I forgot my dry cleaning card and my service was interrupted Mercedes: The Autopian Experience on Live TV
Mercedes wanted to get out of the way, much more than the hubs allowed it to, so instead of now saying “This is a problem that electric vehicles face in towing, here are some solutions,” it was only allowed to say “This is a problem that electric vehicles face in towing.” However, what a great experience it would be to represent our Mercedes Streeter on live TV. And hey, I should go there too. But of course, I forgot the dry cleaning tag on my jacket.
Jonathan Gustin, who works at ABC12 out of Flint, is a real car geek. He is one of us. As such, he was interested in chatting with The Autopian here at the Detroit Auto Show. So he put me and Mercedes in the hot seat. Mercedes talked about camping — specifically some of the drawbacks of electrics as they relate to compact trucks or trailer campers. What Mercedes required To say it was… Well, let me tell you:
What I wanted to say is that the Grounded G1 is one of the first all-electric campervans to hit the market. It’s very stylish with a modular, IKEA-like interior, but the Ford E-Transit the van is based on only gets 108 miles on a charge. Stopping every 100 miles on a road trip means taking a very long time to get to your destination. This also means that you have to camp within fairly close distance of the charger. Another thing you can do is tow a traditional travel trailer with an electric pickup truck. However, this presents its own problems. Various range tests have shown that you can expect significant range losses when towing a 6,100 pound camper. Take the Car and Driver range test, for example. Its testers towed a camper behind a Rivian R1T, a Ford F-150 Lightning, and a GMC Hummer EV. The Ford and Rivian both saw their range drop to around 100 miles while the Hummer got 140 miles. Likewise, charging gets a little weird since many of the charging stations are kiosks rather than pull-out spaces. So you will have to unplug the trailer, charge it, and then plug it back in.
A potential solution to this is already under development. A number of manufacturers are building fully electric travel trailers with lithium traction batteries and electric motors. For example, Airstream is developing what it calls the eStream, a camper van equipped with an 80-kilowatt-hour battery and electric motors. The camper motors help in towing the vehicle thus eliminating as much range loss as possible. In theory, because the tow vehicle can tow itself, the 300-mile tow vehicle maintains its range. What’s even cooler is the fact that the trailers also work with ICE vehicles, so your gas F-150 also doesn’t take up much of the range. This makes the charging stall problem mentioned above worse as you now have to charge two electric cars at the same time, but it will get you further. For now, it seems like burning fuel is still the best way to camp, but maybe one day it won’t be that way.
Click on the following link and see what Mercedes is able To say it in the short interview titled “The Way Ahead for Camping.”
You may not have understood all her words, but I’m proud of Mercedes. This is a big moment! First time for Mercedes live. She arrived at that interview prepared; She knew the truck’s platform, price, and range, and before she was cut short (by a very nice interviewer, who, of course, had strict time constraints), she was about to tell the world about some clever solutions that anxious campers might soon have at their disposal. I feel like this is just the beginning. I’ve always thought that Mercedes needed to be in front of the camera more, because she has an incredibly infectious personality. We will make sure that happens.
Anyway, here’s a look at my interview. It was some geeky EV tech here at the auto show. I’m talking specifically about how electrification pretty much brings a whole new philosophy to cars; Suspensions, braking systems, cooling systems, bodies, HVAC systems, etc. – all of this changes when you go from ICE to EV. The average person on the street probably doesn’t realize that changing the power source from gasoline to wall-to-wall electricity completely changes the way a car is built, and the Detroit Auto Show — with its plentiful displays and on-site suppliers — is giving people a great opportunity to see those modifications. I say in the video that this is a big change when it comes to vehicle technology.
It wasn’t particularly informative for car enthusiasts like you or me, but it was live. With my dry cleaning tag for all to see.
