We met up with Andy from Can-Am RV Centre in London, On to see exactly how he setup his Tesla Model 3 to tow a 26-foot Airstream. Can-Am RV Centre Website: www.canamrv.ca/ #Tesla #Model3 #TeslaTowing
Hey folks! Have a question about range, legality, insurance or charging? Then watch our followup interview with Andy where we ask him all those questions for you - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jB-olOdQVik.html
Can you redo the experiment using a 2022 American made Tesla Model 3? I want to haul a trailer too but I heard the newer model 3 has been upgraded with a different battery called the 4680 battery among other upgrades. Want to see if this video is still accurate with all the new goodies.
Locomotives actually use electric motors to pull huge loads. It’s a hybrid system that uses a Diesel engine to generate the electricity. This should tell you something about what electric vehicles are capable of.
Electro motor can provide huge torque at low speed which is not possible for an ICE without gearboxes. So use electro motor to tow heavy loads reduce the chance of incident and the cost for maintenance, thanks to the simplified mechanical structures.
I drove 4 hours to get my rig set up from CAN AM RV, let me tell you, what a god sent transformation, these guys are scientists. I went from trailer wobble to driving one finger in a wind storm. Warm friendly service and Andy himself takes you on a run after they're done and answers all of your questions. My Mercedes R350 hitch always kept coming lose, they reworked it, added steel and made her permanent. Great place.
Andy is the "Hitch Guru". I've purchased 3 30' Airstreams from Andy over the years; pulling them all with Mercedes ML's. Customers come from all over North America to have their hitches dialled in. He's a Canadian national treasure.
Ron Feinberg- Andy's crew set up my 2009 VW Tiguan to tow my 2004 16' Airstream Bambi International CCD. It was the nicest rig to drive that I've ever had. Can Am really knows their stuff as you say! I drove 500 miles one way to get it done but it was the best towing investment I ever made.
@@EarlBalentine -it's just the one location in London, Ontario....however Andy has been willing to consult with customers over the phone with specific advice for your rig to enable a shop local to you to do the work.
Impressive show, I'm not a towing guy but this was interesting to say the least. The Model 3 certainly is a more capable car than some people are giving it credit for. Only goes to show that with professional insight and know-how even unthinkable things are possible.
I'm not happy about losing a bit of that wonderful storage space in the trunk, but to be able to tow 6000 LBS is something I didn't think would be possible with a Model 3. Nice work!
Are you just virtue signalling or are you actually towing long distance? They are not practical for towing at all. Unless you spend %90 of time in a city.
@@ChurchInAshes I'm a bit confused, what would be the issue with towing outside the city? Generally speaking, Supercharger's are close enough that enough if your range is cut by 60% you'd be able to make it from one to the next with ease. (In Europe at least, in the US/Canada I'm not sure) Of course, it'd be a slower pace as you're having to stop more often, but you also gain some of that back by being able to charge over night to set off each day with a full charge.
@@VoxelLoop yeah i can’t speak for europe but in the US its not very practical. 60% is generous most companies will tell you expect 50% of the range your vehicle normally gets. in the US there are so many places where charging stations are 100+ miles apart and you might not actually make it to one before your battery dies.
tongue weight means everything and what read is 500 pounds is what tesla vehicles are rated up to so unless your camper is under 4000 pounds total your gonna be over ratings and that's unsafe and causes accidents...n I have 2 million miles of towing no accidents under my belt so don't even try arguing with me I'm a cdl holder so I know way more about towing then some UK idiot camper Dad
Wow, that setup is insane. Thought this was gonna be vlickbait. Loved your Canadian touch on TFL, didn't know you split but looks like you have a pretty good channel going here!
I had this very fun idea which I really want to do when I get older and have my own property for second vehicle I'm planning to have a model 3 or a model y long range and I want to make from scratch a solar powered camper so when you're camping out it would be self-sustaining and you could also charge your car as well even if the Tesla runs out and you're like in the middle of nowhere just can't be on the side of the road it will be fine I gave myself this idea by talking to my brother about making a solar powered shed for electric lawn equipment
Very impressive. I wouldn't have thought a car that size could be so stable with such a large trailer. The insight about the ratio of overhang to wheelbase makes sense. I used to tow a 27' TT with a first-gen Durango and it was a handful, always on the verge of oscillating out of control, and I burned through two differentials on a single 2400 mile trip. Even so, battery technology is still going to have to improve a bunch before long-distance electric towing becomes truly practical, IMHO.
that is a very strange experience you had. I owned a first gen Durango and drove it 95,000 miles, about half the time towing an 18’ tandem axle ‘car hauler’ trailer. Towed on both interstates and secondary roads. Extremely stable towing platform. If yours experienced ‘sway’, one or more factors were way out of adjustment.
