Towing our Airstream to Colorado || 500 Mile Rivian Road Trip
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- Can a Rivian R1T tow a 30' Airstream up a mountain? We took our camper on a 500+ mile road trip to find out! ⇟⇟⇟MORE BELOW⇟⇟⇟
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#Rivian #airstream #R1T #electrictruck
EXCELLENT, very real-life example of what it's like to travel with a non-tesla EV. Sure hope the charging infrastructure improves quickly. Great example for new EV owners to learn from and realize you have to assume it will take longer than you "hoped". Showed very well the benefits and disadvantages of EV travel with a camping trailer, too. Thanks!
Thanks for watching!
Well at least you have a spot to hang whil3 waiting for charging…
Anyone who can afford $150K worth of car-truck-trailer should be in an EV SUV and staying at good hotels. It is like people who pull a trailer with boat. A/ If you have a boat you should be sailing to your destination B/ If you can't sail to your destination then leave it behind (don't buy a boat in the first place) and simply hire a boat at your vacation locale.
@@honesty_-no9he "You will own nothing and be happy" I guess is true for some people. An RV or boat is more that a Hotel or a place to fish/sail.
LOL honesty - Humbug! The memories these awesome parents are making with their children are PRICELESS. I still vividly remember the many trips my fam took driving from Michigan to California in the 70s when I was little. The first charge snafu alone may be a fond memory for any one of these kids later in life. My parents have since passed and I cherish road trip memories, the good and bad. Good on you aef! Cheers!
We used to work our lives away too & when we thought we had it all.... we really didn't! We have been traveling full time non stop for 16 months now & it has drastically changed our world! All of those material items we thought we needed are long gone! We have spent more time with our children in 16 months than most parents spend with their children their entire childhood! This is such great information you guys are providing on EV. Thanks a bunch!
The full time dream! ❤️ We'd love to at least spend a year or two on the road before our kids are out of the house! Glad you guys are enjoying the info on EVs!
@@AllElectricFamily Yes its so worth it!!! We don't know how long we will be out here traveling but we probably never want to completely let go of this freedom! Thanks again for your awesome videos!
Never saw a better ad for the Tesla Supercharger network!
Can't argue to much with that.
Great to see this kind of content! I’m not an EV convert yet but I’m pretty interested in the technology. Seems Electrify America has reliability problems based on other reviewers using their charging stations.
Yes they do, we came from Tesla so it's a change for us. We are having to rethink some things because of the chargers not the vehicle which is sad.
@@AllElectricFamily A couple troubleshooting tips with EA chargers that might help in the future:
1. If you're getting connection issues where the vehicle & charger can't communicate, do a vehicle reset
2. Always hold the charging cord / plug flush into the charging plug when the charging is starting. If the plug isn't flush, there's a good chance it won't start charging
3. Many times there are "connectivity issues". In those cases, using your phone to charge in the app, or using the NFC to tap will still allow the charging to start. I always just use the tap / app to be safe.
4. As you stated, if there's an issue and the above "standard procedures" don't work, switch chargers / cords. Don't try reconnecting a million times.
Once I figured all of these steps out, EA has been relatively reliable. Until that point, only maybe 15% of EA chargers worked.
also, for what its worth (i know im late to the party on this), you can call electrify america and they can remotely reboot the chargers. it has a pretty high success rate amongst people i know that have had to do it, you just have to invest a few extra minutes with them.
electrify america is ass. I use Tesla for my R1T and other networks but EA is just a crapshoot.
Great video. I really appreciate all the detailed stats on your drive as well as your charging stops! Excellent stuff! I hope you guys are having a great time on all of your adventures!
Thank you for watching! Glad the stats are helpful for you. We are loving the truck and heading out on as many adventures as we can!
Katie is the hero of these videos and is why we have a day to celebrate moms. Note how _she_ made the sandwiches, enforced the dog/leash discipline, _automatically_ accepted the blame for the refer accident, all while sharing the video documentation tasks.
She is awesome. She greatly enjoys bringing real life to the videos and showing the faults of travel sometimes. Thank you for recognizing her.
Great video. You are Trail Blazers, literally and figuratively. Thanks for sharing your adventures. Have fun with out of spec motoring.
Thanks for watching, glad you are enjoying coming along on our adventures!
Metric! I love you guys, thank you ;)
As a trailer owner here in EU, I have to say that weight-redistribution hitch seems to be real bummer to unhitch!
You’re welcome!
Once you get used to it, it isn’t too bad. Only takes about 3 minutes to unhitch and 5 to hitch up.
Blue ox is Easy Peasy
Thanks. You are the first folks I’ve seen trying to do this. I have a Cybertruck and an Airstream in my future.
It’s been fun figuring it all out. I do know there are a few other people out there towing Airstreams with their R1Ts…but they don’t have channels that I know of!
