Camping and towing a trailer

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badsimian

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Dec 16, 2016
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Due to pick up a second hand PHEV in two days, we are embarking on a holiday to France in two weeks on a ferry towing a trailer (Ifor Williams BV64e, 200kg unladen, 500kg max)

I am now managing to worry myself that I might run into difficulty, I know I should have researched all this beforehand but there seem to be plenty of reports of people managing to tow stuff just fine and the stories where they struggle it seems to be with 1400+kg caravans.

Anyway, if I get into a situation where I can't charge on a campsite overnight, will I even be able to set off towing my trailer? I am assuming I might need to stop at some Aires for a recharge, do many of them have chargers?

What is the typical sort of connector I will need at French charging points? I keep hearing about commando connectors, do I need a commando -> T2 so I can plug my T2->T1 cable into it?

Thanks!
 
The car won't move if all the batteries go to zero (which is very difficult for you to achieve).

Make sure you have some petrol in the tank, and some charge in the main battery when you arrive at a campsite.

I they refuse to give you a powerpoint, recharge by running the engine with the car parked. (Turn on the car, and select "Charge" mode)

:)

Andy
 
You can plan ahead on websites that display the charging points like https://my.newmotion.com/
 
I didn't know it was possible to flatten the batteries completely - is it - how is that possible? I thought they had 30% charge left even when the indicator says flat - doesn't the engine automatically start charging at that point anyway? I've 'flattened' mine many times. As to the original question - re charge from the mains if possible because it's a lot cheaper, but you don't have to, the vehicle will charge itself up to 80% if you press the 'charge' button. Bit of a waste of fuel and the engine is a bit noisy sometimes. Not the end of the world though. I don't usually bother to chage mine from charge points if I go on holiday - don't trust the dodgy 'public' chargepoints (note: the 'charger' is actually inside the vehicle - the thing you plug it into is just a power supply). I have a 32amp Rolec charge point at home. You shouldn't really plug into the mains with supplied Mitsubishi three pin plug charge cable unless the socket is on a 'dedicated' circuit (just that one socket on the wire, with a sufficiently thick cable to supply it - although as far as I'm aware 13amps should be sufficient as it only takes 10amps from a three pin plug). Otherwise socket may well overheat.

I regularly tow a laden 500kg Ivor Williams P6e trailer with no problem at all - will do around 20 miles electric on a full charge. Just don't forget it's there, especially when you reverse!
 
On a 'long' trip I simply turn on "charge" when the battery range is down to about 5-8 miles then go back to normal running; refuelling at about quarter of a tank. You can carry on as long as you like. No stress/worry - when you get to a favourable charge point use it.
 
NightPHEVer said:
I didn't know it was possible to flatten the batteries completely - is it - how is that possible? I thought they had 30% charge left even when the indicator says flat - doesn't the engine automatically start charging at that point anyway? I've 'flattened' mine many times. As to the original question - re charge from the mains if possible because it's a lot cheaper, but you don't have to, the vehicle will charge itself up to 80% if you press the 'charge' button. Bit of a waste of fuel and the engine is a bit noisy sometimes. Not the end of the world though. I don't usually bother to chage mine from charge points if I go on holiday - don't trust the dodgy 'public' chargepoints (note: the 'charger' is actually inside the vehicle - the thing you plug it into is just a power supply). I have a 32amp Rolec charge point at home. You shouldn't really plug into the mains with supplied Mitsubishi three pin plug charge cable unless the socket is on a 'dedicated' circuit (just that one socket on the wire, with a sufficiently thick cable to supply it - although as far as I'm aware 13amps should be sufficient as it only takes 10amps from a three pin plug). Otherwise socket may well overheat.

I regularly tow a laden 500kg Ivor Williams P6e trailer with no problem at all - will do around 20 miles electric on a full charge. Jut don't forget it's there, especially when you reverse!
Click to expand...
It is possible to put the car into reduced power mode, but you really have to work at it -using more power than it can replenish over a long period of time. In anything approaching normal use -including towing- it will indeed remain on the right side of 27% and will always be able to meet a full power demand.
 
Don't panic, providing you have fuel (petrol) the car will mostly take care of itself.

We tow our caravan with little or no issues, at worst you're not optimising your mpg.

