In all this discussion...I don't think I saw using a car + small 4x8 or 5x8 utility trailer mentioned. Torklift Ecohitches are available for Tesla vehicles, Nissan Leafs, Toyota Priuses, and many other cars.
There is a *lot* you can do with a 2000 lb budget. 500 lb utility trailer+1500 lbs load. Hauling plywood, drywall, yard waste, moving furniture...all are possible. A utility trailer isn't covered, but that isn't a given for truck beds either. So what if the Prius MPGs drop from 50 mpg to 25 mpg on the freeway? It is still 25 mpg doing truck-like duty on the rare times you need that ability, while getting 50 mpg most of the time. Add a Scangauge to watch Prius water temps when under load. Hint: they are pretty stable, meaning the cooling system is keeping up even with a 2x fuel burn rate. Hook the same trailer up to a Tesla Model S/X...and beyond the change in Wh/mile, it won't really affect performance. Okay for 100 miles on the freeway in pretty much any conditions, and sometimes longer distances. Gen 1 Leaf can also handle the load, but the already short range is quickly made even shorter. Okay for maybe 15 miles (factoring in range degradation in a Gen 1). My rough rule of thumb: cut rated EV range to 1/2 or 1/3 of nominal value if planning to tow non-aero trailer with EV at freeway speed on flat ground. That should be conservative enough to avoid getting into a bind while you figure out actual energy consumption. This ratio of 1/2 to 1/3 is a side effect of the aerodynamic and drivetrain efficiency of most EVs. They simply don't take lot of energy move around compared to a high-drag trailer. Another upside on small trailer...lifetime registration in at least some states. Downside is learning to back a trailer out of some situations, and figuring out where to store the trailer (options: driveway, garage, shed, backyard, under raised deck). On Thu, Jun 18, 2020, 15:35 EVDL Administrator via EV <[email protected]> wrote: > On 18 Jun 2020 at 11:45, Lee Hart via EV wrote: > > > Perhaps the problem is that the auto companies don't sell to end-users > > -- they sell to *dealers*. So the dealers dictate the features; what > > they want to sell; what gives them the highest profit margin. > > I think that's a large part of it. It's compounded by the fact that > decades > ago the automakers decided to heavily promote truck-like vehicles, to > evade > fuel efficiency regulations. > > To make that strategy even more profitable, they've hardly changed the > basic > design of pickup trucks since they introduced independent front suspension > in the mid 1960s. Most of their development costs for them are fully > amortized. > > Despite a few high profile EV ads (usually posted on Youtube), from what I > can tell the automakers don't advertise anything in the US but big trucks, > SUVs, and "crossovers" (tall, bloated station wagons). > > So guess what they sell. > > No other nation I've visited has anything close to the US's concentration > of > huge, non-functional pickup trucks on its roads. > > Other countries used to be predominantly small cars, but that's changed. > In > the last decade or so the automakers have been fabulously successful in > changing other countries' vehicle mix by - surprise! - heavily advertising > their SUVs and "crossovers." > > These less efficient vehicles are causing real consternation in EU > government offices as they try to achieve their CO2 reduction targets. > That's one reason that the EU as a whole, and its individual states that > still have somewhat forward looking leaders, are pushing hard for EVs. > > For example, France has just raised its direct EV incentive from 6000 to > 7000 euros. That's hard cash, folks, not a tax credit. They also > subsidize > installation of EVSEs. The automakers demanded subsidies on ICEVs too > because of lost sales during the viral lockdowns, but France said "non, > véhicules électriques seulement." Can you imagine that happening in the > US? > > Aside from EVs, small, simple passenger cars are the least profitable > vehicles worldwide. The labor required to build them is roughly the same, > but customers perceive large size and luxury as having high value. > Therefore big, luxurious vehicles can be priced higher than the actual > additional manufacturing cost. > > I suspect, but don't know for sure, that next least profitable are utility > vehicles. They sell in small numbers, but again have fewer high-margin > luxury options and still require about the same amount of labor to > assemble. > > The fact that some customers PREFER low cost small vehicles and utility > vehicles is immaterial. The automakers and dealers don't like to sell > them, > so that's just too bad. > > Despite all the current optimism, I expect that in the long run, > affordable > US EVs will also tumble into the "not profitable enough" bin. > > I sure hope that Tesla survives, and comes up with something more > affordable > and smaller than the Model 3. > > David Roden - Akron, Ohio, USA > EVDL Administrator > > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > EVDL Information: http://www.evdl.org/help/ > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > Note: mail sent to "evpost" and "etpost" addresses will not > reach me. To send a private message, please obtain my > email address from the webpage http://www.evdl.org/help/ . > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > > > _______________________________________________ > UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub > ARCHIVE: http://www.evdl.org/archive/index.html > INFO: http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org > Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA ( > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20200618/84c657af/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub ARCHIVE: http://www.evdl.org/archive/index.html INFO: http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
