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evtowing·November 01, 2026·@darrell_voss

How much does towing actually kill your EV's range in real-world driving?

I keep seeing wildly different numbers on towing range with an EV too, so here's my real-world data. I tow a boat with our EV9 at close to its max towing capacity. The weight doesn't matter too much, it's more how un-aerodynamic the thing you're towing is. A boat on a trailer is a big blunt shape pushing air, and that's what kills the range. When I'm mostly on the interstate going 65, my range comes down to about 40% of max. If I'm towing off the interstate, on slower roads, I have probably 60% of my range. So for anyone planning a trip with a trailer, I'd say the shape of what you're hauling and your speed matter way more than how heavy it is. Curious what others have seen, especially if you tow something that's low and flat vs tall and boxy. Does the weight vs aerodynamics thing match what you've found?

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26 ANSWERS

@dgleeson_58November 01, 2026

Speed is the one thing you control, but I'd say it has a floor. I've got about 3,000 miles behind a Quad R1T (Large pack) with a 22' Airstream at 4,500 lbs, and I average 1.4 mi/kWh at 63. Dropping to 55 would probably get me to 1.5, which isn't much of a gain. The trailer is also noticeably calmer at 63 when semis come by at 80+, so I'll take the small efficiency hit.

@tpruett_wcNovember 01, 2026

Mine was a lot shorter but it hurt more. First time towing with my Model Y LR, borrowed trailer, 65 miles of Kansas highway at about 70. I'd been at 265 Wh/mi all May and ended up at 771 for the tow, peaking around 853. Started at 84% and still limped into Hutchinson with 4% left, then sat on a Level 2 for a couple hours. Your 60 vs 65 split makes me wish I'd dropped to 60. I just assumed 5 mph wouldn't matter.

@pjansen_58November 01, 2026

Might flip with a trailer, actually. Mostly I just watch speed and plan charge stops around it, and holding 60 instead of 70 with the R1T and our 25ft Airstream has cut the number of stops more than anything else. Fewer stops added up for me more than the extra driving time did.

@tmarwick_November 01, 2026

Adding a data point from a small, aerodynamic trailer. I did a Sierra Nevada loop with our R1S Quad (130 kWh pack) and an Airstream Basecamp, about 4000 lbs loaded. Overall it came to about 1.4 mi/kWh, against roughly 2 without the trailer. That's closer to a 30% hit than half. The spread across legs was huge, though. The worst sustained leg was 1.0 mi/kWh (uphill, windy, highway speeds), and one steep climb dipped to about 0.65. The best was 1.92 on a long descent from 10k ft to sea level. California's 55 mph limit for towing probably helped a lot too. I wouldn't have wanted to do the same trip at 65+. So shape, speed and terrain matter way more than weight. I now plan around 140 miles as my minimum leg, even though the average is better.

@rmasterson_62November 01, 2026

Bowlus here, so also a slick shape, and I land around 1.6 mi/kWh. Your 140 mile minimum leg makes sense for Supercharging, but I mostly dodged that by leaning on campsite power. Just did two months out and only Supercharged 3 times, the rest was 50-amp hookups at campsites, often free. Moving days are one decent leg and then I plug in overnight.

@jhedrick_22November 01, 2026

Campsite power is a big part of my planning too. I've got a Lightning SR and a 21' Airstream, and I see about 1.3 mi/kWh at 60 and 1.4 at 55. If the campground allows it, I plug the truck into the 50A pedestal and run the trailer off the truck's 30A Pro Power outlet in the bed, so the trailer isn't pulling from the pedestal. Not every campground is happy about that, though. I'm getting ready for a 2,000 mile trip and still working out which ones are okay with it.

@tgilchrist_November 01, 2026

Another data point from the long-haul side. After almost 5K miles towing my trailer on a bunch of road trips, the Rivian system says I average 1.2 kWh/M. That's across everything, not one good leg. It works well for me and I take it everywhere, but I plan stops around that number, not the rated range.

@wally_prentissNovember 01, 2026

Adding one from a heavier setup. 2026 Silverado EV Extended Range with an r-Pod 180, about 8300 lbs loaded, and I'm 7 days into a ~2500 mile trip. Back roads were around 1.7 mi/kWh, and my latest average is 1.6. The worst was 1.2 on a 450 mile dash on the interstate at the posted 70. Around small towns with the trailer off I've seen 2.7. So even at that weight, speed and road type moved the number more than the trailer did.