If you can charge then why not benefit from 20 odd miles of 'free' power :)
 
NightPHEVer said:
I didn't know it was possible to flatten the batteries completely - is it - how is that possible? I thought they had 30% charge left even when the indicator says flat - doesn't the engine automatically start charging at that point anyway? I've 'flattened' mine many times. As to the original question - re charge from the mains if possible because it's a lot cheaper, but you don't have to, the vehicle will charge itself up to 80% if you press the 'charge' button. Bit of a waste of fuel and the engine is a bit noisy sometimes. Not the end of the world though. I don't usually bother to chage mine from charge points if I go on holiday - don't trust the dodgy 'public' chargepoints (note: the 'charger' is actually inside the vehicle - the thing you plug it into is just a power supply). I have a 32amp Rolec charge point at home. You shouldn't really plug into the mains with supplied Mitsubishi three pin plug charge cable unless the socket is on a 'dedicated' circuit (just that one socket on the wire, with a sufficiently thick cable to supply it - although as far as I'm aware 13amps should be sufficient as it only takes 10amps from a three pin plug). Otherwise socket may well overheat.

I regularly tow a laden 500kg Ivor Williams P6e trailer with no problem at all - will do around 20 miles electric on a full charge. Just don't forget it's there, especially when you reverse!
Click to expand...

That is heartening to know about you towing a trailer. Do you have any issues going up hills at all? Anything you need to do other than make sure that you have some charge available to help you get over?
 
I have towed all sorts of stuff with mine including heavy trailers from Bedford to Leeds along the M62 which is hilly. It didn't get any special treatment , was quite shouty getting up the hills at motorway speed but behaved fine. We went up in the alps with 4 bikes on a rear mounted rack too and it shouted a lot but was fine again.
 
Well I've found that if going up a hill becomes in anyway a bit of a wheezy experience then just press the 'charge' button. This gives more direct drive in relation to engine speed, more like a normal car would. If you're in 'normal' electric or 'save' mode the engine revs in relation to forward progress can seem a bit random. This is only likely to occur on unusually steep hills though.

I've had a couple of times when uphill progress did seem to be getting decidedly wheezy (well compared to my previous vehicle - a turbo diesel Jeep). One was a very steep hill in Scotland and one a very, very steep hill in Newlyn in Corwall. The hill in Newlyn was so steep I reckon you'd need a Land Rover with lowbox to safely negotiate!. I think a pure front wheel drive car would have gone into terminal wheelspin. Hills that steep are very unusual though.

I wasn't towing a trailer on either of these occasions. Pressing 'charge' solved any perceived or genuine lack of progress though.
 
Actually it doesn't. The only thing the charge button does is charge the batteries. The car is still powered through the electric motors.
Probably the sound of the ICE gives a placebo effect.
 
Yes I can believe that, I don't know of course what would have happened if I hadn't pressed the reassuring 'charge' button. I guess nothing different then. I thought that the engine speed did seem to correspond more with the pace of the progress though, rather than the randomness of the revs when in 'save'. Perhaps I need a 'placebo' button that doesn't do anything at all, just in case.
 
:lol: I guess that is the ECO button. ;)

It is quite possible that the engine speed might increase, as the car will provide power for charging as well if possible when the button is pressed.
But power demand by the electric motors beyond battery capacity will make the ICE kick in automatically to supplement, irrespective of buttons pressed.
 
Well I took it out today through North Yorkshire towing our trailer in preparation for our Europa trip next weekend. Up past Pateley Bridge and up Greenhow where there are quite a few steep long hills and it seemed fine. We ran out of charge but it didn't seem to mind so I am thinking it should be okay. Will probably keep a bit of juice in there using the Save button for hilly areas.
 
I was going to say, towing 500kg you will be absolutely fine. But it is recommended to keep some battery in reserve for hills. I use charge to force the engine on when over 40mph and save battery for lower speeds. Camping is brill if you have hook up. As long as it 10 amp minimum I've found it is fine. If only 10 amp supply, don't plug in anything else while charging!
I tow a camping trailer and also a horse (not at the same time) which totals 1400kg plus. Am debating greenhow with the horse for late August - car would be laden too... I reckon with a run up and plenty of battery I would be ok...
happy holiday
H
 
UPDATE: So we just arrived back after our three week tour around France, Germany and Belgium - covered just over 2000 miles in all. it all worked absolutely fine. Didn't use any charging networks as they are almost non-existent in France as far as we could tell. Charged up using the domestic charger at a camp site a couple of times with no issue.

Going through the Vosges we made sure we had some charge in the battery for some of the hills when pulling the trailer but I honestly think it would have been fine anyway. We certainly noticed the increased number of trips to the petrol station though. MPG was pretty low when towing, I would say 25-28ish but I am okay with that in general as the rest of the year it will be mostly electric.

Had a scary moment getting off the ferry this morning at Hull when we found the car wouldn't start due to a flat auxiliary battery. I had an extra socket fitted in the rear to power our fridge when travelling and forgot to unplug when we got on the ferry. It obviously drained pretty quickly with out the car running. Quick jump start though and we were off...added benefit is I now know a lot more about the auxiliary battery and how it works than I previously did :)
 

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