We own a Tesla Model Y and a 22ft airstream. It tows great. We have a reservation for a Tesla truck but this is working for now. Looking forward to having more storage room with the truck. But the length will be longer if we upgrade to a truck and I’m not 100% positive we want to do that. Sometimes getting into the superchargers with our set up now can be a little tight. If we add length with the truck we might end up having to unhitch at the superchargers. We just started our RU-vid channel.
@@harrygoldsmith5527NO, legally it can only tow 3,500lbs. I have a model y and towed a 3,500 lb trailer last summer and it was awesome. I’m not sure how these people at can am is legally changing weight ratings!
Extremely impressive what you've managed to do with the M3! It's an extremely elegant way to move a travel trailer. While I'm sure you lost all the folks who tow for a living when the range/vs charging times came out, this is clearly a very viable setup for a retiree who just likes to RV or a family vacation.
I towed an enclosed 5x8 U-Haul trailer from Columbia MO to San Luis Obispo CA. Car had NO problem handling the trailer. The only impact was the range was reduced by 30%. It required 5 extra 20 minute stops as opposed to the trip to MO.
Great info, thanks! I'm considering towing a 4x8 U-Haul, i was hoping to know the range degradation or the new Kw/mi, thanks for giving your input! To confirm, i assume this was a model 3?
What kind of range of Wh/mi (or Wh/km) have you been getting on average while towing? I'm specifically hoping to tow less than 2000 lbs and wondering how far I'll be able to get on each charge
@@johnm5321 I have pulled a 5000 lb trailer and gotten 400wh/mi and a 1000lb trailer and gotten 750wh/mi. Economy has basically nothing to do with weight, it is all about air drag.
Fantastic! I own the Chevy Bolt. The only issue I have with towing is the charging locations are only set up for driving straight in, you will be blocking if you can drive straight in with the trailer, most likely you will need to unhitch and go charge. That will had 10 to 15 mins to your charge time. A Gas station you can drive up to the pump. Petro Canada has just installed their cross Canada fast charge network. But it is a time based charger, cost/min, which will favor the faster charging cars. Cheers
Yeah, they should design charging station spots the same way as gas pumps, where you can enter and leave driving forward. But usually they put charging stations near the building to save costs (easier to run the wires, no need to dig and redo the asphalt)
In the Dallas area there are 3 Electrify America chargers and each location has ample room around it for trailers. They properly place the group of chargers at the least used part of a large parking lot so no one cares if you park whopper-jawed or blocking a "painted" isle.
I'm glad you talked about the increased efficiency of the m3 motors over the mx motors because people are trying to compare what the CT will be able to do based on what they've seen with mx. There's a lot more to consider, efficiency, weight, cog, to name a few.
Got our setup done by Andy this summer. We are pulling a 16’ Airstream with a 4 cylinders Tiguan. The setup works great. Trying to convince my gf that when come the day, a car could be a real winner to pull our rig.
Awesome video! I’ve been waiting for proof that a model 3 can tow a small trailer....and here’s proof that it can tow what I call a huge trailer! Model 3 can be ordered with a hitch in Europe but not here. Why? Did you have any issues with Tesla software sensing a trailer or exceptional weight? Tesla sends data back to HQ...have you had any enquires from Tesla as to your “efficiency problems” as the software might consider it? Love it that truck guys are embracing electric transport. Guess the Cybertruck will be a game changer!
Towards the end of the video, when they get onto the highway, a few different alerts pop up on the screen such as "Regenerative braking disabled" and "Stability control disabled". The battery is at 50% SOC, so why is regen braking disabled? Is it because the momentary high acceleration + towing that much weight overheated the motor and/or battery? And is Stability Control disabled because the car "knows" it's towing something?
I have a hell of a time finding a place to fill my Travel trailer/pick up combo at a gasoline staion. How do you get into a charging station while hooked up to a travel trailer???
