SPRING UPDATE - Towing a teardrop camper from Colorado to Virginia - 3,000 miles (through snow) in January 2024 :-D

[21st Century Pony]

UPDATE: I now have three long distance interstate camping trips with the Mach E and the towed Pika teardrop camper trailer, for a total of about 5,700 miles. I just completed a Virginia - Tennessee - Georgia - Kentucky - Ohio - Pennsylvania camping trip of about 2,000 miles.

Dates: 03 May 2024 thru 09 May 2024.

Equipment different from my Winter trips (in original post below):
- OEM Michelin Primacy low rolling resistance tires instead of Vredestein Wintrac Pro Winter tires.
- a new RoofNest six-inch high (when closed during movement) hard-shell Falcon 2 platform tent on the Pika camper's roof rack. I added this roof platform tent in Atlanta about 720 miles into the trip. The towing efficiency hit is "noticeable, yet negligible". The Falcon 2 will serve as the teen sleeping attic this Summer while we adults occupy the trailer cabin. Picture added at the very end of this post.

Warm Weather Efficiency: consistently between a sustained low of 1.8 kWh and a sustained high of 2.2 kWh. I had hoped the Synch trip meter would accumulate a combined trip kWh average for a reset of the TRIP 2 button. Unfortunately, it only harvested the mileage... after every car shut-off, the kWh average would reset to zero... but I was watching the kWh indicator all during the trip so I know the high and low range of sustained kWh measurements.

Conclusion: as I had hoped after my deep-freeze January trip from Colorado to Virginia, when the Mach E is shod with its normal low rolling resistance OEM Michelins and the weather is warm, the towing efficiency climbs to a IMHO quite reasonable sustained area around 2.0 kWh. I note that as before that when I tow this 1,500 pound camper trailer I maintain a speed of between 62 and 65 miles per hour, as indicated for this Ford tow system.

And BTW, I love camping with this teardrop trailer now that the weather is warm When we stay at state and similar RV camping parks, the Mach E charges overnight while we sleep after ambling about and dousing the firepit.

Hope this is useful info.

- END UPDATE

Folks,

In January 2024 I and the dog drove to Grand Junction in far western Colorado to pick up our new teardrop camper, then we drove back across the Rockies via U.S. 50 over Monarch Pass, and through Wichita Kansas, eastern Nebraska, Hastings Minnesota (near Minneapolis) and Chicago Illinois back to Virginia, towing and sleeping in our new teardrop camper.

Highest road elevation driven while towing: Monarch Pass at 11,300+ feet.

Length of trip while towing the new teardrop camper: 3,037 miles.

Weight of teardrop camper (dry): 1,485 pounds as equipped with options.

Model of teardrop camper: TimberLeaf Trailers’ Pika with Off Road suspension and multiple other options.

Overall kWh use during trip: 1.5 miles / kWh.

Lowest kWh efficiency in sustained use: climbing Monarch Pass in Colorado from West to East, during a snowstorm - 0.9 miles / kWh.

Sustained speed while towing (my choice): 62 – 65 MPH, which is the recommended speed for this Ford tow kit.

Highest sustained speed while towing: 78 MPH for about 20 miles in Wisconsin, as a test (with a horrible miles/kWh result). Above about 64 - 65 mph with this somewhat aerodynamic teardrop in tow the range available starts to decrease algorithmically.

Lowest sustained speed while towing: 40 MPH on difficult sections of Monarch Pass because of the snowstorm, and also on I-70 Eastbound in western Kansas, because of continual random patches of black ice.

Coldest sustained outside temperature while towing: minus 19 degrees Fahrenheit, in eastern Nebraska.

Highest sustained temperature of the whole towing trip, except for the final day: 36 degrees Fahrenheit.

Non-trailer factors affecting our miles / kWh efficiency on this trip:

• Cold to very cold weather throughout, notable even for January, which lowered battery range.
• Winter Vredestein Wintrac Pro tires on the car, which increased rolling resistance.

