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Originally Posted by gbrown
I am considering buying an electric car for towing. If I do that I will run the Genny to charge up the towed vehicle while driving.
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You'll find this to be very impractical. The standard RV Genny outputs only 120V (at least on Axis/Vegas units and Class-Cs). To effectively charge an EV you need 240V at 30A or more.
120V charging of EVs is called "Level 1" charging and only charges about 3-4 miles per hour (my old Focus Electric would take 20+ hours to fully charge at Level 1; newer vehicles like the 30kWh Leaf or the 60kWh Bolt will take significantly more time). A 240V genny providing 30A reduces that time by about a factor of 4 (4-5 hours charge time for my old Focus).
In addition, most EV's don't like charging with the key on (flat towing, or dolly towing). Towing on a trailer would be the only way to charge an EV while on the road.
In addition x2: Most EV's can't be towed (do your research before purchasing). In the case of my old Focus Electric: I suppose you could tow it 4 down leaving it "on" with the transmission in "D". In that case the car would push the camper at slow speeds while it attempts to creep, but at higher speeds it would switch over to regen and charge up the battery. (There is a company that makes a pusher trailer for EV's with a gas engine on it for just this purpose: extending the range.) Letting the car regen would be a far more effective way to let it charge while towing, but it would probably be a bit more dangerous too! LOL
This is why I now have a C-Max Energi: It can be towed and I still can drive it 20+ miles on electricity alone.
Not saying EV's aren't a good idea for camping, though as many campgrounds will happily let you plug in and charge off of the 50A circuit (I have a special cable just for such a purpose).
I did see on a show a specifically built Diesel Pusher toy hauler that had a spot to park a BMW i3 within it. It even included a charger for the car to plug in while on the road.
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