Thanks for doing the video. We have the kids also and an r1s and r1t on order (ordered the r1t after an r1s test drive). We have been towing our 30' airstream for the last 4 years with a duramax (which we're keeping for long distance towing) but were very curious as to what the towing experience was going to be like with the rivians. This is perfect for satisfying our curiosity until they come in.
Thanks for the ride along
I LOVE your airstream! We had ‘69 airstream that we gutted and rebuilt to fit our family of 8, but then we had another baby and had to move to something bigger. I still miss it though, it was great!
We are loving ours, thanks!
Great video thank you for putting it together. I really wish that Electrify America would address these ongoing issues with chargers. I'm about to head to Atlanta from NY in my R1T hoping all chargers will work :) Will make a video about my trip as well. I got 22" wheels.
Yes, they absolutely need to address the issues. If they're not working, they've got to get someone out within 24 hours to get them fixed. Looking forward to seeing your trip!
1:34 lol. You guys have sweet kids. Godbless.🥰❤️
😂 Didn't even see her doing that when I was editing it. She's a goof!!
Liked your video, glad you got to your destination, finally. Electrified America needs much improving IMO. Can’t wait for my Cyber Trucks
You and me both!
If you’re having to hitch and unhitch frequently for charging you should check out the Anderson weight distribution hitch, super easy to hook and unhook once it’s set up
We only had to unhook twice in 6 charging stations over the course of our whole trip. So it’s not too often. But we will look at it!
Great info, beautiful family, keep the videos coming!
Thank you! Will do!
Loved it and I hope more videos are coming out soon. I would tow with the R1T, it can handle it and is a sweet ride.
It sure can handle it! We will have more up very soon!
Seems to be totally impractical. You drive for 2 hours and go 100 miles. Then it takes an hour to fill. So average trip speed is in the 30 mph plus range. You demonstrate a very good attitude to this nonsense.
If you need to tow a trailer you need to ditch the electric.
Nice video…..
Thanks for sharing this trip; great to see a Rivian in action and all that can be done with an electric vehicle in general!
That was interesting. Glad you’ll finally made it. It’ll be a while before the infrastructure is ready, reliable and consistent. Good education..
That’s the reason we do videos, so others can get ideas and see if it’s for them.
God bless you for taking on the challenge. EV's certainly aren't the premium option for long distance towing. But you proved that it can be done if you have the time and patience to do so and certainly appears that you planned well. Good job!
We do have fun with challenges and new things. Thanks for watching.
Fantastic that you have the previous generation of Tesla charger that is higher power! What a fantastic idea!
Gotta get that juice fast!
@@AllElectricFamily Definitely makes a difference!
I just got this as a suggested video and we saw your truck in Estes. I commented to my wife about it being the first Rivian I have seen in person. Thank you for sharing!
Very cool! There were a few of them running around up there that weekend. 😉 It's a great place to take them to get some mud on the tires!
Thanks for posting this. Very interested in this content. Subscribed!
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for subscribing!
Thanks for your series on the Rivian/EV trucks. This made my desire for one multiply.
Glad you’re enjoying it! They are pretty awe trucks!
Informative and real :) Good!!
Glad you liked it!
Love the Huskers t-shirt!
Go Big Red!
Great video. I appreciate all the geeky numbers. 🤓
Glad you like them! The numbers are important--they can tell you a lot!
Great video!
Can you share your total numbers for the trip?
How many total miles, average speed, kwh used, total charge time and total charge cost.
Thank you
Posted on our community tab now!
Good idea to see what it can do for a family adventure
It's a great truck for adventure!
I was tracking but this trip seemed brutal. Am I tracking it right? About 100 miles a stretch, then wonky charging.... etc? Reminds me of Model S 60 driving experience with 10-20 MI headwinds WITHOUT Tesla charging network....You two are heroes! You stuck to the plan. Honest. But what a pain... we all thank you! Rivian is a great looking car/truck but I wouldn't be able to go through the experience that you two documented.
This is wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing all of this great information. You are exceptionally generous and adventurous!
Thank you very much, we are glad it was helpful! We do love a good adventure!
That t-shirt is hilarious. I need to get one...
I towed a similar sized camper with the Model X several times. There were times where I had to be creative with charging but I NEVER had to unhook the trailer. Either there was sufficient space or I hooked from the opposite side (like you did). Another advantage (and I might be lucky) I have never had to switch chargers due to them being down. Only switched once to get faster charging due to load balancing between A/B chargers (known issue with older super chargers)
Creative=adventure
1.1miles per kwh towing that trailer and with 5 people in the truck is damn impressive imo. Especially factoring in the rivian has less than 4 gallons worth of gas in total energy capacity onboard it. And then to get about 75 miles of towing range back for $8.55? Very nice indeed. 👍🏻😎
We were very impressed with it all around. Can't wait to take it out again!