Notable attractions enroute: since we had a new camper behind the car, we slept in the teardrop every night except for two nights in Hastings Minnesota, at an old friends’ house. Near Montrose Colorado, we camped at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, at about 8,000 feet. Every time we "RV-camped" I used the 50-amp pad plug to charge the Mach E while we slept. To my surprise, about half of the Ohio Turnpike service plazas also have a separate RV overnight parking in their back or side so we happily plugged in, ate, used the facilities and then racked out, all for $20 a night.

Unusual equipment use while driving: I threw on my Rud chains to get off the mountain from the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, where the NPS road had a solid smooth one+ inch of ice covered with 4 inches of fresh snow that late morning. Having a 1,500 pound trailer pushing me downhill on this curvy road, I looked at the ice and took no chances. Length of chain use: about 5 miles. On Monarch Pass, once we topped the pass the weather got SO nasty on the Eastern slope I stopped early during the descent and threw the chains on again, only on the front axle this time, to help control our combined vehicle. Length of use was about six miles before we got low enough to not need them.

I also used Mach-Lee's excellent silver reflector solution for the panoramic roof to keep the cabin heat, in the cabin.

The white charger port cover in the mountain snow picture is a Canadian MACAPUCHE EV charger cover suggested by SpaceEVDriver. "Ma capuche" means "my hood" in Francais.

Tow system used: the Ford OEM tow drawbar system, sold for the Mach E by Ford dealerships across Europe. Made by a well-known sub-manufacturer with Ford’s approval, this system has Ford blue oval logos on every page of the instruction and mounting manuals, on the equipment itself and on its data plate. It is rated in Europe-standard D and S tongue and trailer weight numbers which translate as 132 pounds for towing tongue weight and 3,306 pounds for trailer max weight, for AWD extended battery Mach E models (which is what I have). Info about this Ford tow kit including 2022 prices and my mounting pictures is in the old thread whose URL is listed at the bottom of this post's text area.

Battery range, on flat roads out of the mountains, in cold – to – very cold weather and with Winter tires on: between 110 and 140 miles. The super-cold wind also made a difference here, especially traveling North thru Nebraska.

Battery range in warm weather, with same Winter tires (once back home here in Virginia, I drove stretches of 35 – 45 miles with the teardrop camper at same speeds, running errands and to show it off to friends in line to borrow it): average miles / kWh was between 1.9 and 2.1, in temperatures of 66 – 76 degrees.

Based on these comparisons, I fully expect to get over 2 miles / kWh with the OEM all-season Michelin tires when we will tow this teardrop camper in Spring, Summer and early Fall to the Atlantic beaches and to the local Virgina / Maryland / Delaware national and state parks for weekend+ camping trips. Note: I bought a spare used set of OEM wheels from a former forum member who had upgraded his wheels, and then sold his Mach E for a F150 Lightning, so now I have 4 wheels with Winter tires and 4 wheels with all-season tires.

Charging: To my very pleased surprise, I was able to pull into about half of the DC Fast charging points without unhooking the teardrop (see one of the pix) because they were either pull-through stalls or "pull-along" on a side curb out of the way. The other 50% of the time like at Walmart, I just found a nearby two-row free parking slot and dropped the teardrop, then charged up while separate. Of course, at night we "charged while sleeping" at 240V RV camps, once in a national park, three times at military base RV recreation parks, in my friends' garage and once at a service plaza on the Ohio Turnpike. Overall, compared to late 2022 I found it noticeably easier (already!!) to locate EV DC fast charging points.

