What's your minimum range?

[DrivingDan]

Before you would tow with an EV? Talking real world range with camper. Be reasonable, of course everybody wants more but what is the minimum miles you’d drive before your bladder explodes

From your number you can estimate the approximate battery size you’d need.

• Assume 1.25 average m/kWh (1-2 total range tilted lower since higher freeway driving)
• Battery Range 10%-80% (don’t pound your battery or waste time past 80%)
• Assume highway average speed of 60 mph

Example calculations

• 200 mi battery = range of 140 mi (70%), derated by 1.25 to 112 miles/1.8 hours driving
• 300 mi battery = 210 miles actual, derated to 168 miles/2.8 hours driving
• 400 mi battery = range of 280 mi derated to 224 miles/3.7 hours of driving
• 500 mi battery = 350 mi actual derated to 280 miles/4.6 hours of driving

[dbircky]

That’s making the assumption there will be an available charger at the location when your battery gets to 10%. Several people on here talk about driving in the “top half” of your tank. That’s starting and refilling to the top. I don’t do that, but I also don’t refuel to less than full. If the price is good, I’ll tilt the MH and can usually get another 10 gallons in from the first auto shutoff.
When I towed: my range was 450 miles using 90% of my maximum capacity. That was about 8 hours of driving.
In the MH, I have a range of almost 1,000 miles using 90% of my fuel capacity. I don’t think we’ll see an equivalent battery powered Class A. But I could live with an effective range of 500 miles between charges. Would also have to figure in energy consumption for hvac in the bev.

[DrivingDan]

Originally Posted by dbircky

That’s making the assumption there will be an available charger at the location when your battery gets to 10%.

It’s just windage, real world will be a lot different, people will want to stop here and there, take a bathroom break or this or whatever, and ultimately EV driving is somewhat different from ICE driving, so people’s behavior changes. The point is not to have a exact use case that will be followed but a representative example to give people a feel for the numbers.

Would also have to figure in energy consumption for hvac in the bev.

Good point, but with any decently designed vehicle it shouldn’t matter. Driving summer the AC makes no different in range in my experience with my small battery - it’s lost in the noise. With a heat pump you’ll see the same on the other side in cold temps, but you also get to recycle motor heat (it appears GM likes to keep my motor around 130 deg so there’s plenty of heat being generated - if the vehicle recycles it.) Anyhow with the large batteries we’re talking about for towing it’s truly in the noise, and towing you’ll get monster power cycling (both positive and with negative regen) with 5000+ lbs in back of the hitch.

[Bobby F]

Currently in a rig with a 30-gallon gas tank. I get 8 mpg. I start seriously scouting for gas at half-full. Which gives me almost 150 miles of nervous range.

So, I couldn't fairly demand that an EV get more range than that to be acceptable.

But chargers would need to be as ubiquitous as gas pumps for this to work.

[DrivingDan]

Originally Posted by Bobby F

Currently in a rig with a 30-gallon gas tank. I get 8 mpg. I start seriously scouting for gas at half-full. Which gives me almost 150 miles of nervous range.

Wow, appreciate the honesty. I’ve been on too many forums where EV haters demand that anything less than 600 miles as inadequate. That aside we have to consider that a charge takes longer than a fill up, so a longer range is a reasonable trade off.

The way I look at it is that according to Winnabago the average towing time for their customers is about 4 hours, which sounds reasonable for an EV if you leave by 10, have a lunch charging stop for an hour or so, then drive for a couple more hours to arrive by 3-4. So two hours of basically non stop driving sounds good, given the vagaries of weather and terrain the 400 mile battery as having a good buffer.

So I voted 400 miles which happens to be the Silverado EV range which I have a reservation for

But chargers would need to be as ubiquitous as gas pumps for this to work.

Absolutely, if you’re on the interstate that won’t be an issue as NEVI gives us charging every 50 miles, so should be able to manage that. But given that first generation trucks (Rivian & Ford) have 300+ miles - basically a 200 mile truck doesn’t exist - you should be good to go.

[Bobby F]

Probably the best counter to the length-of-recharge-time issue, in an RV, is that you're in an RV! Jump in back, take a nap, make dinner, watch TV - it's not wasted time like it would be in a car.


The only thing that would keep me from this cool new tech is, if someone told me I HAD to use it. For reasons, all the various energy-based arguments don't sway me. But I love the tech by itself.

[DrivingDan]

Originally Posted by Bobby F

Probably the best counter to the length-of-recharge-time issue, in an RV, is that you're in an RV! Jump in back, take a nap, make dinner, watch TV - it's not wasted time like it would be in a car.

You know I’m really looking forward to the first time I can do that But I hate to say, my experience charging is that it goes much quicker than you think, if you’re grabbing a bite you have to be timely about it.

The only thing that would keep me from this cool new tech is, if someone told me I HAD to use it. For reasons, all the various energy-based arguments don't sway me. But I love the tech by itself.

Bingo - at this point let’s stop talking about the green benefits - basically it doesn’t sell, and is irrelevant to what most people care about and we’ll get that for free as people adopt electrification just because it’s immediately better. Better performance, quieter, power/torque, no maintenance, etc. That’s enough to sell the package. It’s a common experience that once people drive EV they never want to go back.