Very cool! How does the R1T handle towing the AS? It seems pretty solid. What are the Payload numbers and how well do the regen brakes work heading downhill?
fantastic video, thanks for making the effort to educate and enlighten. connectivity issues aside, i am willing to bet the charging speeds on the Rivian were due to BMS/thermal management controls. you were working her pretty hard overall, and must be pretty close to the wall on GCWR. would love to see a weigh slip on you all in. safe travels and keep up the great content !
It's possible the heat and how hard we were working it took a toll on our charge speed. It will be interesting to see when we do more trips without the trailer.
This is concerning since I use a diesel to pull a deck over to haul a tractor plus a travel trailer now. Working the batteries hard and charging will degrade them quickly I imagine.
@@commonmanfamily4752 shows we need better setups like the lightning which has dual coolant loops&compressors on all the tow pack equipped trucks. Tfl channel showed even maxed out towing up the ike gauntlet at speed didn't phase the temps in the lightning at all.
Rivian should copy that idea, with both them and Ford adding heat pumps. Also battery pre conditioning when en route to a fast charger.
I mean tesla has had this stuff going on for a damn decade now, the standard is out there for others to copy. Get with it competition.😀
@@4literv6, Rivian does use a compressor to air condition the cooling fluid used for it's battery pack. When it is below 50F outside, then the cooling unit is just a fan, but at the temperatures they took while on this test run, the cooling compressor should have been working.
Very patient Husband and Wife, God Bless ya….
One way to grab detailed stats on charging is to run an ODB2 dongle with Bluetooth and Car Scanner. You can even setup car scanner to record position so your trips are recorded with all kinds of data and maps.
We will look into those, thank you!
Appreciate how you converted the stats into metric! 😊
You bet!
I enjoyed watching this video. I was hoping for a totals disclosure at the end where you did total distance, number of charge stops, combined time, and cost. Then calculate the cost based on a Ford F250 with a diesel doing the same trip (which is what most people tow with).
John S. Greetings from Boulder, Colorado. Enjoyed your video. Hope you have a great time in Colorado.
Thank you ver much, we loved it! Missing it already!
Awesome video! So you can go an average of 90 miles at around 50 mph. Then you have to charge.
How heavy is the trailer?
It is nice that when you stop for the night at a camp you can leave next morning with a good charge.
Look like you guys are well prepared. Love the tech hook up you did, can you share all the parts so I can look into getting something like that to get me ready for my trip to Seattle with my truck. Thanks
Awsome vid, we saw you heading back towards Colorado from NE, we were goingnto chase you down, but, we decided not to creep you out as a fellow R1T owner, and we were heading to AZ...tick toc
You should have said hi! 😀 We love chatting.
@@AllElectricFamily well, guess I could turn around...but going to japan soon...see ya when we get back. Great vid, awsome family
yes, could you please provide total data with and without trailer for comparison.
We will get some data on a trip without a trailer soon. So far we've only gone places with the trailer!
what is your miles per kW with and without trailer? how long did it take to drive 500 miles with trailer? how many times charging and total down time while charging?
Great video! So fun meeting you guys. Can't wait to see your off roading take!
Yes! So much fun meeting up. Hope to get that one edited within the week!!
Fantastic video watching the Rivian pull that HUGE airstream and your family. Could you tell me how the regen worked with that big trailer. Did the trailer do most of the braking or did the Rivian regen do most of it? I got my Rivian red canyon LA in April, incredible truck.
Thanks for taking us on your trip, gave me great insight on a real world adventure.
thís what év futree twmbed getng marred naersd chéf dufe sigel igé
Regen did most of the breaking on the Rivian, even when we came back down the mountain. We did have to manually break sometimes, but we let the truck gain back some power whenever we could!
I haven't seen a red one in person yet! And thanks for watching!
Thanks for this information. It is really useful to see that while the CCS chargers are pretty far behind the Tesla versions that I currently use that since they are often in pairs instead of 4-8, it is possible to get close enough to charge without unhooking and blocking other people. Stopping to charge 5-6 times a day does get old especially if you are doing it several days in a row, but when I get my truck, I won't be having to rush back for work, so I anticipate a long travel day being 3 charging stops and one is overnight. Having the camper with the bed, kitchen and bathroom opens up a lot of possibilities that aren't there when you are driving a Tesla and the hotels are all full for whatever reason.
Thanks for the fun, informative video. I have had some similar problems with Electrify America (EA) chargers with my Bolt EV. I have had some success calling them and having them reset or reactivate the charger. With a trailer in tow, that my be quicker then repositioning. Perhaps worth a try.
My wife is waiting for her R1T max pack some time next year we hope. Our First Mile test drive is coming up July 8. Very pumped.
