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Towing with my Kia EV6 (electric)

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#16

RE: Towing with my Kia EV6 (electric)

in We've got it down to a T Tue Aug 02, 2022 6:21 pm
by Steamdrivenandy •

| 995 Posts

I once had to move a 1500kg caravan and we only had a 1.2 litre Yeti which had a max tow weight of just 1200kg and no towbar.

Searched around the car hire companies and found one in Crewe who had a Ford pick up with towbar. They assured me the electrics would work for a caravan. When I collected it I discovered a single 7 pin socket and the van had 13 pin. Luckily a nearby Halfords had an adaptor cable which I had to purchase for that one off journey.

I had nothing to do on this hot afternoon
But to settle down and write you a line

Skoda Karoq 1.5 Petrol DSG

#17

RE: Towing with my Kia EV6 (electric)

in We've got it down to a T Tue Aug 02, 2022 11:28 pm
by Nthurrzzz (deleted)

Quote: AlanC wrote in post #12
One thought that has come to me is if you need to charge the car at a service station, then the caravan has to be parked up and secured while you move the car to the charge point.

So getting back to the caravan or lorry park, possibly going against the incoming traffic could be an issue.

For example, at Gloucester Services north and south bound the caravan park is first on the left with the car park and charge point further on in the car park on the left. As far as I can see there is no way a car can get back to the caravan park once charged up.

On a trip north last week I noticed that Hopewood Services had 14 (I think) Tesla charge points with 4 in use, with only 4 charge points for other vehicles all in use, and a couple of people waiting.

There are a lot of infrastructures that will need to be adjusted if electric vehicles are to become the norm, not just installing charge points.

Alan

There is still a way to go before the public charging network is ready for mass adoption, but the speed of change is accelerating. It is unrecognisable compared to just 12 months ago. Charging with a caravan is trickier, but at worse it�s a single stop on a 230 mile journey. I have never driven further than that in a day towing in all my years caravanning. Takes a bit of planning and using alternatives to service station is often better. Just as you wouldn�t choose to buy petrol from a service station, the same us true for EV charging.
Tesla are steadily opening their network up to non-Teslas. So far in the uk they have opened up a handful but the whole network will be open in the not too distant future. It�s what they did in Europe and that is now fully open to all EVs. If it carries on at the speed it is going, the next couple of years will make even bigger jumps.
It is a learning curve too. Charging an EV is a very different thing to filling up a petrol/diesel car. In the 5 months I have owned it I have only had to stop and �fill up� at service station public chargers 3 times. You can charge the EV in so many places - home, in car parks, when you go to the pub, grab a MacDonald�s - most have chargers now, pop to Lidl, they have chargers, when you arrive at your destination - most sites allow charging for a fee. For example I was in Leamington Spa recently. Spent the afternoon exploring then dinner in the evening. The car park where I parked had chargers - all the time I was there it was charging and was full by the time I returned. I would have parked there anyway, so zero effort filling up. Less effort than if I had my diesel and needed to go to the petrol station. It takes getting used to, but you start doing things differently. Most EV drivers only ever charge at home.

~ N

~ 530, Kia EV6 GT-Line

#18

RE: Towing with my Kia EV6 (electric)

in We've got it down to a T Tue Aug 02, 2022 11:52 pm
by Nthurrzzz (deleted)

Quote: Aaron Calder wrote in post #10
Out of curiosity, I just checked the EV6 GT-line price list and note that the manufacturer's RRP ranges from £44,195 to £56,095.

I shall be sticking with my 12 year old, 30mpg towing, 400 mile range Audi for the foreseeable future.

EVs aren�t cheap to buy. Hopefully more and more become affordable as the market matures. However the prices of new ordinary cars are shooting up too. Which is a worry. The car market has been using leasing, PCP and other finance offers as cars (not just EVs) are increasingly out of reach. I can only see this increasing further.
With regards to running costs, even with energy high prices it is much cheaper. My EV6 is averaging 310 miles on a single charge. So range is more than adequate. The cost of charging from 0% to 100% at home is just £14. In the 5 months of ownership, I have saved a huge amount compared to running my diesel.
EVs are holding the value much better than regular cars. At the moment you can pretty much get back what you paid for it after 3 years. Perhaps loose a thousand or so. I�ve already had an offer for mine £5k over what I paid. I am sure that will all calm down eventually as things settle.
It�ll be interesting to see where things go, but I am getting asked more and more questions by people who are seriously considering the swap.

~ N

~ 530, Kia EV6 GT-Line

#19

RE: Towing with my Kia EV6 (electric)

in We've got it down to a T Tue Aug 02, 2022 11:55 pm
by Nthurrzzz (deleted)

Quote: Steamdrivenandy wrote in post #13
And long distance journeys stop offs tend to mean urine soaked lorry parks or caravan pull throughs full of cars and vans, with overcrowded overpriced facilities. As a caravanner I want much, much better than that.

Just as I avoid service stations in my diesel, I avoid them in my EV. There are much better, and much cheaper options out there.

~ N

~ 530, Kia EV6 GT-Line

#20

RE: Towing with my Kia EV6 (electric)

in We've got it down to a T Wed Aug 03, 2022 7:29 am
by Steamdrivenandy •

| 995 Posts

Quote: Nthurrzzz wrote in post #19
Quote: Steamdrivenandy wrote in post #13
And long distance journeys stop offs tend to mean urine soaked lorry parks or caravan pull throughs full of cars and vans, with overcrowded overpriced facilities. As a caravanner I want much, much better than that.

