Towing our Airstream to Colorado || 500 Mile Rivian Road Trip 

EXCELLENT, very real-life example of what it's like to travel with a non-tesla EV. Sure hope the charging infrastructure improves quickly. Great example for new EV owners to learn from and realize you have to assume it will take longer than you "hoped". Showed very well the benefits and disadvantages of EV travel with a camping trailer, too. Thanks!

Great to see this kind of content! I’m not an EV convert yet but I’m pretty interested in the technology. Seems Electrify America has reliability problems based on other reviewers using their charging stations.

Great video. I really appreciate all the detailed stats on your drive as well as your charging stops! Excellent stuff! I hope you guys are having a great time on all of your adventures!

This is wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing all of this great information. You are exceptionally generous and adventurous!

Thanks for sharing this trip; great to see a Rivian in action and all that can be done with an electric vehicle in general!

Thanks for the ride along

Thanks for this information. It is really useful to see that while the CCS chargers are pretty far behind the Tesla versions that I currently use that since they are often in pairs instead of 4-8, it is possible to get close enough to charge without unhooking and blocking other people. Stopping to charge 5-6 times a day does get old especially if you are doing it several days in a row, but when I get my truck, I won't be having to rush back for work, so I anticipate a long travel day being 3 charging stops and one is overnight. Having the camper with the bed, kitchen and bathroom opens up a lot of possibilities that aren't there when you are driving a Tesla and the hotels are all full for whatever reason.

Great video! So fun meeting you guys. Can't wait to see your off roading take!

Never saw a better ad for the Tesla Supercharger network!

Great info, beautiful family, keep the videos coming!

Thanks. You are the first folks I’ve seen trying to do this. I have a Cybertruck and an Airstream in my future.

Great video. You are Trail Blazers, literally and figuratively. Thanks for sharing your adventures. Have fun with out of spec motoring.

I think you will do well on RU-vid. Interesting angle for us RVers. I’ve been a full time RVer for 4 years. For anyone saying too slow to charge and calling it a pain must be missing the entire point if RVing. Slow down and enjoy life. We’ve all traveled “in a hurry” and it is not enjoyable. You do you. Thanks for being willing to document your journey. There are doers and watchers. Very few of the doers are critics. It’s awesome that you are doing this! Enjoy!

Informative and real :) Good!!

Thanks for posting this. Very interested in this content. Subscribed!

I just got this as a suggested video and we saw your truck in Estes. I commented to my wife about it being the first Rivian I have seen in person. Thank you for sharing!

Great video thank you for putting it together. I really wish that Electrify America would address these ongoing issues with chargers. I'm about to head to Atlanta from NY in my R1T hoping all chargers will work :) Will make a video about my trip as well. I got 22" wheels.

Loved it and I hope more videos are coming out soon. I would tow with the R1T, it can handle it and is a sweet ride.

Thanks for doing the video. We have the kids also and an r1s and r1t on order (ordered the r1t after an r1s test drive). We have been towing our 30' airstream for the last 4 years with a duramax (which we're keeping for long distance towing) but were very curious as to what the towing experience was going to be like with the rivians. This is perfect for satisfying our curiosity until they come in.

That was interesting. Glad you’ll finally made it. It’ll be a while before the infrastructure is ready, reliable and consistent. Good education..

Good idea to see what it can do for a family adventure

Metric! I love you guys, thank you ;) As a trailer owner here in EU, I have to say that weight-redistribution hitch seems to be real bummer to unhitch!

Katie is the hero of these videos and is why we have a day to celebrate moms. Note how _she_ made the sandwiches, enforced the dog/leash discipline, _automatically_ accepted the blame for the refer accident, all while sharing the video documentation tasks.

Great video. I appreciate all the geeky numbers. 🤓

Thanks for the fun, informative video. I have had some similar problems with Electrify America (EA) chargers with my Bolt EV. I have had some success calling them and having them reset or reactivate the charger. With a trailer in tow, that my be quicker then repositioning. Perhaps worth a try. My wife is waiting for her R1T max pack some time next year we hope. Our First Mile test drive is coming up July 8. Very pumped.

Love the Huskers t-shirt!

Good video! We have an R1T with a max pack on order so it's going to be awhile before we get ours. Planning on towing our fishing boat on trips of 200 - 300 miles. Hoping the charging situation inproves by then. As it stands right now, here in Missouri, there are lakes we could not get to because there are no fast chargers on the route unless we are willing to spend 6-8 hours charging.