Impressions: with this towing system and with this 1,500 pound trailer, mechanically the car tows practically perfectly. Because of this tow system's strong central steel tube design and the inner / outer sandwich way the tow system bolts into the car’s frame, the Mach E’s frame has no flex while towing at any speed I tried, whether on straights or on curves, whether braking or accelerating. Having towed my share of trailers, especially while in the Army, I am very pleased with this OEM Ford system’s design strength and stability. The European 50mm ball fits snugly within the North American 2-inch coupler. I lubed the ball with a special tow ball lube and it shows zero wear so far, 3,000+ miles later. I used the single safety strap hole in the tow drawbar’s center mount, along with a 1-ton heavy duty shackle, to attach both safety chains. Whether towing this teardrop camper trailer or a typical flat platform trailer to take my motorcycle (or whatever load) to the shop, I am now confident in this car’s towing ability… at speeds 65 mph and below. Even the acceleration while towing wasn't bad at all, he hee

The single mechanical drawback of this Ford tow system is that the swan neck that holds the tow ball tops out at 16 inches above the pavement (with my KW v3 coilovers) and, while detachable and lockable, it is not height-adjustable. I chose to use a Gen Y (of Indiana) Phantom steel hitch to compensate for this particular off-road trailer’s 20-inch tongue coupler height, mounted "backwards" on the trailer tongue instead of on the rear of the car, and the trailer rode very flat and true as the pictures show. You can see the Phantom hitch in several attached pix.

The tow kit’s electric system and Euro 13-pin trailer connector is (so far) another story… the short of it is that after playing with various adapters for nearly a year, I had to use my backup plan when I actually mated the car to the trailer in Grand Junction Colorado because I just couldn’t make the OEM Euro system and the included Ford TRM module work together (through a Chinese adapter) with the car and the trailer. Therefore, per my Plan B I then tapped the rear, stop, turn signal and reverse lights and thus had (have) everything I need to be road-worthy. Unfortunately, until I figure out how to activate the system’s TRM (module #45 for my model of the Mach E) I cannot yet use the trailer charging switched power line or the electric brake line, and when I back up to hook up my car’s rear sensors think I’m about to crash rearwards… this part of the story is to be continued. More details to come… and frankly for when I will use a simple platform trailer (the UTILITY use of this small SUV) all of that won’t matter anyway.

Links here are to a discussion about towing and my installation pictures in a year-old thread. This thread has my mechanical towing kit installation pictures at about Post #34 and later.
https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...city-boost-in-europe.21533/page-3#post-516024

EDIT: because of the discussion that resulted here, those interested in the towing setup can jump ahead to my Post #33 for more details about this Ford Mach E towing system.

Enjoy the pix!

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[markboris]

Great trip and write up Martin. It's always good to see photos with a story like this to help put it all together.

 

[21st Century Pony]

Great trip and write up Martin. It's always good to see photos with a story like this to help put it all together.

Thanks... but you should have FELT that Nebraska minus 19 F while charging... OMG and the North wind too! Brrr.... I now have high respect for Nebraska farmers and ranchers (and North Dakota, and South Dakota, and Montana, and Wyoming...). And, like, all Canadians too.

Those Great Plains are killers in Winter. Makes me think of the sod-buster pioneers back in the 1840s...

 

[markboris]

A couple of weeks ago, I was in Evergreen CO and it was -17˚F however, I was inside a friend’s toasty warm home so didn't experience it like you did. For me, anything below 40˚F is cold.

 

[AliRafiee]

Nice

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

Did you buy any chance try BlueCruise while towing the trailer? (I presume had you gotten the adapter to work it would’ve been disabled, right?)

 

[21st Century Pony]

Did you buy any chance try BlueCruise while towing the trailer? (I presume had you gotten the adapter to work it would’ve been disabled, right?)

During my three shakedown / trial ride days around Grand Junction and nearby, I chose to not turn on Blue Cruise at all to "learn" by feel how the car and the trailer interact thru the tow kit.

Then, I just never turned Blue Cruise back on throughout the trip. I note that thanks to the occasional random presence of strong winds, the inclines & declines, the flying snow and the black ice, driving without Blue Cruise while pulling an extra 1,500 pounds just instinctively felt a better choice.

To my surprise, although normally I use Blue Cruise avidly I did not miss it at all this whole trip. This makes me think that when my BC expires in 14 months, I might just forget about it instead of paying for the subscription.

Of course, all the other driver safety systems like adaptive cruise control etc. were working. I did manually turn off the Reverse Braking warning feature when towing.