Luckily it wasn't too bad to reposition the trailer this time around. But we may need to try having them reset it in the future. Have fun on your First Mile, you'll love it!
Hi, saw a Rivian like yours towing an Airstream like yours the other day through Crescent City. I didn't know what brand the truck was until I saw one in Brookings at Harbor campground. Was that you? Cute family!
Not us! But we are so excited to hear of more Rivians towing! ❤
@@AllElectricFamily I wouldn't have seen your video if I hadn't seen the same combo and decided to research. Happy Trails and many charging stations.
CCS seems to have a few issues with communicating with vehicles. It’s a nightmare getting the car and charger to work. It would be great if the standard was better.
CCS works, at least all CCS plugs on all Tesla Superchargers in Europe. So: CCS works...
It would be. Hopefully they can get it figured out soon.
At one overnite campsite you plugged into the camp’s power pole. You are “fueling” the EV on their dime. I wonder how long before RV parks begin installing meters or just charging a surcharge for EV’s. Excellent video - thanks.
It is an interesting conversation we are always open to talk about or even pay extra for but we did pay for the site didn’t plug in the camper this time and the cost to them would have been roughly $6 in electricity. Most of the conversations we have had from actually campground owners has been great, but only time will tell. Thanks for watching.
Thanks guys for taking the time, found this very interesting and informative. Yes absolutely I would love to take on a trip (I have an R1S on order). Wonder why the huge range in cost per kWh 🤔 .12 to .36 big spread.
Nebraska charges by the minute. Colorado charges per kWh. Makes it super cheap in Nebraska! Glad you found the video useful!
@@AllElectricFamily Here in SC, we (at home, level 2), pay .105 per kWh. At that (Colorado), rate...cheaper to run a ICE car at say $4.50 per gallon. Wow...shocked at that price. Thanks again
@@billwaterhouse5894 TFL compared towing with electric VS Ice in Colorado. It was still cheaper but not by much
FYI. When you leave Estes go through Loveland and there’s an EA station by target there that will work better than Longmont.
Good to know!
Good video! We have an R1T with a max pack on order so it's going to be awhile before we get ours. Planning on towing our fishing boat on trips of 200 - 300 miles. Hoping the charging situation inproves by then. As it stands right now, here in Missouri, there are lakes we could not get to because there are no fast chargers on the route unless we are willing to spend 6-8 hours charging.
We are hopeful it will improve quickly. With more and more EVs on the road, the manufacturers are going to have to push the charging forward so people will want to buy their cars!
I love these videos. Road tripping 5-up with a dog towing an airstream, in an EV - brilliant!! Proving that it’s possible and that the Musk-mobiles are not the be-all and end-all of EVs.
And so much more enjoyable and less pretentious than some other channels.
Question: why aren’t you using the Rivian-supplied 240v EVSE that is in the bag under the frunk floor? The whole extension-to-Tesla-to-adapter-to-truck thing seems unnecessarily complicated when you get to the campground.
Thank you! The supplied charger is 32 amp and the 1st gen Tesla charger is a 40 amp so basically it will charge 25% faster which is important with a larger battery. If we did multiple nights at a campground we could use the supplied charger and be fine but one night we need that max charge we can get.
@@AllElectricFamily Aha. Good to know. Thanks. 👍🏻 Keep doing these videos. Seriously.
where they have eg 4+ chargers in a location, they need to have one of them minimum be a ‘pull through’ for towing vehicles. Hopefully Rivian at least with their new charger rollouts will do something like that
Couldn’t agree more. We hope that documenting this will help in the future. Thanks
Needing to go really deep on the charge is obviously a function of not enough fast chargers spaced out closer together. Ideally in years to come we shall see high power DCFC every 50 miles or so along the highways. Then you could ride the faster charging wave lower in the pack, unplug at 70-80% SOC and hop over to the next charger.
Yes, and hopefully those new chargers will account for towing as well! Then we'd be flying!
@@AllElectricFamily why anyone would install a DCFC without the ability to “pull through” in 2022 is beyond me. Yeah totally agree on that point and it’s frustrating that this lesson wasn’t understood better a few years ago.
What a pain trying to travel and charge batteries. We always had a Honda generator in the truck bed. Then when we stopped. The AC was able to operate in our travel trailer or 5th wheel. Good Luck Forward. Enjoyed the video. Thank you.
Even with a few hiccups it didn’t feel like a pain to us. We know as we figure out charging on the CCS network it will get better-just like how we made mistakes with our Tesla in the beginning. We are working on solar and batteries to run our A/C at stops. Thanks for watching!
@@AllElectricFamily "We are working on solar and batteries to run our A/C at stops" Nothing better than that. And if you have much wind you could even use a small wind generator and fill some electrons into the batteries @ night.
