We recently made a 600 mile round trip from Tampa to Key Largo, trailering a Windrider 17 sailboat with a Tesla Model 3 Standard Plus RWD. The Eco Hitch we u...
Closed Captions (CC):
[Music]
we recently made a 600 mile round-trip
from Tampa to Key Largo trailering our
boat with a Tesla Model 3 standard plus
rear wheel drive in this video we want
to tell you about our trip show some
stats to help you plan and provide some
useful tips we started at the charger in
Riverview we made four stops to charge
along the 300 mile route first at the
supercharger in Sarasota
second in Fort Myers third in Naples the
last stop at the supercharger in
Homestead before ending at the condo in
Key Largo we left at 6:45 a.m. and
arrived in Key Largo at 4 p.m. for a
total trip time of nine hours model
threes in the US aren't ready for towing
and don't come with hitches however we
purchased and installed the Eco stealth
hitch from torklift has an aftermarket
add-on Jerry rigs everything has an
excellent installation video I'll put a
link in the description the video was
spot-on except for the hitch plate
instead of cutting a hole we found that
newer models already have a removable
one after the initial installation you
can actually remove the visible part and
replace the plate when you aren't
trailing for a more streamlined look and
protection
to run the brake lights and turn signals
on the trailer we used an isolated wire
harness with an induction sensor
normally you would run a wire to the
Tesla's 12-volt battery in the front of
the car but we put a separate 12-volt
battery in the trunk the trailer and
vote together weighed 600 pounds plus
two people and some heavy tools for
around a thousand pounds normally with
just me in the trailer going 50 miles
per hour the car uses around 190 watt
hours of energy per mile the trailer
attached uses around 355 watt hours per
mile for a 60% efficiency
the first leg from Riverview to Sarasota
was 37 miles we took 50 minutes an
average moving speed of 50 miles per
hour we got to the Sarasota supercharger
with 73 percent left which is equivalent
to 169 miles or 111 with the trailer it
was very nice to look at the map in the
car and know how busy the station was
before we arrived in order to reach the
charger we had to swing in and take up
multiple spots at busier Chargers we
ended up unhooking the trailer and
parking in nearby the second leg from
Sarasota to Fort Myers was 89 miles took
two hours at an average moving speed of
51 miles per hour we got to the Fort
Myers supercharger starting at 85% down
to 22% laughs which is equivalent to 35
miles with the trailer we actually could
have skipped the station and ended up in
Naples if we had charged up more in
Sarasota or gone a little bit slower
there are two super charging stations
around Fort Myers we need up stopping at
the more southern station because we
were doing so well with the battery the
station had a target kamal and plenty of
options for food the third leg from Fort
Myers to Naples was 30 miles took 45
minutes an average moving speed of 55
miles per hour on the highway and 30
miles per hour through Naples starting
with 50 percent we got to Naples
supercharger with 28% left which is
equivalent to 43 miles with a trailer
the charging station enables wasn't very
big and in a parking garage so we
definitely had to detach the trailer we
needed a hundred percent battery for the
next leg so this was a great place to
stop and eat there was a nice sit-down
breakfast place by the water within
walking distance now it was time to
start the longest leg of the trip from
Naples to Homestead through Alligator
Alley on i-75 or Tamiami Trail on 41 we
thought 41 would be better because it
was a slower road but we wish we had
taken I 75 we use 81 percent of the
battery over a hundred and twelve miles
and it took two hours and 49 minutes at
an average speed of 40 miles per hour
and a max of 55 the model 3 predicted we
would get there with 25 percent but we
got to the supercharger with about 18
percent laugh because we increased speed
as we got closer 18 percent is
equivalent to 30 miles with the trailer
so it's still a lot left in the tank the
last leg of the trip from homestead to
our condo was 30 miles with
was similar to the first leg there was
an outlet directly in front of the condo
so we used the mobile charger to keep
the Tesla as charge as possible without
having to go to a station charging in
front of our rental was slow but it
certainly helped we didn't drive very
far from the condo since we had a boat
launch on site and sailing our boat was
the main purpose of our trip
[Music]
the hitch is easy to see on the backup
camera which means lining up a trailer
fast and very accurate from any angle
both launching and retrieving the boat
on the ramp was a breeze in general
pulling the trailer itself was kind of
crazy there's so much torque and it
feels like you aren't really pulling
anything on the ramp the parking brake
was confusing and I'm still not sure I'm
doing it correctly I ended up always
holding the park button in for one
second until the P symbol appeared this
held the trailer on the boat ramp just
fine
the bottom line is the model 3 had no
trouble towing our small sailboat 600
miles with two adults and a bunch of
stuff in the back the biggest issue
currently when towing long distances is
the supercharger network when we aren't
towing we can easily skip over
superchargers the 40% range reduction
while towing made every supercharger
important for the trip to be drama-free
what worked well was charging even as
little as 10 minutes at every
supercharger we came across and
piggybacking longer charge stops with
meals when we stopped anyway but if
there was many supercharger stations as
there were gas stations this would be a
non-issue and no need for planning the
model 3 is not rated for towing in the
US if you install a hitch you're taking
a risk however as early as 2019 the
model 3 is ready for towing in the UK
and Australia the Model X is ready for
5,000 pounds even in the US so if you
have qualms about living on the edge of
breaking rules you may want to invest in
a Model X however since we were towing
such a small load and usually not very
far
we thought we'd risk it and it worked
amazingly
when the Model X is in trailer mode the
autopilot gets disabled there isn't a
trailer mode with the model 3 so
technically you can still use the
autopilot with the trailer
however there were two major issues that
make using auto pilot a liability
acceleration and deceleration it tended
to accelerate as if there wasn't a
trailer the braking distance was under
predicted so if you do use the autopilot
while trailering you have to break
sooner or you risk rear-ending somebody
and having it be your fault
power is trailering on back roads as
versus interstate the interstate is much
better I really like entering a
destination address and taking off after
about 4 miles the trip planner
recalculates your estimated battery
level at the destination even with the
trailer we found that recalculation to
be very accurate telling when the model
3 was easier than I expected and super
fun thanks for watching
I hope this was informative or help
somebody else please remember to
subscribe before you go
[Music]