Rivian vs trx towing

[GottaJett]

This was a video on IG. I was on some thread, couple guys arguing over which is better towing. One guy stating rivian is better for 70 miles. I know I’ll get a little more than 70 miles to a tank on the trx. But is this straight silly, the picture of these people stopping every 100 miles. And EV is the way to go? I truly don’t get how an electric truck is all that better anyways. Cool, it’s faster, but for the distance and things you can’t clearly do, why bother?

 

[The dude]

For people that only tow short distances it wouldn’t make a difference. Live within 50 miles of a lake and have a boat you take out and Rivian would do the job just fine. Want to take that boat 500 miles to a different lake and it would obviously be a pain. For the vast majority of truck owners who never tow or haul anything it is an entirely moot point.

 

[Wwin]

Did they need to bring a generator for the recharges? Kind of defeats the point of an EV…..

 

[@JC]

50 miles from lake? Do a lot of boat landings around you have charging stations? Because at the thousands of lakes around here, not a single one has charging. You're really stretching trying to shoehorn these EVs into something they're not.

 

[GottaJett]

50 miles from lake? Do a lot of boat landings around you have charging stations? Because at the thousands of lakes around here, not a single one has charging. You're really stretching trying to shoehorn these EVs into something they're not.

Exactly. And using the battery/electronics, messing around getting the boat into water, parking and sitting in the heat. You better be 10 miles max from a lake

 

[Rammit]

Absolutely asinine to stop every 70 miles for 45 minutes to recharge. The lightning managed 85 miles towing only 6k lbs. no thank you

 

[ActionDH]

For people that only tow short distances it wouldn’t make a difference. Live within 50 miles of a lake and have a boat you take out and Rivian would do the job just fine. Want to take that boat 500 miles to a different lake and it would obviously be a pain. For the vast majority of truck owners who never tow or haul anything it is an entirely moot point.

50 miles is way too far, and forget about every having an idea to tow anything of weight for any distance, EV towing is nonsense

 

[The dude]

50 miles is way too far, and forget about every having an idea to tow anything of weight for any distance, EV towing is nonsense

50 miles each way to the lake towing a boat is totally doable, done it with a Tesla model Y that my friend owns just for shits and giggles. Left his house with a 100% charge, got back around 20%. Definitely not a long range solution by any means but completely possible for shorter trips.

 

[Dgreen]

For short camping trips we use my wife’s Model X Plaid to tow our Airstream camper and it works great! Anything over a 100 mile trip and we use the TRX.

Personally I’m a big fan of electric vehicles, they are great if you live in the city or need a commuter car. And of course crushing pretty much everything at stop lights is fun as hell with a Plaid!

 

[AmosMoses]

50 miles each way to the lake towing a boat is totally doable, done it with a Tesla model Y that my friend owns just for shits and giggles. Left his house with a 100% charge, got back around 20%. Definitely not a long range solution by any means but completely possible for shorter trips.

I think the center of this discussion is understanding the real life requirement on an EV towing a boat to the lake. If the base requirement is an A to B to A trip, you’ve shown that the EV is sufficient. However the robustness of how the EV satisfies the requirement is the true issue to me. Can the EV meet the requirement with a headwind? Can it complete the task after forgetting the life jackets and having to back track a bit? Can it meet it in the cold? Can it meet it with a less aerodynamic boat of the same weight?

I think the ICE vehicle allows more margin for the unknowns that real life brings. There in lies the crux of the functional EV vs ICE discussion for me. I don’t think most people will relinquish the margin afforded by ICE vehicles fully until the EVs demonstrates true parity with ICE in all regard. Right now, EVs are a bit too far into the “good idea fairy” territory for me to fully bite off. I think we’ll see families adopt an EV but still hold ICE capability for the foreseeable future.

 

[ActionDH]

50 miles each way to the lake towing a boat is totally doable, done it with a Tesla model Y that my friend owns just for shits and giggles. Left his house with a 100% charge, got back around 20%. Definitely not a long range solution by any means but completely possible for shorter trips.

