Another long EV tow.

[Tobes]

Great journey yesterday from South Northamptonshire to the Lake District, towing our 1550kg Unicorn Vigo.
Two stops, the first after 110 miles in Crew at an Instavolt. Insta was on a go slow at only 80kW max (49 mins)
Second stop 85 miles later at the South lakes Porsche experience center. Great 350kW charger peaked at 136kW for me (battery at 26%). Stopped for just 25mins. Then on to Borrowdale. The whole journey used 146kWh over 260 miles giving a potential range of 132 miles on a single charge. The first leg was even better (much flatter) with a potential range or 140miles towing.
In all just 75 mins of charging on a 7:25 min journey, but we had some long delays on the M6 (around 50 mins). Car was superb…
Total electricity cost, about £61, with about 40 solo miles left over at the end.

 

[Buckman]

It cost you £61 to do 260 miles?

 

[Tobes]

It cost you £61 to do 260 miles?

No, it cost £61 to do 260 miles with about solo 40 miles left.
I fully charged the car at home before we left. Cost about £7. The the first charge in Crew was £31.90. The 2nd charge in Carnforth was £22.34. Total £61.

 

[JezzerB]

So 300 miles £61 so at current petrol price 188 a litre that's 41 mpg. Bloody impressive. Bet no one here gets 41 mpg towing 1500 kg. And that is top whack electricity prices. Shows how economical these things are. And if it were diesel 199 comparably even better. Worth 74 mins rest breaks. For me at least

 

[Buckman]

No, it cost £61 to do 260 miles with about solo 40 miles left.
I fully charged the car at home before we left. Cost about £7. The the first charge in Crew was £31.90. The 2nd charge in Carnforth was £22.34. Total £61.

Our Jeep is heavy on diesel when towing and worse case at 20mpg current cost would be about £110 for same journey. Prior to increase cost for fuel it would have been about £70, but then electric has also increased substantially.

 

[JTQ]

Shows how economical these things are.

Significantly due to present fiscal situations, but nevertheless there to be taken advantage of.

 

[ProfJohnL]

No, it cost £61 to do 260 miles with about solo 40 miles left.
I fully charged the car at home before we left. Cost about £7. The the first charge in Crew was £31.90. The 2nd charge in Carnforth was £22.34. Total £61.

I think you may have got your calculation for comparison wrong. If you were to ask how much it cost to tow, most people would start with a full tank, and the only cost the refills along the way, so you didn't need to include your home charging in your total. I reckon on a like for like comparison you've on spent about £54 and achieved a towing usage of 260miles for 136KWh or better than 1.9miles perKWh

That's like asking an ICE vehicle to do the same with the energy contained about 3 gallons of fuel!

Keep towing 😁

 

[Tobes]

So 300 miles £61 so at current petrol price 188 a litre that's 41 mpg. Bloody impressive. Bet no one here gets 41 mpg towing 1500 kg. And that is top whack electricity prices. Shows how economical these things are. And if it were diesel 199 comparably even better. Worth 74 mins rest breaks. For me at least

Indeed. Both those chargers at up at the 57p or more kWh. Cheaper options are available, but mostly through pre-paid membership. I simply don’t do enough public charging to warrant such pre-payment.

For the stopping time. At the 1st spot we took 50 mins of charging, plus perhaps 7 mins of unhitch and hitch (we are pretty speedy). We would have had to stop anyway for comfort. During the 50 we were not really waiting at all. My daughter wanted to check out Greg’s so we walked over and looked, but decided not to get anything. I wanted coffee from Costa, so we headed back there. We had a coffee and some hot breakfast items, took turns in the bathroom and took a look at the route ahead. By the time we were done, then car was charged sufficiently. We could have been much quicker, but the relaxed pace was fine. Second stop, again we had to for a loo break. We could have been faster again, but really didn’t wait more than 10 mins.

Our Jeep is heavy on diesel when towing and worse case at 20mpg current cost would be about £110 for same journey. Prior to increase cost for fuel it would have been about £70, but then electric has also increased substantially.

It certainly has. Those chargers used to cost 30p per kWh or maybe 35p. It’s now more like 60p. But even with the big increase, it’s the efficiency that wins. Our XC90 used to cost about £80 for that journey, filling at Rheged. Today it would have been more like £130.

