Issues when moving to all electric towcars

When you bear in mind that major manufacturers such as Ford will stop producing ICE models from the mid 2020's altogether and LandRover will be doing the same then a radical rethink about towing vehicles is going to be needed pretty soon.

Even if buying a Diesel powered tow car before they stop production isn't going to help if availability of parts, fuel and tax are going to make it prohibitive.

Funny enough I'm reading a book from the early 1990s where the detective believes the mobile phone will never take off as there are far too many problems with finding a signal (charging station) and the phones themselves are too cumbersome( batteries). I remember thinking that I wouldn't be able to use one for a while due to a lack of transmitters and so it proved. I can see I may have the same problem vis-a-vis charging stations.

BTW, just to correct Mr H about charging on site, I've been looking at booking some CLs and over 50% of those I looked at this past week said no charging of EVs on site.

So I may be going over to the Dark Side myself in 5 years time.

This is part of the BMWi3 robotics production line for the batteries.

I wonder how many of us will be alive when the Infrastructure and battery capacity /charging times will catch up with the way we are used to driving at present or will the environmentalists ,made enough noise about the very high pollution, waste and costs it now takes to make the batteries 

Mr H

I think it's good that people are asking questions and suggesting solutions. The practicality of such changes tend to be based on what we know now.

The interesting thing is that we know a bit about what is likely to happen with electric cars. Concerns about range will gradually disappear as technology changes and improves the situation. So in the longer term I am not sure we need to worry about how far we can tow with an electric car because the range will improve as we go along. Obviously towing will impact on that range as it does with petrol and diesel currently.

What is less clear is what will happen with caravans? If people want to maintain the current size and equipment we could be in trouble? For all we know caravan manufacturers will carry on as before in the hope that the towing capacity of EV's become the same as the ICE cars they are replacing?  One of the reasons your suggestion would probably not work is all about weight. To add batteries to a caravan chassis would probably add about 500kgs which would  mean a more substantial chassis, increasing the weight even more.

I wonder if the future of caravanning will lend itself more to the static type of holiday and people who want to tour will gradually move towards motorhomes as has been mentioned by others.

David

Sorry Tin Wheeler, I spent a month touring with an RV on roads more equipped for them than over here. Whilst the connections to the water electricity and wastes were in a standardised position it still took some time to connect and disconnect. Then we had to put away items like the kids toys and plates crockery etc Sometimes this was simply because the kids wanted a Mc Donalds. The RV was 32 feet long and we needed all available seating for the three kids, including the driver and passenger one. So whilst. many people would want one, it is not for me despite many advantages over caravanning. Finally, I cannot afford one on my pension.

To the others When I tow my caravan I use about a third more fuel than without, so any caravan located EV type battery, would not need to be the full size of the car one and could be chassis loaded. I did not reference the standard caravan battery or expect to remove the EV one.  The flexible type solar panelling could be made to replace the roof thus not making the caravan much heavier.

With all this I think there is many avenues we should look at before giving up. I have just read about a special paint finish that could act as a solar panel. Who Knows.........

No need to apologise, Mr H. It's clearly a whole different scenario from the experience in the UK using more modest MHs and engaging a different mindset.👍🏻

Well we're alive now JVB and have managed to run our EV for the last four years!! 

I was refering to the many millions who have yet to be convinced it is the way to go ,and your small EV? with range extender petrol engine ,makes for an easy drive,  as you as at present and well into the future do not have the "worry "of finding a charging point while many LAs prevaricate over when and if they will be installed a problem it seems some in HMG have realised by not stopping HIbrid production beyond the hoped for date of some ICE vehicles

EV's may be a stop gap. Hydrogen fuel cells seem a more realistic solution that would enable travel as we currently know it. I'll have hung up my spurs by then, I suspect.

The tailway industry is looking at Hydrogen power but as i was reading an article a couple of months ago,the downsides of manufacture and storage far out way the advantages