Love the Rivian. Love the Airstream. I just don't know that the two are a good combination just yet. Having to stop so often and for so long does not seem like a good time. Having to unhitch at times just to charge would make this really bad.
It seems that way when you think about it, but once you're on the road it is surprising how much it isn't that big of a deal. At least, that's what we have discovered. We only had to unhook one time on the way out, which isn't bad.
The problem people keep ignoring is that lithium-ion batteries have about 1/100th the energy density of gasoline, even less so compared to diesel. You end up with a predicament of weight and long charging times for truck & SUV batteries. I'd be surprised if large electric delivery trucks are practical for anything but local routes with few hills. The much hyped solid state batteries will probably not solve the density problem much.
@@AllElectricFamily It might not be bad in nice weather....
unhooking at chargers would drive me nuts. I would love to see more chargers that are setup like a gas station.
I believe it's coming with time. It took about 3 minutes to unhook and about 5 to get hooked back up, so it wasn't too big of a deal.
@@AllElectricFamily which can be much more relaxing than taking the kids inside to shop/eat 😂
Electrify America is opening a couple in select states with pull thru charging stalls and canopies later this year.
More locations will follow, tesla also them at the largest sc locations already. So it's just a matter of time imo. 🤔
@@4literv6 I have seen that. To bad it’s all on the west side :/
Being able to pull in forward reduces your disconnects. That’s one advantage over Tesla.
Charging connection a hassle but it seems like it gets easier as you get used to it. Charging seems expensive, but you are pulling a lot of weight so that has to be factored in as well.
That is a really big trailer. The disconnects definitely look like more of a process compared to my Casita camper on my cross country trip.
Overall it looks like you had a very successful trip out there.
Yes, pulling in forward does help reduce those disconnects! The advantage Tesla has over EA chargers is that most of them are behind the curb, so sometimes we could pull in past the charger and not have to disconnect. As time goes on I think the number of disconnects will decrease.
Connection issues are definitely a hassle. There really has to be a better way for the CCS network to get this done. We did burn through a lot of energy, so it would be higher than your average trip...but that holds true for gas vehicles as well. With a big trailer, you're going to burn more.
We do have a weight distribution hitch, but it only took about 3 minutes to unhook and maybe 5 to get it hooked back up. It doesn't feel too complicated once we are used to it!
It was a great trip. We can't wait to do it again!
When it comes to that first EA charging experience, be prepared for many more. I'm not sure why some of them just work and some of them don't. I especially don't know why one will work great on the way from A to B but the exact same charger will not work on the return leg just a few hours later.
That has definitely been our experience since then. They need to figure it out, it makes EV’s look really bad and it’s not because of the vehicles.
@@AllElectricFamily Agreed. I took the Chevy buy-back for my Bolt. Since then I've been trying to convince my wife to trade in her SUV for an EV. She won't do it in large part because of the trouble she saw me have with EA charge stations. (EA is by far the most common DC charger in my area.)
Thanks so much for these videos as you guys are truly pioneers. We are about 3 years from retirement and doing exactly what you are doing. I have a Cybertruck on order and will probably end up with the airstream as well. Your videos are giving me the confidence to do this and also the reality of the real range. Hoping the 4 motor Cybertruck that I will buy has between a 180KWh to 200 KWhr pack with the newer faster charging 4680 cells. Rumors are it will have a 900V architecture so looking for 180 miles 10-80% range and 30 minute to 80% recharge times. The number one issue I see in almost all these non Tesla EV’s is the total non reliability of the Electrify America Network compared to the Tesla Charging network. Hopefully that becomes a thing of the past as the number and charging stations and number of competing networks grows. The benefits of the EV recharge at the campsite and use as the tour vehicle when unattached from the trailer are massive to me, not to mention the usability as a normal vehicle for the 80% of time we are not towing. Keep up the great videos!!!
Thank you so much! If they get the 500ish miles of range in a Cybertruck...the range and the charger network will be pretty hard to beat!
I've had the charger burn out the circuit at an campground before. 😬Apparently it's relatively common. They just weren't built to carry the load, especially for hours. I'm kind of scared to plug in at campgrounds. If I do it, I'm going to adjust the amps to half. Just be aware of this.
That's to bad, this is first time I have heard this, we have been doing it for 4 years now. I wonder what circuit it burned out, for us when not needing to leave we don't charge at full amps I always have to ready to go by morning and if we stay at a campground for days it does charge much after the initial charge. Hope that campground you where at checks their pedestals.
@@AllElectricFamily It burned out the entire panel. It didn’t trip the breaker, I could smell it. One of the KOAs in SW Pennsylvania I stopped at had banned EVs from plugging in entirely. It was pretty upsetting because they could have put this on their reservation notes. It nearly stranded me. Apparently they’ve had panels burn out several times. Maybe it’s just some parks have old panels with low amp ratings. 🤷♂️ I’m glad it’s not generally a problem. Leave it to me to find the two parks with issues!