Most charging stops have 1 charger you can pull straight into rather than backing in to charge. Or you can unhook to charge. Not ideal but doable. We charge when we get to a campground
this is amazing! i am so glad I got to see this video. I was wondering if my Tesla M3 performance would be able to tow the smaller Airstream Bambi. Now I know it can,,, I have to do a lot more research into how to properly add the tow bar/hitch
Impressive! Really well designed mount. If I need to move a ~3400lb car, what do you think of using a tow dolly hitched to a Tesla Model Y? Seems like it would be a good compromise to avoid over-weighting the hitch.
I tow a small pop up with our Model 3. I average about 420-450 wh/mi cruising on the highway. What is your consumption like while cruising on the highway?
Insurance company could claim ignorance and put the owner at fault but it would be a court battle they might not feel is worth the risk. So hard maybe on that. Either way this is stupid if the owner gives a crap about his car. He probably voided his warranty as well and put his plates on full display exposing his VIN number, proving negligence in any drive unit or battery failures. The car was showing a lot of errors while towing that Airstream, Regen was disabled, Autopilot was disabled, Emergency braking disabled, stability and traction control disabled and I think ABS was disabled too. Far from safe imo.
Most of Europe is towing with Cars and small SUV, and not Trucks. Trailers are build differently in Europe - at lot less tongue weight. My 2 horse trailer in the North-American has like 250-300 kg on the hitch - in EU a trailer of similar size and weight has only 50kg on the ball. There is only 4% of the trailer weight required on the hitch. Many trailers on this side of the pond are running 20% of the total weight on the tongue, which is unnecessary.
The trailer design in the USA is different and requires between 10 and 20% of the weight on the tongue to prevent sway at even low speeds. The trailers in Europe have aligned axles like the front of a car and thus wanting to go straight without the extreme tongue weight needed in the US. The concern with this example on the Model 3 is that they use a weight dist hitch which you can not use on unibody cars. These hitches are designed to be used on trucks and SUV's with a full frame.
@@RMTFamily thanks, that is interesting. By aligned trailer axle you mean - camber caster, toe in etc.? I know that a little more toe in gives you greater stability. Since trailer axle are often solid -they have no toe in - they are neutral. You mean that the EU axles are curved?
@@sebastiant5695 Actually a lot of trailers in Europe do not have a solid axle going all the way across from one side to the other. Most are just stumps about 15" or so long, that stump is bolted to the frame and it is basically a rubber torsion axle. Eliminating a leaf spring which can cause a lot of alignment issues. Many years ago I used to own a "Brenderup" 2 horse trailer. This is a design from Europe and the chassis was imported from there. It towed great behind a Ford Explorer Sport, a Mitsubishi Montero Sport and even towed it with a 1980's Toyota 2WD Pick-up. The tongue weight was around 150lbs. Did not need a weight dist hitch or a sway control. Some of the longer travel trailers in Europe might require a sway control.
@@RMTFamily yes torsion axles are great. I had those at my Germany trailer, but I also got them on my current US build Hawk trailer - but this axle is a solid square pipe going under the trailer. Those are the same axles as Airstream uses I got told.
Just curious if traveling on mountainous terrain, does the regen braking take care of the steepest grades? Or are you having to use brake pads to maintain speed?
Interesting but the issue of being over gross vehicle weight rating was not brought up. Is the owner one bit concerned that he has no insurance if there is an accident? What if someone is killed? Nice to feel fancy and clever in a Tesla. It is a pet peeve of mine to share the road with people towing way over their rating. I assumed this was a parking lot or back road test. The guy mentioned a 500 mile road trip? Wow.
Where do you live that simply being over your rated GVWR excludes you from coverage in the event of an accident? Claims are processed all the time without taking GVWR into account and I know when trailers are involved many could be over the GVWR especially in the small business world where 1/2 ton trucks are towing trailers hauling tires, lawn equipment ect... All that being said if I were that owner at that shop modifying cars to help them tow more than there rated towing capacity I would be worried about setting himself up for liability issues in the event where there is a accident involving a vehicle he modified where they were over capacity.
@@jockosboy17 Canada. Sure half tons sometimes ignore and are over by 500 or 1000 lbs unknowingly. The Model 3 is rated at 1900 lbs towing and this trailer is over triple that dry. Also the vehicle needed to be modified to mount the hitch. Anyways if something happened at a crosswalk this is not one I would like to leave up to the lawyers for liability insurance. Call your insurance company and see what they say about towing 300 percent of your rating. For my Ram 1500 that would put me at 24600 lbs. Give me a break.
