Bowlus is a high-end trailer manufacturer that brands itself as the “first all-electric RV company,” and it recently tested to see how far a Tesla Cybertruck and a Model X could pull one of its Volterra trailers specifically designed for EVs. Surprisingly, even though the Cybertruck has a slightly longer range than the Model X, as well as more towing capacity, it was the latter that achieved the greatest towing range.
The vehicles they used for the test were a Tesla Cybertruck Dual Motor Foundation Series. It has an EPA range of 340 miles, while the Model X is rated at 310 miles if it’s the Long Range model or 326 miles if it’s a Plaid—we’ve reached out to Bowlus and we’ll update the article when we hear back; it listed the Model X’s range as 330 miles for this test without specifying which variant was used.
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Electric pickups lose a lot of range when towing
Even though electric pickups have the power and torque to make light work of any trailer, they all seem to lose a lot of range when towing.
Geneva Long, who is the founder and CEO of Bowlus, posted on Linkedin that the Model X was able to drive up to 235 miles while pulling the streamlined 3,250-pound Volterra trailer, which equates to 71% of its range estimate. The Cybertruck apparently couldn’t match it, and it only managed 160 miles or around 47% of its range estimate—that’s a big difference, and it could be attributed to the Cybertruck’s extra weight compared to the Model X as well as other aspects of the testing methodology that were not fully explained in the post.
Bowlus says its range test was comprised of 65% highway driving and 35% rural road driving.
When YouTuber and Cybertruck owner VoyageATX towed a Model Y behind his dual-motor Cybertruck with 20-inch wheels in January, he estimated that the total range with a full battery would have been about 160 miles. That’s with a heavier load (a Model Y weighs around 4,500 pounds, and the U-Haul trailer it was towed on probably added 2,000 pounds). This range test took place almost exclusively on highways.
Another Cybertruck towing test was done in March, which was much closer to the one recently done by Bowlus since it involved the truck towing a streamlined trailer similar to the Volterra. It was an Airstream trailer, which weighed just over 6,600 pounds, and the estimated range on a full charge was about 158 miles driving at 50 to 55 miles per hour.
The takeaway from this seems to be that the older, lighter Tesla Model X is a fantastic EV for towing, and it can come much closer to its claimed range even when pulling a relatively big and heavy trailer.