Just as I avoid service stations in my diesel, I avoid them in my EV. There are much better, and much cheaper options out there.

I think that response misses my point.

When on a long run with a caravan it tends to be motorway driving and with a full tank you usually don't have to refuel on the way and therefore don't have to visit the mainly abysmal facilities, especially for caravan users, in MSA's. With an EV on a similar journey you're likely to be forced to visit an MSA to charge and somehow, it seems, have to unhitch and rehitch the van to get onto a charging point. I've seen the PR video's for super dooper recharging stations with coffee shops etc that aren't on motorways, but AFAIK you can count them on the fingers of one hand. If you do have to venture off the motorway to find a more civilised charging facility, unless you've visited before you have no idea if the charging station can handle a car and caravan and whether you can drive through without bother if not suitable.

I had nothing to do on this hot afternoon
But to settle down and write you a line

Skoda Karoq 1.5 Petrol DSG

#21

RE: Towing with my Kia EV6 (electric)

in We've got it down to a T Wed Aug 03, 2022 7:52 am
by Steamdrivenandy •

| 995 Posts

Quote: Aaron Calder wrote in post #10
Out of curiosity, I just checked the EV6 GT-line price list and note that the manufacturer's RRP ranges from £44,195 to £56,095.

I shall be sticking with my 12 year old, 30mpg towing, 400 mile range Audi for the foreseeable future.

Car prices are daft at present.

Last November I bought a 13 reg. Skoda Citigo as a runabout, paying £5,120 from the local Skoda dealership, 60mpg and £0 VED. It's not put on many miles in the intervening 8 months, so I'm considering selling it and to that end I regularly check the suggested private sale price on Autotrader. It's currently £4,750 and has risen from £4,680 just a fortnight ago It's been hovering around £4,700 for at least 6 months. That suggests that dealers would now sell it for around £5,700, nearly a year after I bought it for £5,120. Motorway are estimating a buy in price of £4,000. It's the rapidly inflating prices of new cars, plus their lack of availability, that is pulling used car prices upwards and the same is happening to caravans. I've noticed an increase in people offering their caravans for private sale, possibly on the basis they can no longer afford the repayments or they need to realise the cash and suspect the high prices might not last as more people are driven to offload.. I haven't seen the same move to get rid of cars yet, as in most people's lives they are a necessity because we've built our society to revolve around car use..

I had nothing to do on this hot afternoon
But to settle down and write you a line

Skoda Karoq 1.5 Petrol DSG

#22

RE: Towing with my Kia EV6 (electric)

in We've got it down to a T Wed Aug 03, 2022 8:57 am
by Islay Corbel (deleted)

I suppose that many of you travel out of the high season..... Randa and many others doing our long tours before the schools break up. At that time the motorway services here are fairly quiet and pleasant..... not so now it's the holiday season. I think it would be bedlam trying to charge a car. We're just not ready yet. Also, when I see the tons of these cars for private sale I'm thinking that people haven't been thrilled with their very expensive purchase. Perhaps that's due to some of the short-comings of the older models.

I could only see us going electric if I had something like a little electric Twingo to go to work and shop, and Yann, who's retired and does very few miles could keep Colin (the Mégane), (sorry Colin, no offense intended!!!) for towing. You can get a leccy Twingo on lease for 145E per month, and renewed after 3 years. That kind of deal would appeal for me. Spending the equivalent of a small house on a car doesn't. (Bear in mind I live in Brittany LOL).

I suppose part of the Eriba appeal is the budget end of it. Yes, many of you have the beautiful new ones, but I suppose we have more the French ideal where you have a lovely old girl and it's a budget happy place. Horses for courses.

On a completely different subject, I got the ferry back last week from Plymouth and there were several of those HUMONGOUS white wobbly boxes being towed by enormous cars..... makes our little vans look pixie-like LOL

I'm sure we'll all get there in the end. You who have taken the plunge are doing a good job for the rest of us!

Betty, 1998 Triton 430 and Colin, a Renault Mégane.

#23

RE: Towing with my Kia EV6 (electric)

in We've got it down to a T Wed Aug 03, 2022 5:00 pm
by chasnick •

| 69 Posts

And with hiring you would need to sort out a new number plate each time!

Skoda Karoq 2.0 Diesel 4x4, 2020 540 Troll GT.

#24

RE: Towing with my Kia EV6 (electric)

in We've got it down to a T Thu Aug 04, 2022 7:00 am
by Islay Corbel (deleted)

Not here. The caravan has its own number.

Betty, 1998 Triton 430 and Colin, a Renault Mégane.

#25

RE: Towing with my Kia EV6 (electric)

in We've got it down to a T Thu Aug 04, 2022 8:51 pm
by Nthurrzzz (deleted)

6FBAC394-05F1-456E-8DD2-D645AA1FED60.jpeg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

My adventures towing with my all electric Kia EV6 continues. It continues to impress as a towing vehicle. Quiet, refined, powerful. The trip was a very comfortable 50miles. I drove from 100% charged and arrived with 76% left. Cirencester has plenty of charging options - I went for a shop at Lidl where they had a 50kWh charger which I used and powered back up to 90% in the short time I was there shopping.
Wonderful CL - Orchard Meadow - about 15 mins from Cirencester. Only 5 caravans allowed. Just me on my own for now but I�m sure the other 4 spots will fill up over the weekend.

B6A33DC7-A3F8-4FC6-9E1C-DFAB4FFA4AA7.jpeg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

~ N

~ 530, Kia EV6 GT-Line