@@peiguy1982 Again i'm not letting this guy off the hook as he is really putting himself and his customers at risk in the legal sense but you made a blanket statement about no insurance if a person is over their GVWR and that is just not the case. Law enforcement would definitely have an issue to investigate if that model 3 was in an accident towing that travel trailer. There would likely be some legal issues for the person towing and if another person was involved they would have grounds to sue beyond what they are owed for damages.
@@jockosboy17 Well I do believe insurance would be an issue this far over. This isn't just a few hundred over. Blanket statement of not its just my opinion and I would not be doing it. I'm sure Tesla has already voided this person's warranty as well. I'll leave the brake and chassis talk and just leave it at that. You have your opinion and I have mine.
Read your insurance policy, it is a legally binding contract and they have to cover you. If it was the case that they wouldn't cover you then drunk divers that get into accidents and even kill someone would not be covered either, which is not the case. Their claims in fact do get covered. However, the insurance company has every right not to renew your policy once it comes up for renewal if you were to be sued. This applies to even standalone accidents not towing anything that they can drop you after if the claim is huge, usually through very high rates at renewal time.
"EVs Won't Tow your Trailer. It's not going to Tow your Boat" Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Just shows how politicians only look at things in a political sense and very rarely in reality.
Yeah, well, he's rarely right about anything including how renewable energy will cost Aussie jobs, make a huge dent in the country's finances and, most importantly, climate change realities. Climate change damage to the Great Barrier Reef will cause massive job losses in the Aussie tourist, hospitality and fishing industries which is worth billions; "but hey, that's perfectly okay so long as me & my mates can keep in with our best buddies in the coal industrial complex - they do fund our political campaigns after all." BTW, was just using the Reef as one example. Many more in Australia.
@@pinkelephants1421 the irony is that it will actually create thousands of 'green collar' jobs in the industry instead. I'd rather be involved in a role maintaining a turbine than a giant stinking gas plant.
@@Stewiedude1 My guess is that you're far from alone in that. I've long thought that the Nullarbor Desert could represent a huge opportunity for solar power generation. There's bugger all out there, it's vast, and unless I've completely got the wrong end of the stick, no environmental reason not to do so. How it might equate to energy exports I couldn't say but I'd bet there's someone who could & very profitably too.
@@rogerstarkey5390 Not in the Nullarbor. It's *so* desolate that even the extremely clever and resourceful aboriginal people never bothered with it because they knew it just wasn't survivable. Even snakes and lizards are few and far between out there.
Is not probably, Tesla’s supercharging network is the largest and best, u can drive anywhere in US and Canada with reasonable charging station distance.
@@TruckKing To add to that, a full charge on a Tesla Supercharger, depending on if it's a version 2 or version 3, can be between 30 minutes and 50 minutes. Would be great to tow with a larger battery, maybe the Cybertruck will do a better job at this when it releases, would be interesting to see a video on that beast, maybe you'd see around 250 to 300 miles per charge as it does 500+ on one charge without a trailer. :) (The above times assume you're charging to full, not just to 75% like you would when driving without a trailer. Electric cars charge very slow past 80% so most owners only charge to 75% to save time on their journeys, usually that's only a 15 minute stop! More stops but less overall time!)
Yeah but who cares right? Murica for the win. Insurance wont cover shit in case of an accident btw, but they dont even mention that. Otherwise AWESOME VIDEO says the most here...
These are pros. Andy shared his expertise with me over an email. No charge. He helped me to set up BMW X5 to tow 33 ft trailer. Rock solid... despite all the naysayers around.
Did I miss the wh/mi figure at highway speeds? That will give you range for your trip using EV trip planners like abetterrouteplanner.com I wasn't able to see the figures on the graph at about 10:35
They conveniently avoided the sore subject of range because it is dismal. Over 10,000 lbs. gross here and coefficient of drag is much greater. You could travel at 50 mph but who wants to do that. Maybe Tesla could make travel trailers that come with another 100 kwh battery in them (lol). Towing a fold down or crank down trailer makes much more sense than that Airstream.
Elon. Just wondering if you will be putting a battery into the caravan coupled to the car battery when towing? You could push the towing range enormously. The battery in the van would be your camping supply and would get its recharge at the campsite. I guess solar panels would also be included on the van's roof. Just thinking 😃 Great job you are doing
It's coming the title spells sexy cars 2v that's everything they claim or have maybe this far ie model s3cy cybertruck , atv roadsters ... Etc etc a van is very possible and a camper yes bc the semi will likely be it's platform #bryanchannell RU-vid ;)
Does the Tesla come with a BRAKE CONTROLLER? I am concerned about range. Towing an RV will deplete the battery way faster. I towed from Brantford to Surrey. I was hard pressed to find a gas station in some places in Canada, never mind a charge station. I do not see this practical at the moment depending where you travel.