We going to Estes Park in July with our Model Y. Camping in Rocky Mountain National Park, Moraine Campground. Unfortunately looks like Electrify America not improved at all. I've had same problems with charging my first EV, BMW i3 in 2019 and then Bolt in 2021. That's why for me longer trips - only Tesla. For local driving any EV is OK. Our Trip will be 1100 miles but we did same before in Model S and last year Model Y South Dakota and Florida. Great video about towing huge camping trailer with EV!
Yeah, they need to figure out a way to get there stuff working. Tesla is definitely easier for those long road trips. Your trip sounds like it will be an awesome adventure! Happy camping!
Very nice video. I hope one day there will be enough charging infrastructure that vehicles with trailers won't need to detached.
There will be. Didn’t happen very often for us, so hopefully soon it’s not an issue!
@@AllElectricFamily I hope so! We lived in our airstream for 8 years with our 3 kids. What makes it unconvincing it will happen is how most gas stations still don't accommodate vehicles with trailers. I think we might need to wait until big rigs are electrified before it's a reality at truck stops. Then we would be competing with all the trucks for charging...
Pulling that trailer, not counting the overnight stay due to charging stations down, how many hours did it take you to make the trip, counting charging times?
Where is the Rivian Adventure Network when you need it. Rivian has said its DC chargers will take trailers into account.
Hopefully coming soon...really, really soon!
Why haven’t you put a topper on the Lightning yet? It should increase range when towing at lease 10% 👍
So tell me about your MPGe calculations. Thanks for some great videos on electric towing.
We just use an online calculator! We put in our miles per kWh and it gives us the MPGe. www.inchcalculator.com/convert/mile-per-gallon-equivalent-to-mile-per-kilowatt-hour/
It’s mostly just a way to easily show how efficient the truck is if you aren’t familiar with EVs.
Just found this after loosing touch with your channel after you towed the rented 24 ft Airstream with your MX. I will try to get caught up with what happened in between. I am currently sitting in our 2000 30 ft Airstream Excella in my sister's drive way in Detroit. We are towing with a hitch modified Model Y and have found our trip from Collingwood ON Canada to Rochester Minnesota and back to here a great adventure. We are getting anywhere from 550 w/mile to 750 depending on speed and wind. Got stopped in Wisconsin for "impeding traffic" at 51 mph :( but were just issued a warning so have been going faster since and stopping more. We usually stop every 60-70 miles given the sweet spot of 10-60% in the charging curve and much prefer 250 kw chargers. Stop times about 20-30 minutes and have only had to unhitch 2x so far. Leave campsites with 90% state of charge.
Your comments about slowing down and enjoying the trip ring true with us. We are now enjoying the journey and have had many more conversations with great people during our stops and often don't get time to clean the windshield.
Looking at ways to run the a/c when stopped as the trailer is usually too hot to enjoy during stops in this current heat wave. I may try our portable EGO "generator" that we carry and can charge through the solar panel on the Airstream. Have you considered plugging into the Rivian to run it? I think the ac plug in the back is 20 amp and might be able to run the Airstream's a/c with a soft start module on the a/c?
Thanks for following along. That is great info. We need to do more testing with the outlet in the back but I believe it isn't powerful enough. In the future I will have a victron inverter with some batteries and solar plus the truck to assist in that:) We believe that will be the most efficient way to do that.
Do you have a gen 1 Tesla Mobile Connector? The gen 2 is only 32 amps.
Yes, it's a gen 1 charger.
What are the dimensions and weight of your airstream
30' Airstream Flying Cloud 30FB Bunk. About 6,400 dry and 8,800 loaded.
I’m glad there’s people out there willing to put in the effort to experiment with these things. Kind of reaffirms my suspicion that the technology has a LONG way to go. Not just in battery capacity/range but in the infrastructure as well. Not only do we need more charging stations but the ones we have need to be redesigned for larger vehicles in mind. I’m curious to see where this goes in the next 5-10 years. And what happens when delivery companies start to adopt the technology more and more. You’ll almost have to have truck stop type charging stations. There is an Amazon hub near my house and in the morning it’s impossible to find a pump to fill up when all their delivery vans head out. I can’t imagine if those were all electric and spread out around the state. I understand they would probably leave the hub fully charged but that’s still a lot more electric vehicles on the road to think about.
Those are good thoughts. Let’s hope in the future there will be more positives then negatives.
EV vans would be fully charged overnight at the depot and not use public charging.
@@smartelectriccar That’s what one would assume for now. But would they hold off on long distance deliveries and longer routes until the technology catches up? Or have their own charging stations out and about. Just to implement electric vehicles you almost have to rethink the way you do deliveries. We’ve seen now how much weight effects range. I can only assume it’s not very efficient to have a van that only has 200 miles of range for a delivery driver. I deliver cooking oil daily in The state of Wisconsin only yet I still put on 400+ miles a day.