@dgreenhalghNovember 01, 2026

Interesting that the interstate hit you that hard. My numbers with a Silverado EV and an old 31 ft Airstream were about the same, around 1.2 overall, and I ran 55 through California and 65 in OR/WA. The mileage wasn't what bugged me, though. It was the stops. Most of them I couldn't pull through, so I'd unhitch in the back of the lot and re-hitch afterward, and that got old fast. A dead EA at a Walmart on day 2 didn't help.

@kpaxton_83November 01, 2026

The unhooking thing is why I picked my stops so carefully. Towing a 23' trailer behind my Quad I did 10 DC stops over about 1,500 miles and never had to unhitch, but I'll admit a lot of that was luck. I leaned on ABRP and went for pull-through sites, and the RAN ones with the long trailer stalls were the best. With a 7 week old and a toddler in the truck I wasn't going to enjoy unhooking at every stop either.

@mkeegan_74November 01, 2026

Model Y Performance with a 6x12 enclosed here, north of Indy. Did a 1,118 mile round trip to Barber Motorsports Park, 17 Supercharger stops and 645 Wh/mi overall. One 92 mile leg I figured was easy and I still pulled into the charger at 0%, probably a headwind. The pull-through thing was my biggest headache too. About half the stations had pull-throughs but they were usually occupied, so I unhitched most of the way down. On the way back I drove overnight so I could skip that.

@tgrover_58November 01, 2026

17 stops is a lot of unhitching. Ours was the opposite on the Arizona trip with my wife's Bolt and the teardrop. Chiriaco Summit was the only stop where we had to disconnect, and we left the trailer over in the truck spaces. We were eating breakfast while it charged on the 50kW ChargePoint anyway, so it barely cost us anything. We got about 2.4 mi/kWh on that leg. The Electrify America in Quartzsite was what actually wrecked our afternoon, since all four stalls were full and we sat in line for nearly as long as the charge took.

@rdavenport_November 01, 2026

The nav estimate is what got me. I towed a one-way U-Haul with an old piano behind my Y, nothing crazy, and it said I'd get to the Kokomo Supercharger with 13% left. About 15 minutes in it was already saying 7%, and it kept creeping down from there. I ended up in a travel plaza in Peru with no EV charging at all and 10% showing, which towing was maybe 10 miles. Still not sure how I felt about the whole day. Now I treat whatever the car projects with a trailer on as wishful thinking.

@jlarkspur_November 01, 2026

Another Model Y data point, with a low trailer this time. I tow a 2021 Model Y AWD with an Aliner popup, about 2700 lbs and roughly as tall as the car when it's folded down. I got about 130 miles total on a 100% charge at around 65, and 488 to 633 Wh/mi across a multi-week trip. That's a small trailer, and it was still nowhere near the rated number. Like a few people said, the stops hurt more than the efficiency did. I had to unhitch at about a third of them because the Superchargers weren't pull-through. Legs of 60-70 miles worked best for charging speed, so that's what I'd plan around.

@gmoyer_61November 01, 2026

Boats here, which are taller and wider than my '20 Model Y, so same problem as any box trailer. My worst leg was 57 miles at a 58 mph average with about 2,200 ft of climbing. It came to 725 Wh/mi towing a roughly 3,160 lb boat and trailer. The shorter, slower legs were 580-650. I got home with 8%, but only because the last stretch was rural roads where I could keep the speed down. There was another Supercharger about 10 miles out of the way. I skipped it because the range estimate had been holding up fine at those speeds. I wouldn't have tried that at 65+. Anything over about 55 hurts a lot for me. The first trailer also had car tires on it instead of trailer tires, and I'm pretty sure that cost me some efficiency too.

@mkessinger_November 01, 2026

Small-end data point from a Bolt. Last summer I pulled a pop-up between state parks in the Texas Hill Country and saw about a 30% hit to consumption, well short of the "half" people keep quoting here. I think that's mostly the shape. A folded-down pop-up is short enough that it sits in the car's wake, where a tall box gets hit by full airflow. My trips were also short hops from a campsite with a plug, so I never had to plan around long legs. I'd expect a very different number from a tall travel trailer.

