If you wanted to go on vacation with a trailer and an electric car, it hasn’t been easy until now. For many Stromer no trailer hitch was offered at all or they did not offer enough trailer load, and the range of most electric cars was too short for that. But that is gradually changing, as a recent study by the ADAC shows. Questions to Markus Sippl, Head of Vehicle Technology at Europe’s largest automobile club.
SZ: Mr. Sippl, do many campers ask you which e-car is suitable for their purposes?
Markus Sippl: Yes, there is definitely interest. In recent years, however, the offer has been extremely manageable. Most electric cars had no or only a very low maximum towing capacity, so that owners of a caravan could not do anything with them.
And is that changing now?
Definitive. We recently published a large overview of this. Accordingly, there are now half a dozen electric cars that can cope well with towing loads of 1,800 kilograms and more. That is quite neat for a caravan team.
Some caravans are even heavier.
Yes, but the offer is also gradually improving for them. The Model X from Tesla, for example, has a trailer load of just over two tons, the BMW iX even 2.5 tons.
So are the manufacturers targeting new user groups?
I think that the manufacturers had to solve completely different problems so far, especially that of range. Now other fields are also moving into focus.
But even a heavy caravan on the hook puts pressure on the range …
That’s right, even with a combustion engine, one can assume that a trailer will increase fuel consumption by a maximum of twice. If you apply this value to an electric car, the range with a caravan is reduced by up to half. In the meantime, however, the range of electric vehicles has grown so that you can cover distances of 250 to 300 kilometers even with a caravan on the hook. From our point of view, that is quite acceptable.
Markus Sippl has been head of vehicle technology at ADAC since 2010.
(Photo: ADAC)
The problem, however, is that trailer drivers also have to recharge on the go. And that’s tricky at times.
Indeed, that is a sensitive issue. At many motorway service stations, for example, the charging stations are placed in such a way that you can get there easily with an electric car and maneuver up to the column with the rear or the front grill in front. But that is not possible with a team.
Unless you uncouple the trailer and park it a few meters further …
Right, but that is extremely time-consuming. We would therefore like the operators of the respective charging infrastructure to set up more “drive-through charging stations” where caravan drivers can also charge conveniently. After all, it is positive that, according to our perception, more and more campsite operators are now realizing that there is a demand – and are retrofitting their sites with charging stations for electric vehicles.
And what about electrically powered motorhomes? Is something going on?
Very slowly and in triple steps. There are now more and more electrically powered vans for inner-city courier services, for example – and these vehicles have their right to exist. However, these are not yet suitable for motorhome enthusiasts.
Are they still too expensive?
For one thing, yes. On the other hand, they have so far only offered a comparatively small range. But if you buy a motorhome, you want to travel with it first of all – and also cover long distances. It will therefore be a while before manufacturers offer vehicles with realistic ranges of 300 kilometers or more.