 

[Mach1E]

Wow, with 110 miles of total range, were you stopping every 70-80 miles?

I imagine there were some stretches you were a little worried you might not make it to the next charger?

Curious how much time driving vs charging and how long the trip took. It seems like you would spend about 1/3 of the trip on a charger.

 

[21st Century Pony]

Wow, with 110 miles of total range, were you stopping every 70-80 miles?

I imagine there were some stretches you were a little worried you might not make it to the next charger?

Curious how much time driving vs charging and how long the trip took. It seems like you would spend about 1/3 of the trip on a charger.

I cut it a bit closer than that and the range varied during the colder days to between 110 and 140 miles between charges. Often I got to 5% or so of remaining battery juice. It all depends on the regional area. Yes there is always a bit of worry but never panic. Electricity is all around us and I have a Go Box described in another thread with nine charging plug adapters including a TeslaTap. On this trip, I used three of them.

I tended to fast charge 3 to 4 times per day. On the Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania turnpikes and I-70 / I-270 during the last two days, I charged more often (5 times / day?) because the weather eased up, I was steadily driving faster and had fewer reasons to stop and explore. Remember that I for the most part drove at a speed of 62 - 65 mph. That translated to charging about every 2 hours or sometimes a bit longer/farther. Setting a charging point as the next destination in the NAV, and on occasion adjusting it while driving because of changing conditions, also meant the car was preconditioning the battery before practically every fast charge, which definitely helped overall for time-while-dc charging. I also adjusted the Departure Time every time I fast-charged to heat the cabin from the DC charging point electricity stream, which was really useful to help extend the range until the next charging stop.

Remember that I additionally started every day with a full or nearly full battery thanks to charging at Level 2 overnight, including in my friends' Minnesota garage on their welder 240V receptacle. I planned every night stop at a place where I could plug in as soon as we stopped for the night.

Some sections on some days I drove wayy slower, like all thru western Kansas, because of the dangerous conditions even though it was a clear day. Many cars and semi trucks in ditches... and I was pulling a trailer, so panic braking by a car in front of me would have meant bad outcomes. Driving slower on those dangerous sections, as well as on the snowstormy mountain sections, meant charging every 3+ hours, which was fine. A related factor present on those more risky stretches was driver fatigue because of dangerous conditions, and then every fast charging stop was welcome relief to stretch and rest my body and brain from the driving and attention strain.

The dog really appreciates a stretch walk during dc fast charging, so the breaks were good for her and for me too. I hardly ever just sit in my car while fast charging.

This was a shakedown / stress test towing trip during adverse weather conditions. For me, this means normal Summertime camper towing will naturally render longer battery ranges than this stress test drive. ...and for occasional local cargo platform trailer towing the available range is less important.

 

[Leopold-mach e]

Folks,

In January 2024 I and the dog drove to Grand Junction in far western Colorado to pick up our new teardrop camper, then we drove back across the Rockies via U.S. 50 over Monarch Pass, and through Wichita Kansas, eastern Nebraska, Hastings Minnesota (near Minneapolis) and Chicago Illinois back to Virginia, towing and sleeping in our new teardrop camper.

Highest road elevation driven while towing: Monarch Pass at 11,300+ feet.

Length of trip while towing the new teardrop camper: 3,037 miles.

Weight of teardrop camper (dry): 1,485 pounds as equipped with options.

Model of teardrop camper: TimberLeaf Trailers’ Pika with Off Road suspension and multiple other options.

Overall kWh use during trip: 1.5 miles / kWh.

Lowest kWh efficiency in sustained use: climbing Monarch pass in Colorado from West to East, during a snowstorm - 0.9 miles / kWh.

Sustained speed while towing (my choice): 62 – 65 MPH, which is the recommended speed for this Ford tow kit.

Highest sustained speed while towing: 78 MPH for about 20 miles in Wisconsin, as a test (with a horrible miles/kWh result).

Lowest sustained speed while towing: 40 MPH on difficult sections of Monarch Pass because of the snowstorm, and also on I-70 Eastbound in western Kansas, because of continual random patches of black ice.