Well a Model Y with 3500 lb limit is different than a Rivian attempting its max of 11k lbs, sure if you find an niche EV that can do your one trip you attempt

 

[The dude]

I think the center of this discussion is understanding the real life requirement on an EV towing a boat to the lake. If the base requirement is an A to B to A trip, you’ve shown that the EV is sufficient. However the robustness of how the EV satisfies the requirement is the true issue to me. Can the EV meet the requirement with a headwind? Can it complete the task after forgetting the life jackets and having to back track a bit? Can it meet it in the cold? Can it meet it with a less aerodynamic boat of the same weight?

I think the ICE vehicle allows more margin for the unknowns that real life brings. There in lies the crux of the functional EV vs ICE discussion for me. I don’t think most people will relinquish the margin afforded by ICE vehicles fully until the EVs demonstrates true parity with ICE in all regard. Right now, EVs are a bit too far into the “good idea fairy” territory for me to fully bite off. I think we’ll see families adopt an EV but still hold ICE capability for the foreseeable future.

It definitely takes some extra planning and has significant limitations. For any kind of distance an EV would not be the choice of tow vehicle for me either I’m just being the devils advocate here pointing out that it is entirely possible to do so. An ICE is just far more convenient outside of shit trips.

 

[The dude]

Well a Model Y with 3500 lb limit is different than a Rivian attempting its max of 11k lbs, sure if you find an niche EV that can do your one trip you attempt

I would do it in a Rivian but mine probably won’t be built until 2024 and no one I know has one. If given a choice between my TRX and a Rivian for a 50 mile trip towing 8000lbs I’d choose the Rivian every time. It’s just a better tow platform if performing within the limitations of range.

 

[AmosMoses]

It definitely takes some extra planning and has significant limitations. For any kind of distance an EV would not be the choice of tow vehicle for me either I’m just being the devils advocate here pointing out that it is entirely possible to do so. An ICE is just far more convenient outside of shit trips.

Copy all, no argument here. Perhaps this is a deviation from the discussion at hand, however I don’t know that the average consumer fully understands the limitations of the EV for a full ICE replacement. I think EVs have their place in the world, however I’m not convinced that their place is the savior of the world that they are billed as.

I appreciate the discussion, you make a good point that the EV can perform the task at hand. I think reliably performing the task under varied conditions and the lack of margin on tasks will prove challenging for the EV for the foreseeable future.

 

[ActionDH]

I would do it in a Rivian but mine probably won’t be built until 2024 and no one I know has one. If given a choice between my TRX and a Rivian for a 50 mile trip towing 8000lbs I’d choose the Rivian every time. It’s just a better tow platform if performing within the limitations of range.

I would do it in a Rivian but mine probably won’t be built until 2024 and no one I know has one. If given a choice between my TRX and a Rivian for a 50 mile trip towing 8000lbs I’d choose the Rivian every time. It’s just a better tow platform if performing within the limitations of range.

I had a Rivian gave it to my brother in CO, he’s already close to the good stuff. I live in the middle of the country towing to anywhere from here is worthless in a Rivian, not going to add minimum 50%+ travel time to have an EV to tow. My TRX fuel economy went from 10.6 mpg unladen to 8.5 mpg towing 7200lbs +, I lost 20%. Also, I’ll take the full size cab compared to the mid sized Rivian, it’s small, TRX had 2 adults, 3 kids and the dog laying on the floor in back still had room. when they make battery capacity greater, charging ubiquitous and 5 minutes I’ll for surely get a full size truck EV, it will be awhile until that happens.

 

[AZDinoPwr]

50 miles from lake? Do a lot of boat landings around you have charging stations? Because at the thousands of lakes around here, not a single one has charging. You're really stretching trying to shoehorn these EVs into something they're not.

4 lakes within 20 miles of me and I live in the desert. I’m sure it would work for a lot of folks.

 

[ice]

There dam boat better be electric !!!

 

[ActionDH]

On a side note, my brother who took over my Rivian R1T still hasn’t received his title or registration, items Rivian keeps ensuring they working on, its coming up on 90 days, already had to get a reissued temp tag, and don’t even get me started on them trying to over charge him for taxes, Rivian is still a complete show

 

[The dude]

There dam boat better be electric !!!

There are some badass electric powered boats. Even more expensive and out of reach for most people than the Rivian.

 

[Got Pipe]

I for one would love an electric truck that could replace my f350 power stroke that I put 20k a year on. If I could get 120 miles on a charge and plug it in every night that would be awesome. Some day it will happen. It won't replace my fuel powered personal cars though! I like being obnoxious!