And none of the factors you pointed out will have any impact on the range of the equivalent ICE truck?

 

It will be interesting. The Bolt is made in Korea in the Sonic plant, I believe.

 

Surely it won't work well for those of us who tow, but I don't think it'll be pointless for the thousands of people who don't.

Fair point, though it'll be good to get some real life numbers. Car and Driver was estimating well under 100 miles of range on a full charge while towing. Around town that's no big deal, but on a road trip that's a lot of stopping. And while my gas truck sees a huge hit in its range while towing, even at 8 mpg I'm still able to get over 300 miles between fill ups.

 

Other than towing that will lower the MPG, no. But that's easy to solve because gas stations are everywhere.

Remember not everyone wants to run in Walmart or the tanning bed while waiting on their vehicle to charge. In the cold winter to boot, eww. I get it for Florida and SoCal but I doubt too many regular Chicagoans are that hip about EVs in the winter there.

Cold weather doesn't affect a modern, warmed up ICE. Neither does hot weather other than a little heat soak off the line.

To answer your basic question, my LX would tow a 6k lb boat to Asheville from here through the mountains no problem in zero degree temps provided the roads were safe. And back and forth and back and forth a million times and be fine.

 

Yeah it does, I have and do tow 12,000lbs with my HALF TON regularly, it gets about 6-7mpg average under that load (not only because of weight, but drag). and I can still get 275 miles out of the 32 gallon tank of gasoline. If I had to stop every 50 miles to fill up, I would been annoyed AF in my 20's. In my late 30's I have to **** every 2 hours, so it really doesn't matter anyway...until you throw in the little detail of it takes 10 mins max to gas and ****. If it took 30+ minutes, like it does to charge a battery, I'd never get anywhere.

 

Electric vehicles have a massive "disadvantage" when you tow. EV powertrain is very efficient but when you add weight and wind resistance it still takes the same amount of energy to drag it down the road as it does when towing with a petrol/diesel truck. May sound obvious, but whatever efficiency the EV had goes out the window. That's why the Tesla Semi is so delayed, they are waiting until they can pack in enough batteries to give decent range. Ford appears to have done basically nothing to reduce weight, it's an F150 with batteries stuffed in the middle.

 

Why are you putting quotes around "disadvantage"? I literally bet the EV F-150 wouldn't make it 50 miles towing a boat...for what, $80,000?? As someone mentioned, Car and Driver has already been over this.

Tesla semi is likely a pipe dream, really doubt it will happen. Tesla can't even get the Cybertruck out.

 

Share the link to the 50 mile range please.

And Tesla is definitely behind on their schedule to release the CyberTruck , just like every other schedule they've stated in the past. However it's definitely coming out. More than likely before the end of next year - this will be made at the Texas factory. Anyway back to the F150 now.

 

50 miles is a guess. Heavy truck, towing 3 tons through mountains in the dead of winter? It's not far off, I bet.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a3...-range-towing/

https://jalopnik.com/towing-range-fo...-li-1846936001

BTW Cybertruck won't be out this year, I'd put money on it.

 

Tesla already gave the timeline of the Cybertruck to next year, 2nd half. The Austin plant is behind on the buildout and they have to get the Model Y up and running before they get Cybertruck up and running. Also, Cybertruck requires the 4680 battery cell that hasn't been commercialized yet. The first cars that will have the 4680 will be the Cybertruck so probably the latter half of 2022 is when we will begin to see deliveries.

 

Interesting link there with 100 miles when towed. I wonder how that will work itself out with the early adopters.

 

I just find this hilarious and ludicrous as well.

How many construction guys/contractors/company owners/horse towers/boat towers just looking to buy a meat and potatoes truck are going to give two flips about an electric option, let alone one with a terrible range? It's just all for show, glitz...virtue signal. I can't even read Car and Driver anymore, canceled after 35 years.

 

Why would anyone be towing a boat in the dead of winter? I get your point but using your example doesn’t make a lot of sense. I would just see how many miles it gets towing 3 tons in the dead of summer just for a good comparison but I do get EVs will suck for this task.

 

Plenty of boats get towed around in winter, new ones out for delivery to another state, etc. but yes I see your point. Maybe a track car or something would be a better example.

I just jump to "boat" example bc that's all I tow....for now.

 

A track car being raced in the winter?
And back and forth a million times??

"To answer your basic question, my LX would tow a 6k lb boat to Asheville from here through the mountains no problem in zero degree temps provided the roads were safe. And back and forth and back and forth a million times and be fine."