Coldest sustained outside temperature while towing: minus 19 degrees Fahrenheit, in eastern Nebraska.

Highest sustained temperature of the whole towing trip, except for the final day: 36 degrees Fahrenheit.

Non-trailer factors affecting our miles / kWh efficiency on this trip:

• Cold to very cold weather throughout, notable even for January, which lowered battery range.
• Winter Vredestein Wintrac Pro tires on the car, which increased rolling resistance.

Notable attractions enroute: since we had a new camper behind the car, we slept in the teardrop every night except for two nights in Hastings Minnesota, at an old friends’ house. Near Montrose Colorado, we camped at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, at about 8,000 feet. Every time we "RV-camped" I used the 50-amp pad plug to charge the Mach E while we slept. To my surprise, about half of the Ohio Turnpike service plazas also have a separate RV overnight parking in their back or side so we happily plugged in, ate, used the facilities and then racked out, all for $20 a night.

Unusual equipment use while driving: I threw on my Rudd chains to get off the mountain from the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, where the NPS road had a solid smooth one+ inch of ice covered with 4 inches of fresh snow that late morning. Having a 1,500 pound trailer pushing me downhill on this curvy road, I looked at the ice and took no chances. Length of chain use: about 5 miles. On Monarch Pass, once we topped the pass the weather got SO nasty on the Eastern slope I stopped early during the descent and threw the chains on again, only on the front axle this time, to help control our combined vehicle. Length of use was about six miles before we got low enough to not need them.

I also used Mach-Lee's excellent silver reflector solution for the panoramic roof to keep the cabin heat, in the cabin.

The white charger port cover in the mountain snow picture is a Canadian MACAPUCHE EV charger cover suggested by SpaceEVDriver. "Ma capuche" means "my hood" in Francais.

Tow system used: the Ford OEM tow drawbar system, sold for the Mach E by Ford dealerships across Europe. Made by a well-known sub-manufacturer with Ford’s approval, this system has Ford blue oval logos on every page of the instruction and mounting manuals, on the equipment itself and on its data plate. It is rated in Europe-standard D and S tongue and trailer weight numbers which translate as 132 pounds for tongue weight and 3,306 pounds for trailer max weight, for AWD extended battery Mach E models (which is what I have).

Battery range, on flat roads out of the mountains, in cold – to – very cold weather and with Winter tires on: between 110 and 140 miles. The super-cold wind also made a difference here, especially traveling North thru Nebraska.

Battery range in warm weather, with same Winter tires (once back home here in Virginia, I drove stretches of 35 – 45 miles with the teardrop camper at same speeds, running errands and to show it off to friends in line to borrow it): average miles / kWh was between 1.9 and 2.1, in temperatures of 66 – 76 degrees.

Based on these comparisons, I fully expect to get over 2 miles / kWh with the OEM all-season Michelin tires when we will tow this teardrop camper in Spring, Summer and early Fall to the Atlantic beaches and to the local Virgina / Maryland / Delaware national and state parks for weekend+ camping trips. Note: I bought a spare used set of OEM wheels from a former forum member who had upgraded his wheels, and then sold his Mach E for a F150 Lightning, so now I have 4 wheels with Winter tires and 4 wheels with all-season tires.

Charging: To my very pleased surprise, I was able to pull into about half of the DC Fast charging points without unhooking the teardrop (see one of the pix) because they were either pull-through stalls or "pull-along" on a side curb out of the way. The other 50% of the time like at Walmart, I just found a nearby two-row free parking slot and dropped the teardrop, then charged up while separate. Of course, at night we "charged while sleeping"at 240V RV camps, once in a national park, three times at military base RV recreation parks, and once at a service plaza on the Ohio Turnpike. Overall, compared to late 2022 I found it noticeably easier (already!!) to locate EV DC fast charging points.