I noticed at 5:57 that the driver making some adjustments (may be for the brake) on a small screen below the central display. The Model Y however has a special harness (located near the driver left foot) like the Model X to connect a brake controller.
@@HCkev I agree, it does seem silly that some cars like the Model S aren't even rated to tow at all, when they could probably tow very well. It's strange though seeing a 3600 lb car pull a 6000 lb trailer. Here in the UK, a general rule of thumb is that we stick to the 85% rule. So the trailer should not weigh more than 85% of teh weight of the towing vehicle, for safety reasons, as you don't want the "tail wagging the dog". But I must admit, the set up in this vid seems rock solid.
Andy set up a few trailers for me. Guy is amazing to work with. The entire dealership is top notch. But I am not sure I will be towing with my Model 3 ;)
After getting over my initial reaction, I'd ask do you have to unhook from the trailer at the tesla supercharger? I don't think there's room at these superchargers for both model 3 and travel trailer.
What does Tesla think of this? Does it invalidate your warranty? And what about your car insurance, what do they think about people welding hitches onto the structural components of the car?
If the load you tow is larger than the vehicle allowed towing capacity and that is the reason that the motor f.ex. gets damaged then yes. You can bet your tushy that Tesla wont pay you a dime in repairs. As for insurance the answer is clear. Insurance will not cover you in case of an accident. That is the law. Everyone on the net can tell you ''it is fine just buy buy buy'' but it is your money, your safety and your life that is at the stake so choose wisely.
My suspicion is that if you get in an accident and your insurance figures out that you have exceeded the GVWR, you will be paying out of pocket. Sure, you can tow more than the rating, but the rating is there for a reason, and it protects your insurance company, as a side benefit. 100 mile range is not good.
What's not mentioned enough is the Airstream itself. Airstream's are unique in many ways. A large part of why there is so little sway is the shape of the trailer. I pull a 25' Airstream so comfortably because both my car and the Airstream have a low centre of gravity and incredible aerodynamics. Can Am RV installed my hitch setup. Andy really knows his stuff, as do the whole staff.
Did i hear that right? a model 3 awd hauling a 6,000lb airsteam trailer???!!! 😂😮 Model X tops out at 5k max. I'm curious how soon it'll need a motors replacement with all that stress.
@@xk302a A stock Model 3 will pull and handle better than almost any half-ton pickup. Only issue is braking which was most likely one of the upgrades he did.
And I don't know about the US, but I believe in Canada if you're towing more than the rated capacity and get in an accident, you're in trouble. ICBC will certainly not cover you.
If I want this kind of hitch setup on my Tesla model 3 and I don't live in Canada, what kind of hitch do I ask for and where can I go to get one installed? Also any idea on general pricing for both the hitch and labor?
Why can't I save this vid to refer to later? Is that a setting by the publisher? I've never seen or noticed a vid I could not save on RU-vid before. Would like to save as a reference.
Where did he park the car and trailer while charging? Most charging stations i see the car has to back in. If you have to disconnect the trailer each time that would be annoying.
In Europe you can get so many cars with tow balls that Americans wouldn't expect. With powerful electric motors instead of a small ICE towing with cars seems to be a really good experience.
Yeah, there are too many people in Europe using already underpowered cars that have no business towing anything. I see them struggling to maintain the speed limit on a flat highway.
Being able to tow is one thing. Accident in front of you and you’ve got to stop fast. Nope you won’t. Too many people on the road towing trailers they shouldn’t be. This video is telling people the wrong thing. Safety is #1.
So now it's two years later. I'm just buying my Tesla but I ordered it with a tow hitch. Two Q's: 1) Did Tesla not offer a hitch back then? 2) How does your install scenario compare with the current factory hitch?
Great review , but one thing that was grating me is your guest was saying miles not kilometres, please for the love of all Canadians and the rest of the world please use metric.I was confused about his actual mileage. Canadian content metric measurements🇨🇦🤔😎
Does auto pilot work while towing a trailer? There’s almost no RU-vid videos on this. That would be a game changer if it worked because the driving fatigue with trailers is so heavy.