[Isaac-1]

My problem with all electric RV's is the assumption that there will be a place to charge when I get "there". With there being some national forest dry campground in a national Forest in New Mexico where the nearest anything is 30 miles away, as an example. If I were the type to only go from one full hookup campground to the next then maybe an Electric RV with 400 mile day range would do, but those numbers don't look so good when trying to go to more remote places without charging infrastructure.

[radar]

Hi Dan. I had to select 200 miles as it was the shortest. But reality for us it is even shorter than that for our SUV trailer combo. SUV’s just don’t have very big batteries. .

We follow your numbers pretty close to as far as a normal travel day. We are usually on the road by 10 and off by 14:30. We typically charge once per day and usually try to find a slower charger at lunch that will give us time to eat and walk the dog. There are lots of 50 and 100 kw chargers up here that are perfect for that. Superchargers are way to fast for a lunch break. If we get into a campground early enough we can get a hike in before supper. If we get a powered site up here it’s usually a 30 amp site so that is an overnight charge for us as it only draws 24 amps on a 30 amp site. That’s fine as we are usually a couple days or more at a location anyway. Having said all that many days we travel an hour or less when we are touring.

This is a 50 KW BC hydro site. Perfect for a leisurely lunch and dog walk.



But yah. Either way we are stopping every couple hours, either for a charge or a pee, or in our case both. .

Sites like this with a 30 amp pedestal are perfect for us. The only advantage of a small battery is you don’t need a 240 volt site to get a decent charge overnight. . .

Cheers.

[Solo_RV_Guy]

Originally Posted by Isaac-1

My problem with all electric RV's is the assumption that there will be a place to charge when I get "there". With there being some national forest dry campground in a national Forest in New Mexico where the nearest anything is 30 miles away, as an example. If I were the type to only go from one full hookup campground to the next then maybe an Electric RV with 400 mile day range would do, but those numbers don't look so good when trying to go to more remote places without charging infrastructure.

I think the answer is do the bulk charging at a stop as near the final destination as possible, and do a top-off charge on site if necessary. I usually fuel my class C prior to stopping because I'll use my generator a fair bit over several days, so I'd probably get a fast charge on an ERV before camping, too.

[radar]

Originally Posted by Solo_RV_Guy

I think the answer is do the bulk charging at a stop as near the final destination as possible, and do a top-off charge on site if necessary. I usually fuel my class C prior to stopping because I'll use my generator a fair bit over several days, so I'd probably get a fast charge on an ERV before camping, too.

We kinda do that. But a lot depends on wether the campground has charging facilities. If it does we don’t worry about charging up too much before we arrive. But if we are only there overnight and all they have is 30 amp service (reasonably common) then we plan to pull in with 50 percent on the battery. We kind of make it up as we go. ��.

And although we never deliberately rent 50 amp sites (30 amp trailer) if we know we are on a 50 amp site then it doesn’t matter as that’s an easy overnight 100 percent charge. That’s kinda rare though, although it happens. This is a national park in southern Alberta. Every site was 30 amp and 50 amp but on opposite sides of the pole. I didn’t even realize it till we left . But we were there for 4 or 5 days so it didn’t matter.

[wildtoad]

Since this is a motorhome forum, when they are available, I’ll be happy if I can get 300 real miles on a full charge in a 31ish length Class A, even though we set a daily limit of between 200-250. I like to have a nice cushion in case of detours, or other unforeseen hiccups.

Charging while getting lunch assumes I eat in the RV or the restaurant I choose to frequent has charging stations suitable for motorhome with toad. Every charging station I’ve personally seen are set for cars, and don’t allow for trailers, and in no way allow for a 30 ft mh towing a car. Even the setup pictured above shows the trailer taking up the space behind it, and would be worse if the cars plug was in the front vs the rear. To be fair, when I fill up my mh with toad at a typical gas station I take up two slots. But I’m there for perhaps 10 minutes and leave with a full tank.

EV’s are coming. I don’t think it will be a pleasant migration.

[radar]

Originally Posted by wildtoad

Since this is a motorhome forum, when they are available, I’ll be happy if I can get 300 real miles on a full charge in a 31ish length Class A, even though we set a daily limit of between 200-250. I like to have a nice cushion in case of detours, or other unforeseen hiccups.

Charging while getting lunch assumes I eat in the RV or the restaurant I choose to frequent has charging stations suitable for motorhome with toad. Every charging station I’ve personally seen are set for cars, and don’t allow for trailers, and in no way allow for a 30 ft mh towing a car. Even the setup pictured above shows the trailer taking up the space behind it, and would be worse if the cars plug was in the front vs the rear. To be fair, when I fill up my mh with toad at a typical gas station I take up two slots. But I’m there for perhaps 10 minutes and leave with a full tank.

EV’s are coming. I don’t think it will be a pleasant migration.

Yep. I agree. We have seen lots of trailer friendly charge stalls. But I can say honestly we have seen very few that would be Motorhome friendly. Maybe a couple at most.

[Solo_RV_Guy]

Originally Posted by wildtoad

EV’s are coming. I don’t think it will be a pleasant migration.

Farriers and buggy whip makers weren't terribly pleased with the motor car, either.

Nobody said change was easy or without complications. We'll survive the the change.