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I know that there are more than few folks that are planning to tow campers with their new Rivian, and I'm one of them. While there is still not a lot of data on range when towing, what I've seen so far has not been encouraging,
I'm looking at things from my own personal perspective, which means towing a larger teardrop, just under 8 feet high, 7' 8" wide, 15-1/2 feet long and about 2,000 lbs, for relatively long distances, and to some fairly remote places. While the size & shape of the trailer make it slipperier than many, there is still a fair amount of drag. Both theory and all the data so far indicate that drag is that is the primary culprit in range loss. The data also seem to indicate that almost regardless of size, range loss will approach 50% when towing anything with a larger aerodynamic profile.
I'm still new to the EV world, but from what I see reported, the power consumption of the R1T when towing is on the order of 90-plus kWh per 100 miles. This would mean having to stop to charge nearly hourly, even with the larger 180 kWh Max battery pack, assuming you keep to 80/20 SOC parameters which effectively means 108 kWh capacity. While it's less than ideal to have to stop so frequently, the true impact is that having only 100 or so miles of range likely rules out visiting the many parts of North America where charging stations are sparse, at least for the foreseeable future.
As I said, I'm new to the EV world, so I'd ask the august group of knowledgeable folks who browse this forum to tell me if my assumptions and what pass for calculations on my part at least approximate what towing with a Rivian would be like.
I'm looking at things from my own personal perspective, which means towing a larger teardrop, just under 8 feet high, 7' 8" wide, 15-1/2 feet long and about 2,000 lbs, for relatively long distances, and to some fairly remote places. While the size & shape of the trailer make it slipperier than many, there is still a fair amount of drag. Both theory and all the data so far indicate that drag is that is the primary culprit in range loss. The data also seem to indicate that almost regardless of size, range loss will approach 50% when towing anything with a larger aerodynamic profile.
I'm still new to the EV world, but from what I see reported, the power consumption of the R1T when towing is on the order of 90-plus kWh per 100 miles. This would mean having to stop to charge nearly hourly, even with the larger 180 kWh Max battery pack, assuming you keep to 80/20 SOC parameters which effectively means 108 kWh capacity. While it's less than ideal to have to stop so frequently, the true impact is that having only 100 or so miles of range likely rules out visiting the many parts of North America where charging stations are sparse, at least for the foreseeable future.
As I said, I'm new to the EV world, so I'd ask the august group of knowledgeable folks who browse this forum to tell me if my assumptions and what pass for calculations on my part at least approximate what towing with a Rivian would be like.