It takes a certain person to truly love the outdoors. You know the type, the person that exclusively buys clothes from L.L. Bean, probably drives a Jeep Wrangler or Subaru of some kind, can start a fire seemingly out of thin air, and possibly spent months in their early 20s hiking the Appalachian trial. Owning an EV works sort of the same way. Not everyone can or will buy one, but those that do love them more than any other car. However, going on a massive hiking trip requires driving longer distances, something that has plagued EVs since their inception. Taking an EV on an outdoor exhibition will lead to some headaches, but Colorado Teardrops wants to remedy those.
Now You Can Hitch A Trailer To Your Tesla And Not Have A Panic Attack
Towing a trailer or camper with your car will kill range, whether it be from electricity, gasoline, or diesel. Compound that with the fact that most places off the beaten path barely have good infrastructure for refueling ICEs, let alone recharging EVs, and you got yourself a problem. This is where the slabs of batteries housed in the chassis of some Colorado Teardrops campers come into play.
Yes, in addition to doing everything else a camping trailer is supposed to do, these models can also charge your EV. While none of the three EV trailers are technically on sale yet, they are in development with Level 2 charging, meaning anywhere from 18-28 miles of range per hour of charging. Level 3 DC-to-DC fast charging is currently in the works which would bring them up to speed with the likes of the fastest-charging EVs and charging stations.
EV Roadtrips Could No Longer Be Range-Anxiety Chores, But Genuinely Luxurious
The three EV models Colorado Teardrops will put on sale are called The Boulder, Golden, and Denver. The 12-foot-long Boulder is the smallest and will be offered with a 75 kWh battery and is designed to fit two adults and two children via one queen-sized bed and two small bunks. The front sleeping area also converts to a makeshift dining room with both doors open and the beds folding away to form benches. The 17-foot-long Golden camper can extend upwards to allow for six and a half feet of interior height to allow for more room when you're settled and collapse to a smaller package when you're on the move to reduce drag. It also offers a 125 kWh battery and can sleep up to four adults in two queen-size beds.
The Denver is the most extravagant and massive EV option. Taking up 27 feet of the road, it has the same height-extending capabilities as the Golden, also allowing six and a half feet of headroom with a massive 200 kWh battery. Presumably, there are loads of features and luxuries since the Denver only sleeps four adults via two queen-size beds and two bunks. Possibly a proper bathroom with a shower and a small kitchen area could be included as well as the beds.
However, some issues may come up with towing a camper with an EV. The first is that, like any car, towing will kill range. But the ones from Colorado Teardrops carry massive Lithium-ion batteries which could weigh hundreds of pounds, consequently cutting range more than a standard camper because the EV will need to expend more energy to make up for the extra weight. Colorado teardrops said, "EV charging travel trailers enables your EV to achieve its original non-towing range." Essentially, the campers are not designed to be a range extender, but to replace the juice that towing the trailer ate up.