 

[Tobes]

I think you may have got your calculation for comparison wrong. If you were to ask how much it cost to tow, most people would start with a full tank, and the only cost the refills along the way, so you didn't need to include your home charging in your total. I reckon on a like for like comparison you've on spent about £54 and achieved a towing usage of 260miles for 136KWh or better than 1.9miles perKWh

That's like asking an ICE vehicle to do the same with the energy contained about 3 gallons of fuel!

Keep towing 😁

I can see that too. In which case I need to add the cost to get back to “full” (the state I was in before I left). The Geniepoint in Keswick is also 57p per kWh. I would need 80% added which would cost £34, or two 24h fills on the club site for £18. So £88 or £72. Still very competitive…

 

[Raywood]

So 300 miles £61 so at current petrol price 188 a litre that's 41 mpg. Bloody impressive. Bet no one here gets 41 mpg towing 1500 kg. And that is top whack electricity prices. Shows how economical these things are. And if it were diesel 199 comparably even better. Worth 74 mins rest breaks. For me at least

I am happy with 41 mpg solo, never mind towing.
It is that range, the unreliable charging infrastructure and the fact that you will normally have to unhitch to get the car charged that would put me off but if I could get 200 miles towing on a single charge it might just attract me. I have also seen reports of people being fined for stopping to charge, having to queue to do this causing them to exceed the time you are allowed on the site.

 

[anotherDavid]

Using Auto Traders an online calculator with my towing consumption of 32 mpg and with fuel at UK prices your 260 miles would cost me £71.34 so I think the jury is still very much out on the economics when towing but I do see that pottering about solo and charging at home it is very different.

However the logistics of finding charging stations, uncoupling and coupling a caravan at service station then hanging around whilst its charged look like very hard work for the savings for anything other than the very occasional towing trip

On a recent touring holiday to the south of Spain we traveled from home to the Costa del Sol via a Bilbao ferry , driving a total of 947 miles in 6 variable stages (shortest 77 miles and longest 293) . The car has a range of over 400 miles towing but I don't like to see the tank on less than a quarter so we just filled up when convenient, never more than once a day and sometimes not at all .

.

 

[Tobes]

Using Auto Traders an online calculator with my towing consumption of 32 mpg and with fuel at UK prices your 260 miles would cost me £71.34 so I think the jury is still very much out on the economics when towing but I do see that pottering about solo and charging at home it is very different.

However the logistics of finding charging stations, uncoupling and coupling a caravan at service station then hanging around whilst its charged look like very hard work for the savings for anything other than the very occasional towing trip

On a recent touring holiday to the south of Spain we traveled from home to the Costa del Sol via a Bilbao ferry , driving a total of 947 miles in 6 variable stages (shortest 77 miles and longest 293) . The car has a range of over 400 miles towing but I don't like to see the tank on less than a quarter so we just filled up when convenient, never more than once a day and sometimes not at all .

.

I very much agree. There is no case to be made for the economics just around towing. And there is no good reason to switch to an EV “just because”. But it does make the switch viable if it’s not your main use case. Ours definitely is not a 90% tow, 10% solo vehicle, but the other way round.
The last two trips we did (Cotswolds and Stamford in Rutland) were both within range from a single charge. The Cotswolds was close enough we didn’t recharge while away at all, so the trip cost about £6 towing. But towing all the way to the south of France would be a different world of course…

 

[Hutch]

Being retired now, and at retirment spending £35 k on a new Santa Fe, ideal for my Coachman 560. There is no way I can afford to buy a new EV car to tow my caravan. I like the idea, just have to wait for the lottery to choose my numbers.

 

[anotherDavid]

Our towcar is just that and spends over 80% of its time towing. It goes back in the garage mid October hooked up to a battery charger and rarely moves until Spring. For the rest of the time we have a Yaris runabout . Its quite old and could possibly be replaced eventually with an EV but with prices as they are its questionable.

 

[Woodentop]

I very much agree. There is no case to be made for the economics just around towing. And there is no good reason to switch to an EV “just because”. But it does make the switch viable if it’s not your main use case. Ours definitely is not a 90% tow, 10% solo vehicle, but the other way round.
The last two trips we did (Cotswolds and Stamford in Rutland) were both within range from a single charge. The Cotswolds was close enough we didn’t recharge while away at all, so the trip cost about £6 towing. But towing all the way to the south of France would be a different world of course…

For the record, Stamford is in Lincolnshire.

 

[Tobes]

For the record, Stamford is in Lincolnshire.

******. I knew I would get it wrong. We were actually staying on a CL in Belmesthorpe, just outside Stamford, which IS in Rutland. The three way boundaries between Lincolnshire, Rutland and Northamptonshire are confusing at that point!