Great video. Seems as though towing a trailer can be stressful, and pulling with an EV is VERY Stressful. (Or frustrating)
Breakdown: Tow for maybe 200 miles or less (like most gas/diesel vehicles) then stop at very limited number of “fast chargers” for 1-2 hours of frustration (getting it to work, unhooking and rehooking) and charging up to 80%. Where as the gas/diesel stops for 10 minutes and maybe even gets a windshield wash with a fill-up to 100% at (very expensive) stations located almost everywhere. I regularly tow a set trip that’s 450 miles away. Less than 8hrs including gas and a short food stop. I just don’t have two days each way to to make the trip. So for now, I’ll pay more (a lot more) and use gas/diesel. Keep the videos coming.
Maybe rent a tow vehicle the once or twice a year you travel over 200 miles.
Yeah some challenges to overcome with the current infrastructure and tech but we are having fun! Thanks for the comment and watching.
@@guyod1 so it's smart to spend 80-130k for a EV, and then when you want to take a trip, spend over 2k for a HD truck to pull a camper for vacation?? that is far from smart.
@@danielwilliams4473 if an EV saves you $500 a month in gas. That is still a 3,500 savings a year
@@guyod1 you're saving monet if the truck is $80-130k. Pay up front and save later doesn't work for the average person. Most people are average. And for $80-130k you have to borrow somebody else's stuff. That's the point of having your own.
Cool info on the charging and capabilities. What's the Gross Combined Weight Rating of the Rivian?
Believe it is 8532lbs.
Wow very interesting 👏 why is 80% full?
Keeping your charge below 80% is best for battery health, so if you don't have to take your battery to 100% it should be avoided.
I was considering getting a Rivian and Airstream... but after watching this... seems like too much trouble to charge! Charging takes longer than I thought, I'm surprised the charging stations simply don't work sometimes (which I've heard about from other sources, too), and having to unhook to charge seems like a pain.
Glad you got something out of the video, thanks.
@@AllElectricFamily Thank you for blazing the trail! I imagine things will get easier and I look forward to seeing how things progress.
Since you are plugging into camp ground power do you recommend a surge protector for the EV
Thanks for posting. Very informative. I have an R1T and am in the decision making process for an Airstream (or Oliver). How does (or does) the R1T charge the trailer batteries in tow? Does it do that? Or does solar charge in tow? The Airstream folks around me never heard of an R1T 🙂
Maybe I missed it - what was your towing efficiency? I’m averaging 1mi/kWh with my R1T and our 5500lbs travel trailer.
Your trip points out it is pretty obvious the Tesla Charging Network is clearly years ahead of the other options. Using a patchwork of Electrify America, etc chargers appears to require some patience. Hopefully over the next two-three years more and more 350+Kwh chargers will be rolled out. (I don't know if Electrify America will be a charging network...not sure what there motivation is to keep their chargers working).
Yes, the Tesla network is miles ahead of Electrify America. We haven't had much experience with any other networks yet. And unfortunately they were even worse on our way home. I think we will see vast improvements in charging networks over the next couple of years--but I think the companies making the cars are going to have to push for the changes. It's only hurting them when people aren't confident in the charging they need on trips, if they're not confident, they won't buy the cars. Since we have experience with an EV we knew we could make it work, even if the network wasn't great. Others might not be so eager.
@@AllElectricFamily Here is the biggest problem with Electrify America: It was formed a s part of a consent decree reached with United States officials in 2016. Volkswagen agreed to numerous actions, with US $2 billion in total, to promote electric vehicle use over 10 years to atone for the additional air pollution it caused. One aspect of the program was a pledge to establish a public electric vehicle charging network........How good can their network be since the only reason they are installing chargers is they were forced at gunpoint to create one. Their motivation is a lot different than Elon/Tesla's. Tesla really really wants to have a great charging network. EA does not have that motivation. We need another player...and unfortunately I don't believe Rivian can execute on rolling out a lot of chargers anytime SooN.
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Great video. I appreciate seeing how the r1t handles the towing. How fast were you driving on the interstate. I see you posted your average speed. How did it handle at interstate speed?
What color is your R1T? Thanks for the video!!
It's El Cap Granite! Thank you for watching!
@@AllElectricFamily I have been seriously thinking of switching to El Cap.
Look up Lippert 335852 Straptek Weight Tension Technology Kit. Much easier then those chains.
We will check it out. This hitch is just what came with the trailer!
Thanks for showing honest charging adventures. These summary points would have been nice...so...charging ~5 times/~ 5 hours waiting to charge/~100 dlls in charging fees, for a ~500 mile trip....yikes. I get stopping to smell the roses, but wow. Electric vehicles have come far, but still need the range and superior charging stations/technology before I even think of owning one.
