Colin here, as usual.
I'm very impressed with the 1.5 petrol engine. As a PHEV I think they run a previous 1.4 version. When towing you will obviously be running on petrol only so carrying around the batteries and electric motors will knock the fuel consumption. If your towing mileage is very low then I guess you will rake some money back on your local electric only runs, but the PHEV vehicles costs a lot more and I don't know if you would get your money back. They are also more expensive to service as you have two power sources and insurance costs more.
I read recently in WhatCar I believe, that in financial terms, starting with the cheapest vehicle to run it goes, Electric, Petrol, Diesel, Hybrid.

Colin

I've been very tempted to make a comment regarding these issues for many weeks now but I don't wish to get embrolied in a debate that I don't know enough about.

There is no way that we will be able to go electric but at the same time there is no way we are making a massive contribution to global warming.

In our lifetime we can count the times we've been on an aeroplane on the fingers of one hand.
We have had a roof full of solar panels for the past 9 years.
We rarely use our "deadly" deisel except for touring. Once a week on average to do about 15 miles and don't sit for hours on end in traffic jams. We do not own another servicable car.
Unlike many other areas of the UK, we are sitting in an area where we are surrounded by windfarms and don't have the option of nimbyism on the grounds that they spoil the appearance of our green and pleasant land.
In Wales every householder is to be given a tree to plant, as if we don't have forests full of them already.

In short, we all have to pull together, but people in a lot of areas in the UK are already pulling harder than others and don't need a green flash on their numberplate to show how socially conscious they are.

I applaud everyone who already has or is in the process of going electric but I really feel that I must put a word in for those who will never be able to afford one in their lifetime.

Randa

Progress is slow but definitely there Roger. When I think back 10 years anybody who owned an electric or Hybrid car was seen as an eccentric. Jump forward those ten years and if you ask a "normal" person they would probably say they would like one, BUT, ....... So we are moving forward, they are up for consideration. Mr & Mrs average are now generally more aware of what is going on. They want to do something. They care about the environment, insulate more, try to use less energy etc. The ball is rolling, we just need some assistance with the momentum in the form of longer battery ranges and a charging infrastructure that will work.

Colin

Update by Jim Leach today. Eriba Folk
Jim Leach ·
As promised I said I would keep you all updated with our EV towing experience. We are now 4 trips in since buying the car in october. The car in itself has been fantastic, I have already clocked up 11k miles, mostly doing long work trips on the motorway. Non of this has been problematic, infact its all been very easy and relaxed.
Regarding towing our triton, its ridiculously effortless you barely notice the caravan is atatched. All our trips our relatively low distance, with furthest being 80 miles away. Charging on site had been agreed with 3 out of 4 sites prior to arrival, logging electricity used has been very easy and I paid each site on leaving based on the kw rate the site requested. The 4th site said they wouldn't allow due to lack of electricity capacity, which was nonsense but I didn't argue the point and we easily made it there and back on a charge anyway
I have now established a max range of around 170 miles between charges this would translate to planned stops every 150 miles on longer trips, still based on relatively cold temperatures. We have longer trips planned in the summer so will do another update after those.
Summary is overwhelmingly positive so far, still unsure if it would suite those who are regularly doing long trips but hopefully over time I will be able to offer further first hand experiences.

The default setting is Milenco Aero. They do a standard and an XL mirror size. Also used to be available in convex or flat, whichever you prefer. I'd try and get a match to the cars mirror style.
The best mirrors you can buy are Emuk. They produce vehicle specific models that exactly fit around your cars mirrors. They are difficult to source and expensive but wonderful. Buy these if you can.

Colin

Another Eribafolk facebook member has gone for a Hyundai IONIC 5 . He is CHRIS MITCHELL and this is the thread he has posted which contains other members replies.

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Chris Mitchell:-
· Thought I'd share experience of our first Eriba outing with an electric tow car. We've got a 2018 Triton 420 with the 1200kg upgraded chassis. When it's fully loaded it's close to the maximum. The tow car is a Hyundai ioniq5 rear wheel drive with a 77kWh battery and a Hyundai dealer fitted towbar.

We chose a site (Thriftwood Country Park near Wrotham Kent) 90 miles away, set out with a full battery and arrived with 44% to spare. That extrapolates to around 150 miles of range with a bit to spare and I expect to get 170-180 miles in the summer when it's warmer and the battery is more efficient.