If you’re having to hitch and unhitch frequently for charging you should check out the Anderson weight distribution hitch, super easy to hook and unhook once it’s set up

Thanks for your series on the Rivian/EV trucks. This made my desire for one multiply.

God bless you for taking on the challenge. EV's certainly aren't the premium option for long distance towing. But you proved that it can be done if you have the time and patience to do so and certainly appears that you planned well. Good job!

1:34 lol. You guys have sweet kids. Godbless.🥰❤️

That t-shirt is hilarious. I need to get one...

Liked your video, glad you got to your destination, finally. Electrified America needs much improving IMO. Can’t wait for my Cyber Trucks

We used to work our lives away too & when we thought we had it all.... we really didn't! We have been traveling full time non stop for 16 months now & it has drastically changed our world! All of those material items we thought we needed are long gone! We have spent more time with our children in 16 months than most parents spend with their children their entire childhood! This is such great information you guys are providing on EV. Thanks a bunch!

Look like you guys are well prepared. Love the tech hook up you did, can you share all the parts so I can look into getting something like that to get me ready for my trip to Seattle with my truck. Thanks

I LOVE your airstream! We had ‘69 airstream that we gutted and rebuilt to fit our family of 8, but then we had another baby and had to move to something bigger. I still miss it though, it was great!

I towed a similar sized camper with the Model X several times. There were times where I had to be creative with charging but I NEVER had to unhook the trailer. Either there was sufficient space or I hooked from the opposite side (like you did). Another advantage (and I might be lucky) I have never had to switch chargers due to them being down. Only switched once to get faster charging due to load balancing between A/B chargers (known issue with older super chargers)

fantastic video, thanks for making the effort to educate and enlighten. connectivity issues aside, i am willing to bet the charging speeds on the Rivian were due to BMS/thermal management controls. you were working her pretty hard overall, and must be pretty close to the wall on GCWR. would love to see a weigh slip on you all in. safe travels and keep up the great content !

Thanks so much for these videos as you guys are truly pioneers. We are about 3 years from retirement and doing exactly what you are doing. I have a Cybertruck on order and will probably end up with the airstream as well. Your videos are giving me the confidence to do this and also the reality of the real range. Hoping the 4 motor Cybertruck that I will buy has between a 180KWh to 200 KWhr pack with the newer faster charging 4680 cells. Rumors are it will have a 900V architecture so looking for 180 miles 10-80% range and 30 minute to 80% recharge times. The number one issue I see in almost all these non Tesla EV’s is the total non reliability of the Electrify America Network compared to the Tesla Charging network. Hopefully that becomes a thing of the past as the number and charging stations and number of competing networks grows. The benefits of the EV recharge at the campsite and use as the tour vehicle when unattached from the trailer are massive to me, not to mention the usability as a normal vehicle for the 80% of time we are not towing. Keep up the great videos!!!

Thanks guys for taking the time, found this very interesting and informative. Yes absolutely I would love to take on a trip (I have an R1S on order). Wonder why the huge range in cost per kWh 🤔 .12 to .36 big spread.

John S. Greetings from Boulder, Colorado. Enjoyed your video. Hope you have a great time in Colorado.

What a pain trying to travel and charge batteries. We always had a Honda generator in the truck bed. Then when we stopped. The AC was able to operate in our travel trailer or 5th wheel. Good Luck Forward. Enjoyed the video. Thank you.

Fantastic that you have the previous generation of Tesla charger that is higher power! What a fantastic idea!

One way to grab detailed stats on charging is to run an ODB2 dongle with Bluetooth and Car Scanner. You can even setup car scanner to record position so your trips are recorded with all kinds of data and maps.

I enjoyed watching this video. I was hoping for a totals disclosure at the end where you did total distance, number of charge stops, combined time, and cost. Then calculate the cost based on a Ford F250 with a diesel doing the same trip (which is what most people tow with).