Love the Rivian...rn it beats all competition imo.
Just saying, but...how much grocery shopping can one do on a 500 mile road trip? Don't you stock up before you leave? Oh, and bathroom breaks can be done anywhere, as you're pulling a house!
Check out our community tab. We had a follower who did a similar trip share his stats. I think you'd be surprised by how close the EV is to a ICE in time on the road. We save time in trip prep by not doing our shopping in advance. Then, we do it while we are charing in stead. As far as bathroom breaks, there is no way my kid or myself are making it 500 miles without stopping. Almost always when we stop someone is on the verge of an emergency. So, once you break down the reality of the trip vs. the idea of what you think the trip should be, the time difference isn't that great.
The Rivian is an excellent truck, so many uses and a lot of fun to drive!
Im hoping to get at least 1.3mi/wh with our R1T and 26 foot 5800 pound camper. Your getting 1.1 ish with a much larger and heavier camper so it seems reasonable for us to expect 1.3.
Potentially, it’s all about aero. What trailer do you have?
How do you find towing with the stock mirrors? Are you running a rear view camera on the trailer? We’ve got a 20FB and thinking the R will tow ours super easy!
Tow mirrors would probably be better. But, it works. And you’re correct, it will tow that very easily!!
Nice job if you could read your status sheets to us it would be faster it was fast and small hars to read.... Great video folks 👍 electric is hear to stay and your videos will help all of us make the jump into electric technology 😀 The Banks Family
Good suggestion, thank you!
With an F350 dual tanks, you can pull that off NON-STOP .Very simple, NO DRAMA. Most charging sites in California prohibit campers. You must detach. Life is short. What is your time worth?
Very nice. Thanks for the educational videos. I guess you're making it happen. I tow with a superduty diesel that cost me $25k to purchase (in 2004). Of course my range is much further. Operational Cost is probably much higher for me especially with Biden gas. But I'm not full time so your setup would not be even close to being worth it for me (Rivian's are $$$$$). It's like buying a $30k lithium system for your motorhome....maybe worth it if you're full time, but propane is so much cheaper for the weekend warriors. Although, I'm wondering if full timers would get frustrated with your setup. I'm curious though and will continue watching....thanks!
Is the weight distribution hitch necessary with Rivian’s self-leveling suspension? I’ve found it unnecessary on the Model X. Thanks for the great videos!
Depend what you mean by necessary. On the Model X Tesla says you shouldn't use a weight distribution hitch with that vehicle. On the Rivian that state we need one for our weight of trailer. With that, I run our camper back and forth to storage(2 miles) without and its does perfectly fine as long as the hitch height is correct after the vehicle levels. For piece of mind we use it on long trips
@@AllElectricFamily Perfect! That helps my planning a great deal. Thanks so much!
Seems to be a common problem with chargers. Thanks for the info. But yea from a lot of video's I have seen the charging network seems to be spotty with charges that don't work like you have found or work but at half or less than half of charge rate.
It does seem to be a common problem. It’s really too bad. They’ve gotta get something worked out!
How much do you think it was the chargers vs the Rivian? I’ve seen other videos that said the latest software update in June is causing some issues.
Its always both. We had the same problems with many charger/car combinations in Europe for many months. And there are still some problems.
Well, we ran into more issues on the way back and two other vehicles (not Rivian) tried to charge and couldn't get it to work either. So, that lead us to believe it was the charger. Could have been the truck in other cases though.
Great video. Curious on how the brakes handled going thru the mountains. Otherwise a great real life video. Someday that'll be our family.
Didn’t use them much but did good when we did. There was one part that regen wasn’t keeping up and we had to apply. We had a higher state of charge so regen wasn’t working 100%. Excited to see it!
Brave trailblazers.
☺️ Thanks, we enjoy figuring it all out. Once you do it once it’s not too scary after that!
We are buying a travel trailer and I have decided to sell the Rivian R1T get a Diesel Sierra 1500. I think the time and cost savings for the EV wont be that significant compared to the Diesel 1500 which I estimate to get about 14mpg when towing.
Yeah it’s not for everyone. Hope you get what you want. Make sure to get a big enough truck depending on the size of the trailer, we have owned a half ton before and didn’t like the stability of our old travel travel. Happy Travels!
if you have the money maybe you should put solar on your trailer and a solar powered heat pump as well to save on electricity for your truck and trailer. Maybe see what tiny shiny did with their airstream.
We love learning new things so will check that out.
Honestly this would be a no go for me. It seems like the trip completely revolves around getting from one charge station to the next, that would be a nightmare. Anxiety caused by worrying if you'll find a charger that works. Charge times need to be cut in half and I would have to have 250 miles pulling a trailer of distance before I would consider buying one.