New to the forum and dreaming of an Escape 19

[Selkirk]

It is interesting to learn about the manner in which EVs a being adopted in different areas across the country.

Teslas are a pretty common sight in Calgary, but I assume that the majority are being used for travel within the city and charged at home. Public charging stations must exist, but I can't say I've ever noticed one. EV trucks are present, but still rare....I've never come across one used as a tow vehicle.

I was surprised to see a relative abundance if EV charging stations during my last trip through BC, along the entirety of the Crowsnest Highway. It's definitely a different story in rural Alberta, where I frequently travel.

 

[Cathleen Shea]

And... kinda díckish, at that... blocking the rest of the charging stations.

 

[jjdeluca]

And... kinda díckish, at that... blocking the rest of the charging stations.

My thoughts, exactly!

 

[jnfrombigt]

https://youtu.be/63AT_cy2icE

Remember when Karl tested the lightning. I take at least one 4000 plus mile trip each year and an EV just doesn't work for me but I can see where for some folks it's a perfect solution. I've seen people make them work for their needs. If I were going in that direction a hybrid such as what RAM is bringing on the market would work range wise. Now, no way I could afford one.

 

[MarioS]

A diplomat, right there. ��

I can't help but cringe at EVs for towing. All the articles I've read show that pulling a load reduces viable distance of the battery by half. I don't fancy every 100 miles or so needing to stop and charge for 20-60 minutes.

And I extrapolate from the use of my battery-powered tools vs. AC power tools. The better choice for big construction jobs has always been steady power. The batteries go dead quickly under heavy use.

I can't justify the expense for an EV vehicle against what my needs are. The biggest... no charging stations in the backcountry, where I intend to roam.

100-120 miles is the range of the Ford Lighning, the Rivian and the current Cybertruck. It's the new Chevy Silverado that just came out in July and upcoming Dodge RAM that change everything. There are many tests on youtube where they tow more than 200 to 250 miles with 8000+ pounds trailers with the new Silverado. The new Ram should also provide about the same if not more range than the Silverado. They both have a way bigger battery then the Ford, Rivian and Tesla.

The other thing that I'm really positive about is the fact that you can hook up the Escape directly to the pickup bed and have all the pickup battery power as if you were hooked up in a camping. No need to buy multiple lithium batteries in the Escape.

Anyway, I might be a bit too optimistic and maybe I'll end up banging my head always waiting at charge stations I'm always an early adopter on technology so I guess it will be the same with these new pickups.

 

[CharlesinGA]

The other thing that I'm really positive about is the fact that you can hook up the Escape directly to the pickup bed and have all the pickup battery power as if you were hooked up in a camping. No need to buy multiple lithium batteries in the Escape.

Scratching my head over this one. You drive a good ways, run the batteries fairly low, and have camped in a campground with no power hookups. You hook the trailer to the trucks electrics and run it down further, and no way to charge it.

If you are in a campground with power pedestals, you are going to hook the trailer to the pedestal, not the truck. The truck needs charging, so you either plug it into a charge station if the campground has one, or you use your own charge station you are carrying with you to charge the truck, hopefully you have a 50 amp connection and a splitter so you can get power for the trailer and the truck from it. But many campgrounds don't have 50 amp (though more and more are being rebuilt with more and more infrastructure to handle EV and campers.

Charles

 

[MarioS]

Scratching my head over this one. You drive a good ways, run the batteries fairly low, and have camped in a campground with no power hookups. You hook the trailer to the trucks electrics and run it down further, and no way to charge it.

If you are in a campground with power pedestals, you are going to hook the trailer to the pedestal, not the truck. The truck needs charging, so you either plug it into a charge station if the campground has one, or you use your own charge station you are carrying with you to charge the truck, hopefully you have a 50 amp connection and a splitter so you can get power for the trailer and the truck from it. But many campgrounds don't have 50 amp (though more and more are being rebuilt with more and more infrastructure to handle EV and campers.

Charles

It all depends how much power you need because the truck batteries are huge and besides the fridge and AC, the Escape don't need much just to run the pump, lights and fan, it's almost nothing on the truck batteries. Sure if like you say you've already driven a long ways in the outback and you plan on using full AC, fridge, microwave...on batteries then yes, you'll end up stuck in the outback forever! We wont do much boondocking and when so it's only for a night at a time, so the plan is to hookup the truck to campground power unless we need the AC. As I said it's all theory right now, I have no real experience but I read quite a bit this summer from the folks with the new Silverado EV and it all seems quite possible.

 

[Cathleen Shea]

My thoughts, exactly!

yup, yup.

 

[cycloneporcupine]

I don't yet have any experience hauling an RV with an EV, but I do own a Ford F-150 Lightning (extended range with larger battery) and have camped with it.

I spent a week camping with my kids at a national forest campground -- no power, pit toilets. We used the truck to power the 12V fridge, heat water in an electric kettle, and run cooking implements (InstantPot, electric griddle). I saw about a 5% battery decreased per day, about 6.5kWh. After a few days that also included driving the truck to a few locations, we headed back to the nearest town (30 minutes away) and charged the truck again for 15 minutes. It's not too different than managing your propane refills. I think for boondocking, your water tank would run dry before your batteries in many situations.

Some evidence suggests that the range penalty for fiberglass trailers isn't quite as bad as 50%. E-Hermes on YouTube reports geting 1.5 kWh per mile towing a Casita. My highway efficiency is typically about 2.2 mi/kWh, and I would consider a 30-40% reduction pretty reasonable. YMMV, naturally.

 

[John in Santa Cruz]

I don't yet have any experience hauling an RV with an EV, but I do own a Ford F-150 Lightning (extended range with larger battery) and have camped with it.

I spent a week camping with my kids at a national forest campground -- no power, pit toilets. We used the truck to power the 12V fridge, heat water in an electric kettle, and run cooking implements (InstantPot, electric griddle). I saw about a 5% battery decreased per day, about 6.5kWh. After a few days that also included driving the truck to a few locations, we headed back to the nearest town (30 minutes away) and charged the truck again for 15 minutes. It's not too different than managing your propane refills. I think for boondocking, your water tank would run dry before your batteries in many situations.

Some evidence suggests that the range penalty for fiberglass trailers isn't quite as bad as 50%. E-Hermes on YouTube reports geting 1.5 kWh per mile towing a Casita. My highway efficiency is typically about 2.2 mi/kWh, and I would consider a 30-40% reduction pretty reasonable. YMMV, naturally.

a casita is a fair bit smaller than most escapes... they are only 6 feet wide, they are very rounded, and they are 3500 lbs GWR. My E21C is 7 feet 6" wide, a fair bit squarer than a casita, and 4500 lbs GWR. its also a foot or 2 taller than our 16' Casita was, but the Casita 17 is a bit taller than the 16.