Awesome video! So you can go an average of 90 miles at around 50 mph. Then you have to charge. How heavy is the trailer? It is nice that when you stop for the night at a camp you can leave next morning with a good charge.

where they have eg 4+ chargers in a location, they need to have one of them minimum be a ‘pull through’ for towing vehicles. Hopefully Rivian at least with their new charger rollouts will do something like that

Being able to pull in forward reduces your disconnects. That’s one advantage over Tesla. Charging connection a hassle but it seems like it gets easier as you get used to it. Charging seems expensive, but you are pulling a lot of weight so that has to be factored in as well. That is a really big trailer. The disconnects definitely look like more of a process compared to my Casita camper on my cross country trip. Overall it looks like you had a very successful trip out there.

We going to Estes Park in July with our Model Y. Camping in Rocky Mountain National Park, Moraine Campground. Unfortunately looks like Electrify America not improved at all. I've had same problems with charging my first EV, BMW i3 in 2019 and then Bolt in 2021. That's why for me longer trips - only Tesla. For local driving any EV is OK. Our Trip will be 1100 miles but we did same before in Model S and last year Model Y South Dakota and Florida. Great video about towing huge camping trailer with EV!

Fantastic video watching the Rivian pull that HUGE airstream and your family. Could you tell me how the regen worked with that big trailer. Did the trailer do most of the braking or did the Rivian regen do most of it? I got my Rivian red canyon LA in April, incredible truck. Thanks for taking us on your trip, gave me great insight on a real world adventure.

Appreciate how you converted the stats into metric! 😊

Brave trailblazers.

Great video! Can you share your total numbers for the trip? How many total miles, average speed, kwh used, total charge time and total charge cost. Thank you

Great video. I appreciate seeing how the r1t handles the towing. How fast were you driving on the interstate. I see you posted your average speed. How did it handle at interstate speed?

1.1miles per kwh towing that trailer and with 5 people in the truck is damn impressive imo. Especially factoring in the rivian has less than 4 gallons worth of gas in total energy capacity onboard it. And then to get about 75 miles of towing range back for $8.55? Very nice indeed. 👍🏻😎

FYI. When you leave Estes go through Loveland and there’s an EA station by target there that will work better than Longmont.

So tell me about your MPGe calculations. Thanks for some great videos on electric towing.

I love these videos. Road tripping 5-up with a dog towing an airstream, in an EV - brilliant!! Proving that it’s possible and that the Musk-mobiles are not the be-all and end-all of EVs. And so much more enjoyable and less pretentious than some other channels. Question: why aren’t you using the Rivian-supplied 240v EVSE that is in the bag under the frunk floor? The whole extension-to-Tesla-to-adapter-to-truck thing seems unnecessarily complicated when you get to the campground.

Seems to be a common problem with chargers. Thanks for the info. But yea from a lot of video's I have seen the charging network seems to be spotty with charges that don't work like you have found or work but at half or less than half of charge rate.

Since you are plugging into camp ground power do you recommend a surge protector for the EV

I was tracking but this trip seemed brutal. Am I tracking it right? About 100 miles a stretch, then wonky charging.... etc? Reminds me of Model S 60 driving experience with 10-20 MI headwinds WITHOUT Tesla charging network....You two are heroes! You stuck to the plan. Honest. But what a pain... we all thank you! Rivian is a great looking car/truck but I wouldn't be able to go through the experience that you two documented.

Thanks for posting. Very informative. I have an R1T and am in the decision making process for an Airstream (or Oliver). How does (or does) the R1T charge the trailer batteries in tow? Does it do that? Or does solar charge in tow? The Airstream folks around me never heard of an R1T 🙂

Love the Rivian. Love the Airstream. I just don't know that the two are a good combination just yet. Having to stop so often and for so long does not seem like a good time. Having to unhitch at times just to charge would make this really bad.

Great video. Curious on how the brakes handled going thru the mountains. Otherwise a great real life video. Someday that'll be our family.

Very nice video. I hope one day there will be enough charging infrastructure that vehicles with trailers won't need to detached.

Im hoping to get at least 1.3mi/wh with our R1T and 26 foot 5800 pound camper. Your getting 1.1 ish with a much larger and heavier camper so it seems reasonable for us to expect 1.3.

Where is the Rivian Adventure Network when you need it. Rivian has said its DC chargers will take trailers into account.

Very nice. Thanks for the educational videos. I guess you're making it happen. I tow with a superduty diesel that cost me $25k to purchase (in 2004). Of course my range is much further. Operational Cost is probably much higher for me especially with Biden gas. But I'm not full time so your setup would not be even close to being worth it for me (Rivian's are $$$$$). It's like buying a $30k lithium system for your motorhome....maybe worth it if you're full time, but propane is so much cheaper for the weekend warriors. Although, I'm wondering if full timers would get frustrated with your setup. I'm curious though and will continue watching....thanks!

