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...

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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

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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

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