Towing with an EV…
Discussion
I have a toyota bz4x, I selected this car as it was the cheapest car i could het on the work lease scheme to which a tow bar could be added at the point of ordering.
I have a small dinghy and travel to regattas from time to time as well as backwards and forwards to the local sailing club.
As its an EV it is an excellent tow car in the main but isnt blessed with the greatest range, but the local trips are fine.
So 90 mile each way trip this weekend, i get to destination with 52% remaining. So the return trip may be a bit tight. I decided to pull into services on the M6 and chuck a few electrons in whst grabbing a coffee.
The placement of the chargers makes this pretty much impossible without clogging up the whole carpark with the trailer and no where handy to park the trailer. There didnt seem to be a charging option in the long vehicle carpark where the caravans go.
The services where pretty busy which didnt help, so i carried on home but succumbed to range anxiety a few miles from home and used one if those new petrol stations with a bank of fast chargers- it fortunatley wasnt busy, but may have been ok even if it was.
Future trips may need a bit more planning!
I have a small dinghy and travel to regattas from time to time as well as backwards and forwards to the local sailing club.
As its an EV it is an excellent tow car in the main but isnt blessed with the greatest range, but the local trips are fine.
So 90 mile each way trip this weekend, i get to destination with 52% remaining. So the return trip may be a bit tight. I decided to pull into services on the M6 and chuck a few electrons in whst grabbing a coffee.
The placement of the chargers makes this pretty much impossible without clogging up the whole carpark with the trailer and no where handy to park the trailer. There didnt seem to be a charging option in the long vehicle carpark where the caravans go.
The services where pretty busy which didnt help, so i carried on home but succumbed to range anxiety a few miles from home and used one if those new petrol stations with a bank of fast chargers- it fortunatley wasnt busy, but may have been ok even if it was.
Future trips may need a bit more planning!
This new installation in Winchester has 4 towing friendly charging stations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTtf8miPkIo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTtf8miPkIo
B5mike said:
This new installation in Winchester has 4 towing friendly charging stations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTtf8miPkIo
Is there anything to discourage people without trailers from using them? Because I can see plenty of people deciding that a drive-through charging bay is less effort than one they have to reverse out of and hence those bays getting clogged up first. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTtf8miPkIo
B5mike said:
No different to some people with cars using campervan parking spaces in motorway services...lets see how it goes first
True, although there tends to be a "convenience penalty" with those in that they're usually considerably further away from the services building. I guess if it becomes a problem they could probably solve it just by making the drive-through chargers slightly more expensive.
Evanivitch said:
Drive thru spots for trailer access are becoming more common, but in many motorway services it would be different infrastructure to the car charging unless you plan to stop and drop. I think ZapMap has a filter for it.
thanks i'll check out zapmap was using the electroverse app - didnt see an option to delect trailer compatible on thatEvanivitch said:
PetrolHeadInRecovery said:
Since I'm right now level-1 charging at a heady 1.7kW, I started if that would be an option at the destination?
A few hours could reduce range anxiety quite a bit?
Bang it upto 10A!A few hours could reduce range anxiety quite a bit?
It's still useful, 100 miles of range (car only) overnight without wiring anxiety.
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