The problem with EV tow vehicles

[GCroyle]

Never seen this setup just curious.

Maybe how long does it take to do the OK you're good for XX miles to a full charger and the bill is $$$ for the road call etc.


As long as I can keep my 2005 running and get #2 to keep it rolling I do NOT see an EV in my future. The 2005 is LONG AGO paid for and does what I need. It just took us with the 30' Airstream in tow on a 1600 mile trip from SC to SW PA-> Hershey PA and back home. It didn't miss a beat.

 

[Darkbloodmon]

Never seen this setup just curious.

Maybe how long does it take to do the OK you're good for XX miles to a full charger and the bill is $$$ for the road call etc.

Noted, good question on the charge cycle/cost, it might depend on each vehicle and their battery capacity/technology. I'll get to asking.

I towed a 2013 Nissan Leaf last week that wouldn't go into any gear even after being fully charged, the 12v system lost power and it needed to be jumped to get into neutral. The couple fortunately were able to pull over at a station with an EV charger. Spent $9 to fully charge their Leaf in 30mins. Spent some time talking with them driving them back home to Lenior and the Leaf has an approx. 80mile range. Later model Leaf's have larger battery options for 250mi ranges, Just as other manufacturers and so fourth.

 

[Tuesdak]

Your neighbors will love you when you run that unmuffled beast...

Well I masked it up...

It's final completed project condition does have the "residential critical" muffler. Not that it matters much to "air cooled IDI rattle". But like the mask: it's the thought that counts!

This entire "Collection" is a medical need to keep the power on and a sad but true statement about the infrastructure in this country: specifically the electric grid. Storms fail the power here, but, next door is a 3rd world country absolutely unprepared to charge all those electric vehicles they dream of.

CA couldn't keep the power on ~20 years ago and now with the higher rates after Enron's "free market FRAUD" STILL can't keep the power on. One of the reasons that made CA too MISERABLE to stay in. Wore out a generator with the early 2000's Spot Market Rolling Blackouts CA had.

Nothing's Changed since. Now it's Criminal Probation of a Power Company forcing them to shut down dangerously unmaintained and ancient power lines for a little wind.

CA and Texas (Rare 50 year storm TX had) are the reasons Generac (Residential grade J U N K) stock is through the roof. I went 'used' vintage in part due to NEW generators backordered for nearly 1 year at times.

Others can fill us in on Emissions and why this set wouldn't happen in CA now. New small generators are soon to be banned there as well. Are candles and flashlight batteries still allowed in CA? Asking for a tourist.

'We are going to shut down your car charger due to high power demand. We hope you understand and your place of work/customers also understand why YOU ain't going anywhere today. Thank you for your cooperation.'

 

[bcbender]

I left CA 20y ago for many of the same reasons... as well as too many self indulgent entitled people. Sadly I think they found me and are coming to make me miserable.

 

[Topzide]

@bcbender, What row you in? I think we got booked on the same boat!

 

[bcbender]

Somewhere in steerage.....

 

[Regcabguy]

Lousy infrastructure,batteries in their infancy and child enslavement mining the materials.

 

[Topzide]

Lousy infrastructure,batteries in their infancy and child enslavement mining the materials.

Need to solve the recycle issue before we jump off this cliff! I'm all for wanting to find an alternative whether it be a renewable fuel, battery, fission or whatever works the best. To many batteries sitting around leaching, carbon fiber that at the moment can't be recycled and the hazards of a solar panel that no longer is viable! New tech doesn't happen overnight! We've come a long way in the short time we started using engines (steam) to electric motors! It'll happen faster this time due to computers and theories that have been solved!

 

[Darkbloodmon]

Never seen this setup just curious.

The irony of this is funny. Its a standalone gas generator/inverter just bolted down to the bed. Not a dual alternator feed unit.

As I'm told; the idea behind adding this truck to our fleet was that "We just needed something ASAP to use and be able to assist those one off EV calls" meaning it was just thrown together for the sake of being able to offer something. More details to come on the usage for different EVs and charging/rates by membership level.

 

[bcbender]

So DBM.. are the members going to have their chargers with them ... I don't carry tools in my truck, I wonder how many EV owners carry their charger with them, I would likely not.

 

[Wiredawg]

I have a 25KW Kato Light with John Deere turbo diesel. It has 200 gallon tank, 140 gallons in the MH that had 8KW Onan, and 112 gallons of diesel in the Ram 5500 if we had an extended outage.

 

[Darkbloodmon]

So DBM.. are the members going to have their chargers with them

Fairly certain there is a bag of adapters kept inside the truck, I doubt as well as you do anyone's going to carry it on them like their phones.

The mass majority of members calling for a spare tire install don't know if they have one or not. You stop expecting much from the general public the more and more you interact with them....

I changed a spare on a 2019 F Sport NX300 Lexus the other night; While I'm calling to give my ETA, get details and the like, I ask "Do you know if you have a spare tire on that vehicle, alot of new vehicles nowadays don't have one from the factory" to which the member replied. "I don't know, it should have one, it's brand new I just got it".

After getting the other details and hanging up, I decide to google it using the super computer in my hand that I used to call the member on their own handheld super computer. Thankfully it was designed by the Japanese and not Germans. It had a doughnut. I can't complain to much though, it's rare I get light service calls driving a rollback.

 

[bcbender]

I quit expecting anything from the general public a few decades ago.

 

[Tuesdak]

We've got a dedicated EV charging F-250 6.7 Power Stroke at our AAA yard, It's most likely a dual alternator configuration, it has a very..... large battery pack/inverter/generator in the bed.

Last I knew we called them "Welding Trucks" ...

The battery pack to start the generator in your picture or bigger one not pictured?

Spotted another Diesel-Electric pickup. They have been around awhile apparently.

 

[Darkbloodmon]

Last I knew we called them "Welding Trucks" ...

The battery pack to start the generator in your picture or bigger one not pictured?

Spotted another Diesel-Electric pickup. They have been around awhile apparently.

View attachment 135523

It's a standalone unit with its own battery to start the generator. Though the rest of the bed is filled with batteries for roadside installation.

It appears to just be a generator/inverter without a storage unit so I would assume as far as EV battery charging that it'll be run until there's enough power in the vehicle to make it home or to the nearest charging station.

I did see a nice 3cyl diesel welder on marketplace that was making my finger itch....

 

[Matt42]

I quit expecting anything from the general public a few decades ago.

I could list multiple examples. But would need to go to general discussion.

 

[slowmover]

Read a recent account of a 385-mile travel trailer trip using a Rivian pickup. 12-hours versus 6.75-hrs with this CTD and my TT (a longer & heavier rig) using his parameters.

On an Interstate where stressing about range would never find me with such a vehicle solo or towing.

Ran it a few years ago in the big truck in 40F winter. Thankfully, a light load (30k). “Gee, I wonder why there aren’t any other big trucks on this route”. Burned more diesel than if I’d taken a longer route. Would be hell on earth in summer.

— Think there’s a relationship between vehicle choice and route-planning re brain power? Author said he’d traveled it solo many times. Hmm, high desert and difficult grades . . . .

Turnouts (multiple) on every grade ascent with water cisterns. Literally the highway you’d only drive at night for the cooler temperatures that our fathers and grandfathers warned us about.


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