When it comes to that first EA charging experience, be prepared for many more. I'm not sure why some of them just work and some of them don't. I especially don't know why one will work great on the way from A to B but the exact same charger will not work on the return leg just a few hours later.

Nice job if you could read your status sheets to us it would be faster it was fast and small hars to read.... Great video folks 👍 electric is hear to stay and your videos will help all of us make the jump into electric technology 😀 The Banks Family

CCS seems to have a few issues with communicating with vehicles. It’s a nightmare getting the car and charger to work. It would be great if the standard was better.

Why haven’t you put a topper on the Lightning yet? It should increase range when towing at lease 10% 👍

Cool info on the charging and capabilities. What's the Gross Combined Weight Rating of the Rivian?

At one overnite campsite you plugged into the camp’s power pole. You are “fueling” the EV on their dime. I wonder how long before RV parks begin installing meters or just charging a surcharge for EV’s. Excellent video - thanks.

I've had the charger burn out the circuit at an campground before. 😬Apparently it's relatively common. They just weren't built to carry the load, especially for hours. I'm kind of scared to plug in at campgrounds. If I do it, I'm going to adjust the amps to half. Just be aware of this.

Really curious as to how this turns out. Awaiting delivery of my Airstream…and on the fence as to what tow rig to get…currently have a 4Runner that is capable…but, I hope to upgrade to a larger truck or SUV in the future…

yes, could you please provide total data with and without trailer for comparison.

Needing to go really deep on the charge is obviously a function of not enough fast chargers spaced out closer together. Ideally in years to come we shall see high power DCFC every 50 miles or so along the highways. Then you could ride the faster charging wave lower in the pack, unplug at 70-80% SOC and hop over to the next charger.

Very cool! How does the R1T handle towing the AS? It seems pretty solid. What are the Payload numbers and how well do the regen brakes work heading downhill?

Look up Lippert 335852 Straptek Weight Tension Technology Kit. Much easier then those chains.

I’m glad there’s people out there willing to put in the effort to experiment with these things. Kind of reaffirms my suspicion that the technology has a LONG way to go. Not just in battery capacity/range but in the infrastructure as well. Not only do we need more charging stations but the ones we have need to be redesigned for larger vehicles in mind. I’m curious to see where this goes in the next 5-10 years. And what happens when delivery companies start to adopt the technology more and more. You’ll almost have to have truck stop type charging stations. There is an Amazon hub near my house and in the morning it’s impossible to find a pump to fill up when all their delivery vans head out. I can’t imagine if those were all electric and spread out around the state. I understand they would probably leave the hub fully charged but that’s still a lot more electric vehicles on the road to think about.

Wow very interesting 👏 why is 80% full?

Pulling that trailer, not counting the overnight stay due to charging stations down, how many hours did it take you to make the trip, counting charging times?

Awsome vid, we saw you heading back towards Colorado from NE, we were goingnto chase you down, but, we decided not to creep you out as a fellow R1T owner, and we were heading to AZ...tick toc

unhooking at chargers would drive me nuts. I would love to see more chargers that are setup like a gas station.

Maybe I missed it - what was your towing efficiency? I’m averaging 1mi/kWh with my R1T and our 5500lbs travel trailer.

How do you find towing with the stock mirrors? Are you running a rear view camera on the trailer? We’ve got a 20FB and thinking the R will tow ours super easy!

Just found this after loosing touch with your channel after you towed the rented 24 ft Airstream with your MX. I will try to get caught up with what happened in between. I am currently sitting in our 2000 30 ft Airstream Excella in my sister's drive way in Detroit. We are towing with a hitch modified Model Y and have found our trip from Collingwood ON Canada to Rochester Minnesota and back to here a great adventure. We are getting anywhere from 550 w/mile to 750 depending on speed and wind. Got stopped in Wisconsin for "impeding traffic" at 51 mph :( but were just issued a warning so have been going faster since and stopping more. We usually stop every 60-70 miles given the sweet spot of 10-60% in the charging curve and much prefer 250 kw chargers. Stop times about 20-30 minutes and have only had to unhitch 2x so far. Leave campsites with 90% state of charge. Your comments about slowing down and enjoying the trip ring true with us. We are now enjoying the journey and have had many more conversations with great people during our stops and often don't get time to clean the windshield. Looking at ways to run the a/c when stopped as the trailer is usually too hot to enjoy during stops in this current heat wave. I may try our portable EGO "generator" that we carry and can charge through the solar panel on the Airstream. Have you considered plugging into the Rivian to run it? I think the ac plug in the back is 20 amp and might be able to run the Airstream's a/c with a soft start module on the a/c?