Impressions: with this towing system and with this 1,500 pound trailer, mechanically the car tows practically perfectly. Because of this tow system's strong central steel tube design and the inner / outer sandwich way the tow system bolts into the car’s frame, the Mach E’s frame has no flex while towing at any speed I tried, whether on straights or on curves, whether braking or accelerating. Having towed my share of trailers, especially while in the Army, I am very pleased with this OEM Ford system’s design strength and stability. The European 50mm ball fits snugly within the North American 2-inch coupler. I lubed the ball with a special tow ball lube and it shows zero wear so far, 3,000+ miles later. I used the single safety strap hole in the tow drawbar’s center mount, along with a 1-ton heavy duty shackle, to attach both safety chains. Whether towing this teardrop camper trailer or a typical flat platform trailer to take my motorcycle (or whatever load) to the shop, I am now confident in this car’s towing ability… at speeds 65 mph and below. Even the acceleration while towing wasn't bad at all, he hee

The single mechanical drawback of this Ford tow system is that the swan neck that holds the tow ball tops out at 16 inches above the pavement (with my KW v3 coilovers) and, while detachable and lockable, it is not height-adjustable. I chose to use a Gen Y (of Indiana) Phantom steel hitch to compensate for this particular off-road trailer’s 20-inch tongue coupler height, mounted "backwards" on the trailer tongue instead of on the rear of the car, and the trailer rode very flat and true as the pictures show. You can see the Phantom hitch in several attached pix.

The tow kit’s electric system and Euro 13-pin trailer connector is (so far) another story… the short of it is that after playing with various adapters for nearly a year, I had to use my backup plan when I actually mated the car to the trailer in Grand Junction Colorado because I just couldn’t make the OEM Euro system and the included Ford TRM module work together (through a Chinese adapter) with the car and the trailer. Therefore, per my Plan B I then tapped the rear, stop, turn signal and reverse lights and thus had (have) everything I need to be road-worthy. Unfortunately, until I figure out how to activate the system’s TRM (module #45 for my model of the Mach E) I cannot yet use the trailer charging switched power line or the electric brake line, and when I back up to hook up my car’s rear sensors think I’m about to crash rearwards… this part of the story is to be continued. More details to come… and frankly for when I will use a simple platform trailer (the UTILITY use of this small SUV) all of that won’t matter anyway.

Links here are to a discussion about towing and my installation pictures in a year-old thread. This thread has my mechanical towing kit installation pictures at about Post #34 and later.
https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...city-boost-in-europe.21533/page-3#post-516024


Enjoy the pix!

Can you, or someone tell me where I can get this hitch setup? I’m guessing Uhaul will not have what I need. Ideally, I’d like to tow the same teardrop. I have a 23 performance extended range.

 

[aporzio1]

This is perfect, I have been wanting to get a similar trailer but didn't know how the range would be. Not nearly bad as I was afraid it would be.

How do you like the trailer?

 

[MillerPaints]

Thanks for sharing you experience. My hat is off to you....I don't think hubby and I would have the stomach to do that trip in that weather. So my big question is.....where is a picture of your partner in crime...your dog?????????

 

[21st Century Pony]

Can you, or someone tell me where I can get this hitch setup? I’m guessing Uhaul will not have what I need. Ideally, I’d like to tow the same teardrop. I have a 23 performance extended range.

I ordered mine thru someone in Europe, who then sent it to me. Details are in the older thread URL in my post.

 

[21st Century Pony]

Thanks for sharing you experience. My hat is off to you....I don't think hubby and I would have the stomach to do that trip in that weather. So my big question is.....where is a picture of your partner in crime...your dog?????????

Right here ?

 

[21st Century Pony]

This is perfect, I have been wanting to get a similar trailer but didn't know how the range would be. Not nearly bad as I was afraid it would be.

How do you like the trailer?

Yes I agree... didn't know what to expect but the range results in difficult conditions lead me to believe that with this teardrop camper at these speeds, we will likely get between 180 and 190 miles or likely a bit more in the Summer with the OEM all-season tires.

Love the Pika teardrop trailer... it's perfect. Very well-designed and comfortable.

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