We'd sussed out rapid chargers near the site but the site manager was happy for us to plug our slow charger into the caravan electrics while we were on site so we did all of our charging on site overnight. We did have to limit the amperage used by the charger to avoid tripping the van electrics when using the kettle or toaster. The site charged us just for the extra power used at cost plus a small markup so far cheaper than an off-site rapid charger.

The car pulls the caravan really well and we were very happy with this trip and will be confident to take it further afield throughout the summer. Maybe France next year.
Yes there are limitations and charging en route can be troublesome but we plan to do shorter hops than we did with a diesel tow car. That's fine as we've usually got plenty of time.

I'm happy to discuss the trip and how we expect to continue our adventure but there are plenty of other places to discuss the merits or otherwise of electric cars in general so please avoid that here or grumpiness may ensue. Thanks

Neale Hall
I tow with an EV6, the Ioniq’s very close relative. I’ve being towing for about a year. It is fantastic. And the range continues to exceed expectations.
And the range continues to exceed expectations. The biggest drain on range is not the weight but the aerodynamics and an Eriba and EV is a match made in heaven.

Jon Seddon
We're looking at a Puck 230 to tow with our Tesla Model 3 and hoping for 150-180 mile range, so your real world experience is encouraging. How have you found charging at rapid chargers en route? Do you always uncouple or have you found some places where that's not needed?

Neale Hall
Jon Seddon In all honestly , I haven’t towed further than 170 miles in a single go, so haven’t needed to charge while towing.
Public charging remains a mixed bag, but I haven’t ever had a problem. But it is getting better.
Some of the caravan club sites have chargers. Not enough, but some. But they are a bit behind as I suspect the powers that be aren’t completely on board with the transition to EVs.
The ideal set up at the club sites would be if they had some select pitches, like they do with super pitches and so on, that have a 7kW power option like you install at home, along with a meter charge.

Chris Mitchell

Neale Hall I agree. If we can't charge on site the plan will be to pitch up and then go to a nearby rapid charger, thus avoiding an awkward charge en route.

Neale Hall
Chris Mitchell that’s exactly what I do. Some sites let you plug the 3-pin plug in the caravan, but it is so slow it’s easier to go to a local town and charge up while shopping.

Guy Mathiot
Really interesting post thank you for sharing. We are looking to get a hybrid, finding the right vehicle that can tow the weight has eliminated an awful lot of cars!

Nicola Morgan
We tow our 540 Troll with a BMW I4. We don’t have any problems.

More information from Jim Leach. He's holidaying abroad.

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2 Firsts for us in our 2nd year of towing with an EV!
1. A charging station where you don't need to unhitch ( if you have a small van )
2. A big euro trip. Many say this can't be done. We are currently 1200km into the 1450km trip to Annecy. We set off Thursday afternoon and have been taking it steady including a rough night in the car near dover and a stop at a lovely site on Lac d'Orient. Charging had been relatively easy, most stops have been 20 to 30 mins, which has had the added benefit of allways driving fresh. Its not as easy as with a ICE car but its definitely totally doable.

We have arrived and really the only bad thing is that the weather forecast is pants 😪

Jim Leach
For those asking about range it's not a particularly clear picture or actually what's important. The range when towing from 100% is about 150 miles. We do Halifax to Anglesay in a single run. However it all changes when it's a multi charge trip as its only really time efficient to charge to 80% on superfast chargers and rarely plan to get to a charger with less than 10 to 15% so really your talking 65% of the full range on each leg, which for me is around 100 miles.

The car has a really smart way of planning the route around fast chargers it even has live info regarding how busy the chargers are, or if they are faulty so it would avoid those on the route. I was sceptical about this but on this trip its worked a treat. Charging at an ionity charger 10% to 80% takes about 20 mins on my car. Which really is only enough time to grab a coffee and go to the toilet. However these chargers are never equally spaced. So one leg might be 90 miles, the next 70 miles etc etc but it's better to use the super fast chargers and stop more frequently than it is to maximise your range and land at a slower 50kw charger and be waiting for an hour.

Weight is also a big factor. If we were to travel lighter we could get away with stopping less. Tbh though this trip has been very relaxed and enjoyable with only one frustrating stop at a charger where several weren't working and working ones were running slow. Un hitching to charge hasn't been an issue only really adding maybe 5 mins to each stop.

Anyway, I will update on the return leg when we get back... now its time to sacrifice a goat to the sun god.