 

[Tobes]

Our towcar is just that and spends over 80% of its time towing. It goes back in the garage mid October hooked up to a battery charger and rarely moves until Spring. For the rest of the time we have a Yaris runabout . Its quite old and could possibly be replaced eventually with an EV but with prices as they are its questionable.

For the last 4 years of its time with us, our XC90 was our main tow car too, but it was only doing about 3-4k a year, (down from 8 or so) and simply wasn’t worth keeping just for that when the children started to fly the nest. We had the V60 PHEV as the “primary “ tow car when the XC90 left and the Polestar arrived, but the Polestar has proven to be so capable, we didn’t need the V60 either. Frankly, learning to use the EV properly has been a nice challenge to have and is rewarding in the process. Really looking forward to our 2nd EV arriving in a month.

 

[Buckman]

Indeed. Both those chargers at up at the 57p or more kWh. Cheaper options are available, but mostly through pre-paid membership. I simply don’t do enough public charging to warrant such pre-payment.

For the stopping time. At the 1st spot we took 50 mins of charging, plus perhaps 7 mins of unhitch and hitch (we are pretty speedy). We would have had to stop anyway for comfort. During the 50 we were not really waiting at all. My daughter wanted to check out Greg’s so we walked over and looked, but decided not to get anything. I wanted coffee from Costa, so we headed back there. We had a coffee and some hot breakfast items, took turns in the bathroom and took a look at the route ahead. By the time we were done, then car was charged sufficiently. We could have been much quicker, but the relaxed pace was fine. Second stop, again we had to for a loo break. We could have been faster again, but really didn’t wait more than 10 mins.


It certainly has. Those chargers used to cost 30p per kWh or maybe 35p. It’s now more like 60p. But even with the big increase, it’s the efficiency that wins. Our XC90 used to cost about £80 for that journey, filling at Rheged. Today it would have been more like £130.

You forgot to add in the extra cost of money spent in the serviced on food to refuel yourselves. With an ICE vehicle we would have by passed the services and if stopping at the services for a short break, used our own facilities.

 

[Tobes]

You forgot to add in the extra cost of money spent in the serviced on food to refuel yourselves. With an ICE vehicle we would have by passed the services and if stopping at the services for a short break, used our own facilities.

😄 Not forgotten at all. At the first stop, We would have had exactly the same in the ICE. At the second stop, it was just a loo break, and own food.

 

[Buckman]

😄 Not forgotten at all. At the first stop, We would have had exactly the same in the ICE. At the second stop, it was just a loo break, and own food.

Seems that on another forum some very valid points were raised by other members of that forum.

 

[Tobes]

Seems that on another forum some very valid points were raised by other members of that forum.

Other forum???!!!! Wash your mouth out! PC is the _ONLY_ forum!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Seriously though, lots of people have lots of reasons not to use an EV to tow. And of course the decision is purely personal, any reason that means it’s not right for that individual is key.
My aim is not to persuade people out of their oil burner into an EV. It’s just to give folks an insight into what can be done when towing with an EV.
Certainly there is no argument anyone could make for an ICE to persuade me back into one, so why should I expect the inverse?

Valid points for them, yes. Valid points the preclude EVs from towing, absolutely not.

 

[Buckman]

Valid points for them, yes. Valid points the preclude EVs from towing, absolutely not.

TBH I can think of many reasons why a EV is not ideal for towing, but lets not go down that route as you are happy with yours and I am happy with our ICE for towing.
However as a small second car preferably a PHEV or maybe an EV would probably be ideal except the price. The price of the latter is unaffordable for us.

 

[Raywood]

To me an EV is an ideal tow car with the weight and power out put, the problems of the range and recharging are just too much for me at the moment, and the initial cost does not help.

 

[RogerL]

******. I knew I would get it wrong. We were actually staying on a CL in Belmesthorpe, just outside Stamford, which IS in Rutland. The three way boundaries between Lincolnshire, Rutland and Northamptonshire are confusing at that point!

And sometimes postal addresses refer to an adjoining county - we're presently in Ingleton , North Yorkshire for which the address adds "via Carnforth, Lancashire"

 

[Hutch]

And sometimes postal addresses refer to an adjoining county - we're presently in Ingleton , North Yorkshire for which the address adds "via Carnforth, Lancashire"

The Woosies had a meet up there, a few years ago, at Thornbrook Farm, lovely site, and a lovely Cl at Meadow falls near the Marton Arms.