@tgarrow_41November 01, 2026

I'd say it's doable, a low teardrop is the right shape for a Bolt. Mine was a Bolt pulling a ~1,500 lb teardrop out to the desert, and mapping the charging stops ahead of time was what made it work. The range drop was noticeable, but it never felt like a dealbreaker. I mostly just kept my foot out of it and didn't trust the car's number once the trailer was on.

@kdenholm_81November 01, 2026

Same kind of setup here with a teardrop behind an Audi eTron, so that Bolt teardrop story sounds familiar. With the teardrop behind it the eTron's 205 miles shrinks a lot, so I keep my trips to about 100-150 miles, and that's a big reason I'm hoping the Scout can do better. Low shape helps, but with only 205 rated miles to start from there isn't much room.

@nate_halvardNovember 01, 2026

Another Bolt data point, this one with a pop-up. I did a 568 mile round trip to Southern Utah with a ~1650 lb loaded camper and averaged just over 2 mi/kWh at 60-65, so well under the "half" people quote. Some sections used way more though. The worst was a long climb into a 15-20 mph headwind, barely over 1 mi/kWh. Chevy doesn't rate the Bolt for towing, so I kept the speed down the whole way.

@mtrellis_09November 01, 2026

Heavy end of the spectrum from me. 2023 Lightning Extended Range, 18' v-nose at about 7,000 lbs, 62-65 mph into a 20-30 mph headwind at 5,200 ft in Colorado. Total trip was 78 miles and I rolled in with 20 miles of range left from a 100% start. The battery percent was dropping fast. I charged to 95% with the trailer dropped, grabbed the second trailer, and a tailwind got me back with 25 miles left. It tows great and I'm not unhappy with the truck. But a tall box, heavy, and a headwind is about the worst case, and for me it meant towing any real distance isn't a good fit. The truck will mostly stay within 60 miles of home anyway.

@rgolding_November 01, 2026

Funny how much the 1.4-1.6 mi/kWh Airstream numbers above differ from mine. My trailer is about 9,000 lbs and not aerodynamic at all, and I get roughly 1 mi/kWh. At that efficiency I only haul it on short local trips where I can get back and charge at home. Shape seems to matter way more than I'd have guessed.

@jpercival_November 01, 2026

Frontal area by a wide margin, in my experience. Tongue weight mostly changes how the truck sits and handles, not the kWh. I pull a 5k lb utility trailer with toolbox and gear on it behind a Silverado EV work truck and see about 0.9 mi/kWh. It's flat-ish and not a camper, but it's still a tall, blunt load. Weight hits you on climbs. Aero is what sets your baseline. A sleek Airstream should do better than that, though I'd still plan on losing half your range or a bit more. For 100-150 mile trips with the R1S I'd say that works, as long as you leave a decent buffer.

@nashworth_November 01, 2026

R1T here, but with a little T@b 320 (about 2,000 lbs), so a much easier case than a Trade Wind. Since most of our camping trips are within about 150 miles of home, I can usually get there with the T@b without stopping to charge. I rarely go over 60 with it on, and I usually land around 1.5-1.7 mi/kWh.

@jbledsoe_29November 01, 2026

Same thing with a Grand Design 16ML here, about 4800 lbs loaded and 8' wide, 10'9" tall, so a tall box. Whole trip from SC out to ND and back came to about 1.1 mi/kWh. For me the floor was higher up though: 60 mph gave about 1.1 and 65 dropped to 0.75, so that 5 mph hurt a lot. Drafting behind trucks got me 1.1-1.2 even at 69, which surprised me. Worst was North Dakota with 35+ mph headwinds, right around 0.6.

@dwight_rennickNovember 01, 2026

Nice to hear the pop-up only cost you 30%. Makes me wonder if my Bolt EUV could realistically pull a ~1,300 lb teardrop up into the mountains, and how I'd charge once I'm past the last fast charger. Mine would be a teardrop, so low like your pop-up, which is why your number gives me some hope.

@tleary_67November 02, 2026

Ugh, this is the one I didn't want to read. I pull a 6K travel trailer, only 3 or 4 times a year, but those trips are 100-150 miles and I've been eyeing a Lightning ER to replace my Ram. Yours is a little heavier than mine but also a tall box, so 78 miles with 20 left makes 150 look sketchy. Did the truck's estimate warn you before you were already deep into the headwind, or did it just fall off a cliff on you?