Your trip points out it is pretty obvious the Tesla Charging Network is clearly years ahead of the other options. Using a patchwork of Electrify America, etc chargers appears to require some patience. Hopefully over the next two-three years more and more 350+Kwh chargers will be rolled out. (I don't know if Electrify America will be a charging network...not sure what there motivation is to keep their chargers working).

Great video. Seems as though towing a trailer can be stressful, and pulling with an EV is VERY Stressful. (Or frustrating) Breakdown: Tow for maybe 200 miles or less (like most gas/diesel vehicles) then stop at very limited number of “fast chargers” for 1-2 hours of frustration (getting it to work, unhooking and rehooking) and charging up to 80%. Where as the gas/diesel stops for 10 minutes and maybe even gets a windshield wash with a fill-up to 100% at (very expensive) stations located almost everywhere. I regularly tow a set trip that’s 450 miles away. Less than 8hrs including gas and a short food stop. I just don’t have two days each way to to make the trip. So for now, I’ll pay more (a lot more) and use gas/diesel. Keep the videos coming.

I was considering getting a Rivian and Airstream... but after watching this... seems like too much trouble to charge! Charging takes longer than I thought, I'm surprised the charging stations simply don't work sometimes (which I've heard about from other sources, too), and having to unhook to charge seems like a pain.

Honestly this would be a no go for me. It seems like the trip completely revolves around getting from one charge station to the next, that would be a nightmare. Anxiety caused by worrying if you'll find a charger that works. Charge times need to be cut in half and I would have to have 250 miles pulling a trailer of distance before I would consider buying one.

Thanks for showing honest charging adventures. These summary points would have been nice...so...charging ~5 times/~ 5 hours waiting to charge/~100 dlls in charging fees, for a ~500 mile trip....yikes. I get stopping to smell the roses, but wow. Electric vehicles have come far, but still need the range and superior charging stations/technology before I even think of owning one. Love the Rivian...rn it beats all competition imo. Just saying, but...how much grocery shopping can one do on a 500 mile road trip? Don't you stock up before you leave? Oh, and bathroom breaks can be done anywhere, as you're pulling a house!

if you have the money maybe you should put solar on your trailer and a solar powered heat pump as well to save on electricity for your truck and trailer. Maybe see what tiny shiny did with their airstream.

What are the dimensions and weight of your airstream

What color is your R1T? Thanks for the video!!

Thats a big trailer

From Ogallala to Fort Morgan you started with a charge that cost $19.22 and drove 128.8 miles before the next charge on a deeper drain than you started with (in other words, it cost more than $19.22). At $3.50 per gallon in an ICE vehicle at 10 miles per gallon, the same distance in fuel would cost $45.15. Fair cash savings since you probably had only another $5 in charge used. However, each charge takes 30-45 minutes plus time to accommodate availability and accessibility. Already, the cost benefit is shaky. Throw in rain or snow and it would be intolerable, not to mention your battery performance will vary with the temperature. I appreciate you documenting your experience as pioneers with this technology, but it shows that electric is not ready. And that does not factor the fact that charging costs will go up as more people switch to electric.

Be interesting to see if the F150 inverter could run the trailer AC while charging

So far what I'm seeing with non-Tesla DC Fast Chargers is that those companies really need to up their game. C'mon, EA: no way your equipment should be having so many problems. Still, I was impressed that, once you found a working charger at your first stop, it filled the battery from 27% to 81% in only 33 minutes. I could happily live with that. I'm curious why you didn't use Rivian's portable charger at the campground; I think Tesla's charger also has a maximum output of 32A -doesn't it…? The fast charge suppliers really need to start designing their sites to accommodate EVs towing trailers. As one would predict, it looks like your range dropped in half from towing the trailer. Doable, but… I think I'll stick with our tiny camp trailer. Of course, we don't have three kids to also accommodate on such adventures! Good, informative video. Makes me wish I knew you people!