> > I don’t understand why a car is given a towing rating in Europe but not > here.
I've spent some time looking into this over the years. European cars in Europe typically have much higher tow ratings than those same European cars in the US. As near as I can tell, the reasons are as follows: 1. European traffic laws usually have an explicit and lower towing speed limit. The highest I've ever heard of this speed limit being is about 100km/h (about 62mph), though it's often lower (80km/h or below). 2. European traffic laws require trailer brakes on smaller trailers than the American convention (trailer brakes on trailers above > 2000lbs). 3. Last and least, the USA is known for its litigious culture. I would have been able to tow much heavier loads with the small town vehicles I've used (Ranger, Escape, Sienna), *if* I were expected to remain under 60mph at all times. But, on American roads, you're expected to keep up with unladen traffic when towing, which effectively means you need the ability to exceed the posted speed limit safely with a trailer -- and that's very different from how the Europeans do it. My current tow vehicle is one of the GM 2-Mode hybrids. It's big and thirsty compared to most of the vehicles discussed on this list, but it's relatively affordable (10-year-old used vehicle), it has interesting tech under the hood (it drives like an enormous Prius), and the towing setup is compatible with a Silverado/Tahoe/Sierra/Yukon (though the capacity numbers are different). One of these big vehicles would barely notice your 1500lb boat, and the Tesla Cybertruck will be a drop-in replacement when it becomes available. I find the hybrid drivetrain attenuates the annoyances of driving a big V8. This thing may be bigger than what you're looking for but, if you're looking for a dedicated towbeast, it's worth considering. -Luke On Fri, Dec 18, 2020 at 10:27 AM Mark Hanson via EV <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Folks > I have a Leaf for my son and Bolt for me but since we gave away the Ranger > and Prius, now want something that will tow my H20 ski alum boat 1480lbs > total including trailer. Initially we wanted the Prius Prime 50Mpg with 25 > mile EV range but only saw European towing rating about 1500 lbs and 0 > Towing for the US in the owners manual (Tesla3 similar). I don’t > understand why a car is given a towing rating in Europe but not here. > The Rav 4 Prime has a good towing rating about 2.5k lbs but we both don’t > like the angry-aggressive front grill face it has (I know that’s a silly > reason ). Although it’s 42 miles EV range, but about 37mpg. The Ford > Escape (or Euro Kuga) PHEV gets 42mpg and 37 mile EV range and a bit > cheaper $32k instead of the Rav4 Prime $38k. The Ford gets $6.8k back from > the Fed and the Rav4 $7.5k until 200k sold. The Ford also has a happy > smiley face/front grill. I thought of the Tesla Y with good towing but > looked like $50k with *no* Fed rebate and when I pretended to online order, > went up to $60k. That’s what I initially paid for my house! Could buy two > Escapes for that. I’ve got an Escape on order but aren’t making till > January the dealer said probably due to the Kuga euro battery recalls on > the 20’ models. The 20’ here is made of Unobtanium. Although a PHEV > sounds like a good idea if towing long distance (pure EV range is half with > boat) the problem is the gas doesn’t get burned much locally so put in > Stabil fuel stabilizer but still concerned about fuel turning to varnish - > about a year I think. My brother with his Prius Prime has done ok with > Stabil and annual road trips to occasionally use the gas. I thought about > a Electric Truck , like F150, CyberTruck , Rivian but currently to pricey > and too huge / bulky for me. I tow a 5x8 trailer behind my Chevy Bolt EV > (that says no towing) for a truck function now. > Guess “life is full of trade offs “ as John Lennon would say. > Have a renewable energy Christmas > Mark > Www.Reevadiy.org. > > Sent from my iPhone > _______________________________________________ > 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/20201218/9b328a75/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)
