Tesla Model 3 and a glider

On Sunday, December 15, 2019 at 7:42:37 AM UTC-8, Scott Manley wrote:
My bad. I did mean 3 miles per kWhr when not towing, and 2 miles per kWhr when towing the glider trailer. Other considerations mentioned. Wind is a factor: headwinds hurt, tailwinds help, but I checked winds before I made a trip and factored it in when charging. I was usually running the A/C while towing. I didn't notice any effect on range, although logically there is some effect. I was not traveling in 100 degree heat, but 90s were not uncommon. I did have to unhook the trailer about 1/2 the time at charging stations. We tend to spread out total trip time over more days (luxury of being retired), so a few extra minutes at a stop to unhook/rehook the trailer was not an issue. Traveling mostly north/south through the eastern U.S. I didn't have to deal with a lot of terrain. By the way, the Tesla navigation system does factor in elevation changes when calculating the energy required for a proposed route. The most dramatic elevation change in a short period of time was a 1000 ft ridge in Tennessee. The climb occurred over about 7 miles and the energy consumption on the way up went off the chart. On the flats, while towing, the Model X uses about 400-450 watt-hrs/mile. Climbing the ridge saw values well over 900 watt-hrs / mile. To minimize consumption on the way up, I got in line with the semis and drove at 35 mph (minimized aerodynamic drag). On the 7 mile trip down the other side, the regenerative braking (no need to use the actual brakes) returns more than 1/2 of what was required to climb the ridge (descent at about 55 mph). Another point of reference, for safety sake, we came to traveling in the right lane with the professional truck drivers, moving along at about 5 miles under the posted limit at a steady pace, so about 65 mph most of the time. Besides being safer, right lane travel was much more relaxing and often entertaining as we calmly watched the neurotic behavior of those to our left. Tesla's adaptive cruise uses the maximum distance to the vehicle ahead setting when in trailer mode. Tesla's automatic lane tracking (auto-steer) is disabled in trailer mode.

It's interesting how much different the power consumption is, 23%, between the glider and the travel trailers, which must be due to the larger frontal area. Correcting for a correspondingly shorter charging time, the cross country trip speed will jump to an eye-popping 27.6 mph. Ely, NV, however, would be out of the question.

Tom