Diesel & petrol alternatives? Your thoughts please

For me the cost of replacing batteries, scarcity of charging points and general lack of power make fully-electric cars (especially for towing) still years away. PHEV would seem to be the best compromise for now but for us less well-off who still see caravanning as the best of budget holidaying, my dear old oil-burner will just have to do. I wonder if anyone ever considered how much scrapping and destroying older vehicles costs our planet?

of course we could all go back to horse-drawn gypsy caravans!

This is an interesting read, (See below). I was also reading about TESLA recently, you can't argue that they are the market leaders at the moment, but  some of the articles I have read about horrendous repair bills some owners are having to pay puts an already very expensive car in a poor light.

Electric VW Golf  Shouldn't think it do VW's sales any favours.

So far our BMW i3 has run problem free for the last three years, there is very little to go wrong with it as there's no conventional engine and we hope the computer driven system lasts well. There are now five EVs and some phevs in our village so it's interesting to see who's going to try one next. It was a major investment for us but has been virtually cost free since purchase. It's a shock when we have to fill up our motorhome! 

OH feels the next generation of cars will be long distance computer controlled...there are major changes ahead but this will probably be for the next generation. 

Just as a matter of interest have you noticed any reduction in the ability of the batteries to hold their charge after three years or to put it another way is the range as good as it was when you first bought the car.

Yes Tigi the batteries are still doing well. Our range is excellent due to the Rex system which regenerates the batteries along with other inbuilt regeneration designs. The batteries are guaranteed for 8 years so we'll see how it goes but so far so good. We're disappointed that BMW dropped the Rex system as it's the best of both worlds. The latest ideas are to build regeneration systems into the roads, we may not see that in our life time but it's another possible future development. 

Yes brue but how much can it TOW ? this thread is about Towcars is it not, be interesting to see what is 'Towcar of the Year'  in 2030  (not THAT far away).

I think the hints about restrictions on personal mobility were ominous. You cannot 'uninvent' personal mobility systems, governments will have to aaccommodate them. And Towing a Caravan is part of that mobility. 

Rayjsj. As an EV user I have tried to be totally upfront about the actual EV experience and the wish to see homologation in the pipe line. As you may be aware this is only available with Tesla at present. It appears to be one slow step at a time. Personally we want to tow our trailer again. If I hear of any progress it will be relayed on here. 

I would love to hear feedback from the club and Kelly the OP. This thread is two years old now and I think it would be great to have  some industry news and updates.

Two of the three sites we’ve been on have been over 2000feet high. The only reviews of hybrids towing caravans I’ve seen have all been film in North Norfolk, I wonder why or is it my cynical side showing😉

I have a Tesla Model X....the standard range.  We took delivery of this on 6th Sep.

.....and i have a 2018 Compass Casita 840 weighing in at an mtlpm of approx 1734 kg and its the 8ft wide and 26ft long too

I towed for the first time after doing loads of research and it was amazing!

By far the best towing experience i’ve ever had....better than any diesel or petrol, manual and automatic.

It typically uses double the battery.....we went from West Yorkshire to Morecambe on a Friday afternoon after school.  

We had 234 miles in the battery when we set off and arrived 70 miles later with 100 miles left in the Battery.

It pulled like there was nothing on the back and because there is no gear changing in the engine (both manuals and auto’s have a lag), the acceleration was instant, at one point i checked to make sure the my van was still attached to the A frame!

The car comes with a Tow mode and a little camera that allows you to keep an eye on your hitch whilst towing.

Upon arriving at the camp site....Tesla provide you with a 3 pin industrial socket to charge from the caravan connection, so when not using the full mains in the caravan, we charged the car.  This type of connection gave approx 12 miles for every hour it was on charge....ideal to get out and explore.

Anyway....it was amazing....i’ve attached a photo below

I do think it’ll restrict our distances with our breaks away, maybe even encouraging more overnight stops on to our final destination....however when you arrive and have not paid for any fuel....that leaves you with a nice little smug feeling.

Any questions, please ask...i’ve found it a mine field trying to get any British people to give advice on towing with an EV.

Manu thanks

Paul