I'm about to get the Ecohitch for carrying bikes. Francis, which bike rack did you get and how do you like it?
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Towing a trailer
- Thread starter richkae
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- Driving Dynamics Model S
I'm about to get the Ecohitch for carrying bikes. Francis, which bike rack did you get and how do you like it?
Francis Lau
P-1456
I have the Yakima Highlite 2 that carries 3 bikes. You can see it here : Yakima HighLite 2 Bike White hitch Bike Rack
I like it as it is light, pivots away from the car for access to trunk and is easy to attach and remove from the car. It is made of aluminum, just the MS.
Looks nice and light. Unfortunately it's not available in a 4-bike capacity. I've always had Thule but will look at other Yakima models as well - thanks.
islandbayy
Active Member
What do you guys thing about pulling a small camper/travel trailer with the MS? I am thinking of getting the ecohitch and a teardrop camper, that weights about 800-900lbs.
Ideas?
What kind of range hit am I going to see?
I've pulled a 1200lbs trailer with my little Nissan CUBE on a 5,000 mile road trip a year ago, my normal Cruzing MPG on the freeway is 32-33, with the trailer I was seeing 29-31mpg. What kind of drop do you think I'll see?
Ideas?
What kind of range hit am I going to see?
I've pulled a 1200lbs trailer with my little Nissan CUBE on a 5,000 mile road trip a year ago, my normal Cruzing MPG on the freeway is 32-33, with the trailer I was seeing 29-31mpg. What kind of drop do you think I'll see?
I'm not actively going to divulge another's vehicle, name etc., in open forum, but there IS in the Phoenix valley a Model 85 owner who has a Torklift hitch receiver on which he sometime mounts a bike rack as described above....and sometimes pulls a trailer for his two dirt bikes. He's told me the combo of trailer+bike+bike weighs in at about 800 lbs.
Note that this is the same John Glenney who drove across the US with his daughter last month...
jerjozwik
Active Member
rather than make a new thread on the subject i wanted to revive this.
i like to race my car:
Nov-16-2013-Xtreme Speed Green Turn_4 CLI_6322-Nov16-13 by jeremy!, on Flickr
trouble with race cars is they break down a lot... so i was thinking about the towing capability of the model s. the only thing i am seeing so far is that it could / would impact range significantly.
i would like to hear from anyone who has actually towed some sort of weight behind the model s, not just some bikes.
my most frequent racetrack is willow springs, which is about 95 miles away. supposedly they have a 240v charging point there so even with an extra 2,300. i would think this could work.
full disclosure i know very little about towing things, so... be gentle.
i like to race my car:
trouble with race cars is they break down a lot... so i was thinking about the towing capability of the model s. the only thing i am seeing so far is that it could / would impact range significantly.
i would like to hear from anyone who has actually towed some sort of weight behind the model s, not just some bikes.
my most frequent racetrack is willow springs, which is about 95 miles away. supposedly they have a 240v charging point there so even with an extra 2,300. i would think this could work.
full disclosure i know very little about towing things, so... be gentle.
jerjozwik
Active Member
If I attempted that on my lawn, I'd be making tons of huge wheel trenches with the weight if the model S on the soft ground.
Cottonwood
Roadster#433, Model S#S37
Not another car, but here is a link to wycolo's installation of a trailer that has load capacity of 700 lb: Model S - Hitch discussion - Page 14
green1
Active Member
Officially (and likely legally) the Tesla can not tow anything at all. A hitch has been made that is rated to 700lb, but the vehicle itself isn't rated to have it. (it's probably perfectly safe, but as the vehicle states that it can't tow, you might find you're technically in violation of the law). Once you get in to towing things like cars though you get in to a completely different class of trailers, usually ones with their own brakes and such, there's no way that's going behind a Tesla in any responsible way.
^^^This. People have towed stupidly large loads [I've seen 3,400 kg posted] behind the Prius as well--which is also rated for no towing. It never harmed the Prius but it's so dangerous because the brakes, suspension, and chassis just aren't designed to take a trailer. It would be very easy for the car to get out of control and there's no way insurance would cover the damage.
jerjozwik
Active Member
understood. the US miata is technically unable to tow anything, but the NC miata sold in australia says its raited for towing. same equipment on both cars.
i guess ill give up on this idea...
islandbayy
Active Member
Trailer Hitches have certain towing capacity ratings. The commercially available hitch, the EcoHitch by Torquelift Central, is rated at 2,000 Lbs towing capacity (How much you can Pull at MAXIMUM) and 200 Lbs Hitch Load (The MAXIMUM amount of downward force that can be applied to the hitch). After many years, and MANY MANY MANY THOUSANDS OF MILES TOWING, I beg of you, PLEASE DO NOT EXCEED THESE RATINGS! For starters, exceeding the designed ratings of a hitch, and having a failure would most likely be grounds to give your insurance company a "out" and not need to pay out.
I installed my hitch last week Friday, towed a few small utility trailers, towed like a dream, but even though the rating is 2,000 Lbs, I do not plan on towing anywhere near that. I plan on towing light weight utility trailers, never exceeding 1,300 Lbs fully loaded, and eventually when I can afford it, a Teardrop Camper, weighting in at 600Lbs, after Air Conditioning, and gear about 800 or 900 Lbs.
The Model S is not designed for heavy load towing. It's single speed differential is geared for Acceleration and top speed, not for high torque towing.
green1
Active Member
If you were talking about towing a light utility trailer, or small generator or something I'd be all for it (with the caveat that it may not be technically legal in your jurisdiction) however you're taking about towing a serious load, and all technicalities asside, this would simply not be safe with a model S
Agreed^^^
I have towed my track bike and trailer a couple times now and the total weight of bike AND trailer is ~750lbs. I don't speficifically know what the tongue weight is but I can lift the trailer with bike attached with one hand (I'm pretty strong but not that strong
) so I know that it isn't close to 200 lbs and more like under 100 lbs. Personally, this is within my comfort zone for towing with the Model S and I wouldn't push it much more then I am doing now.BTW - The car has performed flawlessly towing the motorcycle and trailer! In addition, there hasn't been nearly as big of an impact to range performance as I assumed there would have been. I was guessing that I would see an impact similar to driving in the winter but it isn't close to that. I was seeing around 280-290 w/mi w/ no AC and 310 w/mi w/ AC on.
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We plan on getting one next year when the SC highway is built out more. Drive up to Quebec and pick it up, then camp along the way back home. We're looking at the 1723 model that has the shower, though. Eventually, we would vinyl wrap it in the same green color as our MS and possibly get some matching wheels. The matching wheels would allow for both the car and the trailer to use the same spare. Safari Condo's website shows it being pulled (albeit at an unknown level of safety ) by a Pontiac Solstice!
) by a Pontiac Solstice!
We plan on getting one next year when the SC highway is built out more. Drive up to Quebec and pick it up, then camp along the way back home. We're looking at the 1723 model that has the shower, though. Eventually, we would vinyl wrap it in the same green color as our MS and possibly get some matching wheels. The matching wheels would allow for both the car and the trailer to use the same spare. Safari Condo's website shows it being pulled (albeit at an unknown level of safety
Another one you might consider is the Sylvan Go trailer. It has a smaller frontal area.
I'm not sure a matching spare is all that good because there will be a lot more rolling resistance than if you had the correct size for the trailer.
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