Trailing Sockets

Car+Driver have raised an interesting question today:

How do you charge a electric truck that happens to be towing a trailer?

Gosh that looks strange.

 

Is it a horsebox?  Is it a caravan for shy people?

 

Just two of the many more questions that the article throws up.

 

Such as:

 

How much weight can an electric vehicle tow?

 

What does it do to the range? Can you trust the range computer on your dashboard?

 

Are caravan sites going to have to have extra charging sockets next to where you connect your caravan to the mains electricity?  Or will you have a cable running from your electric car or truck through your caravan window and plugged in next to the TV?

 

Car+Driver's main concern though is, given that charging point bays are designed to be driven into by cars, do you have to unhitch a trailer and leave it somewhere?  That trailer in the picture looks a bit hefty to be manhandled.

 

It looks like the manufacturers of electric trucks haven't thought that one through either - apart from Rivian - their agreements with charging companies specify that they will need space to accommodate vehicles that are towing trailers. They say that they will also make sure there is room for this type of charging in its own charging network.

 

Final question:

 

What is the best thing to carry in a trailer pulled by an electric vehicle?

 

Answer:

No Charges Were Brought

Not for trespass anyway.  It doesn't say about anything else - like theft - but I hope there were.

What am I talking about?

I'm talking about this Car+Driver story - A Florida Tesla owner claimed that his car's battery had died on the way to a friend's house around midnight. So, he parked on a stranger's front lawn and plugged his charging cable into an external outlet for 12 hours.  Here's a photo:

The wording of the article implies to me that the author is not a fan of electric cars but he does have a go (quite rightly) at this particular electric car owner and concludes with the advice, "...when you screw up, you call AAA"

 

I'm presuming he means the American Automobile Association - but I suppose that in this case, he could be suggesting getting hold of some of these: