and I'm willing to take it slow, so I have no regrets, but the current weakness should be acknowledged. This is one of the few "cons" in the pros and cons comparison, so for my use case (which does involve some long distance towing) the CT is still the clear winner.

Thanks for sharing this data. Gives great insight into towing and expected range between charges.

 

[ElectricSheep]

Here is a selection of drives with more details.


The CT does charge the trailer's batteries while plugged into the 7-way plug.

I do have 100W of solar on the roof of the airstream, and I hauled around an Anker SOLIX F3800 with 400W portable panel, and I have some bigger (not "portable") panels so I can boondock in the desert with ~ 1500 W of solar to add a couple miles to the truck a day and power the camper.

What gauge is the wire in the 7-pin on the CT side? My Jeep has an 18 gauge wire and so it is a trickle charge in reality, but did maintain the state of charge I started with.

 

[ElectricSheep]

You missed my point.

Total up all the time you spent refueling with gas last year.
Total up all the time you spent recharging (at home and the road).

Even having to take that time to recharge on the road may be competitive against that only 3 minutes a week.

Many times while recharging, you can eat, not as easy if getting gas.

The limitation is you have to eat fairly close to where you are charging. With ICE you can fill-up in 5 or so minutes and then eat anywhere in the town.

Charging at home is a great convenience.

 

[Woodrick]

I see your point absolutely. However, we are discussing a road trip. I value my time as much as the next person and if I can save 30 seconds on a commute every day in a year it's a big deal. However, the math doesn't work the same when discussing a road trip. I'm not just plugging in and merely taking off at moments notice. It takes time to charge. The time I saved by pumping gas in the year in my mind is irrelevant while I sit and wait for my charge. Now once again, not everyone has the luxury of having a charger at home so, ymmv applies.

For my basic math here's where I'm at. In a year, I fill up once every other week or more. 26 weeks, even if we say 5 minutes for fill ups, that is 130 minutes or 1 hour and 10 minutes spent filling up in a year. On a road trip, that time would be met in an EV after 3 stops.

Also, why can't you eat while getting gas?

Are you going to leave the nozzle in your tank for 30 minutes while you have a bite?
Do you even go inside while the gas is pumping?

 

[Stinky10r]

Are you going to leave the nozzle in your tank for 30 minutes while you have a bite?
Do you even go inside while the gas is pumping?

You could just disconnect the nozzle, park the car in a parking spot, then go inside. When is the last time you visited a gas station?

 

[Woodrick]

The limitation is you have to eat fairly close to where you are charging. With ICE you can fill-up in 5 or so minutes and then eat anywhere in the town.

Charging at home is a great convenience.

It's always interesting to hear the thoughts of non-Tesla owners. There are so many things about the Tesla ecosystems that hasn't become apparent yet.

Tesla does a pretty good job of placing Superchargers near locations with decent food and break options. They work to make the experience a great one.
I was also just reading about some of the interesting Supercharger installations

Tesla breaks ground on its futuristic diner with drive-in theater and Supercharger | Electrek
Tesla & Buc-ee's Plans For Superchargers Span 26 Stores In 7 States - CleanTechnica

Take a look at some Supercharger Supercharger | Tesla (Scroll down a page and hit Find Us).
Click on a location, at the bottom of the info box it will show what facilities the site has available.
Click on one of the icons and you will see nearby options. This also works in the vehicle.

 

[Woodrick]

You could just disconnect the nozzle, park the car in a parking spot, then go inside. When is the last time you visited a gas station?

It's been years! Except for the Superchargers located at gas stations.

You can make it hard, if that's the way you want to justify it. But many see it as a freedom.

It becomes a different point of view.

Just as you don't mind filling up every two weeks, you don't notice how intrusive it was until you don't do it for awhile.

I've road tripped from The Great Lakes to the Keys (at different times). The Tesla makes is a much nicer experience, the car drives, I sit back and watch it, like a passenger.


But until you do it, you can't understand it.

 

[Stinky10r]

It's been years! Except for the Superchargers located at gas stations.

You can make it hard, if that's the way you want to justify it. But many see it as a freedom.

It becomes a different point of view.

Just as you don't mind filling up every two weeks, you don't notice how intrusive it was until you don't do it for awhile.

I've road tripped from The Great Lakes to the Keys (at different times). The Tesla makes is a much nicer experience, the car drives, I sit back and watch it, like a passenger.


But until you do it, you can't understand it.

As long as you're happy, I'm happy.

 

[Crissa]

First off, I drive an Audi Q7 with a 17 gallon useable tank. At...

So you drive an extremely low production vehicle - lower production than a Model X or S - with an unusually large tank. (Like, 40% larger.)

And you say I have no clue?

Geez.

I grew up on the coast. It was eight hours drive to 'the city' which in Oregon is Portland. When we lived in Washington, another small town two to four hours from Seattle or Portland. It's so much easier to drive places now a days.

I went to University over 1500 miles from home. I drove there and back, because flying was prohibitively expensive back then.

I currently live over 700 miles from my mom. I go three times a year at least - more the last two, since she's had a couple of injuries that kept her from driving.

We do one winter road trip and another in the summer - we travel over the west. Last year we drove all of CA 87 just because. We've even driven through Texas. One vacation was a road trip from my sister's graduation in New York to her new home in Chicago.

I love driving.

??‍

-Crissa

PS, I love my Zero, but I'm totally willing to let it get close to 0% when doing a leg of a journey. I can't even imagine having the kind of range anxiety that you'd leave 50 miles range on the table... I wouldn't do that in my Mazda, either.

 

[Cyber Man]

I don't know how often you drive long distances, but when you post sometimes it gives me the idea that you really have no clue as to what you are talking about. First off, I drive an Audi Q7 with a 17 gallon useable tank. At worst, it is a 3 minute affair to get filled up. I'm not married at a pump for any unreasonable amount of time.

This is where your lack of understanding how an EV works and operates as your Mazda simply isn't anything remotely close but let me help you understand.

When you have an EV on a road trip, if you get down to say 15% or at absolute worst 10% of battery; you are stuck absolutely waiting for that car to get some juice. You're absolutely stuck.

Once again, I don't know how you do road trips, but you can eat in the car as you drive and if you have a very comfortable vehicle you can actually drive much longer distances in between stops for fuel. In my Q7, I'm actually able to go an entire 400 miles with 2 kids before needing to stop and I still have 150 miles of fuel left in the tank. On an 1800 mile road trip I've done twice, I've stopped for fuel 5 times and i have done this 4 times as both trips were round trip. None of the stops lasted longer than 20 minutes. Do the math for an EV.

You need to get out more.

One of those things when I rarely say - just because you can doesn’t mean you should! I was doing very similar long road trips with very few stops, but when you take a break every two hours, the journey becomes so much fun and enjoyable. Now I force myself to stop every couple of hours to stretch, even though I’m fully capable of driving 5 or more hours at a stretch. Vacation is not a race. It took me several years to realize that. If I want to go fast and furious, I do dedicated track days on safe roads!

Sponsored