For those towing with an Electric Vehicle. Our most commonly used charge adapters.

[Travellers]

Hi folks. I had to take a pic for the Facebook EV towing group so I thought I would post it here as well. This is more specifically aimed at those EV’s using the Tesla mobile charge cable but since any EV can use a tesla mobile cable (with a J1772 adapter) I’ll direct this at all EV’s. And remember, ask permission and follow the one thing at a time plugged in rule.

Anyway. If you are just starting your EV tow vehicle journey wether that be with a Rivian, a Lightning or a Tesla these are the adaptors we have used most often over the last 12000 kilometres of towing with an EV using our Tesla EVSE seen in the picture. From left to right.

14-50 Good for max 32 amps at 240 volts on a 50 amp pedestal.

5-15. Good for 12 amps at 120 volts on a standard 15 amp receptacle.

5-20. Good for 16 amps at 120 volts on a standard 20 receptacle (getting really common on pedestals.

TT30. Good enough for 24 amps on a standard 30 amp RV pedestal.

Keep in mind that if the line voltage sags the EVSE (charge cable) will detect this and lower the charge by either 25 or 50 percent depending how low it is.

By far and away the most useful was the TT30 as 50 amp receptacles are rare up here in the places we camp.

Hope this is useful for newbies towing with an EV. .




Charging at a 30 amp pedestal here.




And of course the best place to charge is still a DC fast charger or Supercharger depending on your vehicle make.

[Jon MB]

I use the GM provided J1772 EVSE with my 2014 Volt. I have hacked both of my "115" volt only units to also work as level 2 when 230 volt supplies are available (duplicating the European market Holden and Vauxhaul Ampera EVSE). One of mine stays home on the wall for driveway charging, the other is in the trunk.
I have a short extension cord/adapters to change from the 6-20 plugs I installed on the modified EVSE to allow connection to 5-15 outlets when that's all that's available.
Since my Volt's is not DCFC capable, and its on-board AC to DC converter is limited to 3.6 kW, I can't draw more than 12 amperes per leg anyway. (8 amp default on 115, selectable to 12 amp if 5-20, or 8 amps per leg on 230, there is no 12+12 draw option on 230). For that reason I don't bother with making a TT30 plug to mate to my EVSE, I'll just plug into the 5-15 alongside the TT-30 on the site's post.

On the plus side the car does have an 85 kW generator that allows continued operation when the battery reaches the low state-of-charge level.


No, I don't tow the Casita with my Volt. I have a Coleman Colorado pop-up for solo trips.

[Travellers]

The volt is a great car. Congrats.

[Jon MB]

I'm surprisingly pleased with it, I wasn't so sure when I bought it if I could work with the short battery range (16kWh battery, limited to the middle 10.5 kWh usable for longevity), but the 40-ish miles I get per charge has been enough that 85% of my miles have been battery only. The few long trips (some at 600+ miles) use electricity produced on-board when the 10.5 from the grid has been consumed.

to date: 4 1/2 years, 31,931 miles on 10,429 kWh of grid electric at $706.56, ($0.022 per mile) and 7,140 miles on power from the on-board generator using 187.7 gallons of 91 octane ($0.080 per mile and 38 mpg).