This story seems to have originated on a website called Drive Tesla Canada.
The Rivian R1T has a towing capacity of 11,000 lbs. According to the company’s website, towing at that weight will reduce range “by about 50%.” In the first real-world R1T towing test, that number is […]
driveteslacanada.ca
Another site has some interesting comments.
Follow along as a brand-new Rivian R1T electric pickup truck tows a car across the country.
grassrootsmotorsports.com
One key point is that the range for the truck went from 350 miles to 118 miles, which is a 62% reduction. Rivian I guess suggests it will be 50% when towing and it appears you should expect ~33% of original range. Towing, though, is recognized as a particularly difficult task for any EV.
What I haven't been able to determine is how long this trip took for them.
This whole trip is 2,172 miles with a Google Maps estimate of 32 hours of driving at the speed limit. I'd figure at least two overnight stops (e.g. 3
long days driving), although maybe 3 stops if you're pulling a trailer, with a gas burner. That's assuming mostly splash-and-whiz-and-go fills with no extended stops to sit down for a meal. The Google estimate has to figure a ~250 mile/~ 4 hour interval so 32 hours is more like 36 hours in reality when an average moving speed of 75 MPH goes to actual average of 60 MPH in travel time.
So I'd be curious how stopping every 100 miles for what had to be mostly full charges affected that. It's possible that by doing 100 mile legs they could get away with ~80% charges each time.
They had to average at least 30 minutes for each stop which means more like 45 minutes to hour when you combine trying to navigate traffic since Walmarts aren't located for highway fast on-off.
The couple seems to be involved professionally with Rivian or perhaps a competitor and Non-Disclosure Agreements seem to be the reason some details like that aren't forthcoming.
Did doing it with an EV add a day or did it take a week? Simply saying it "may" have taken 45 hours as a simple calculation on some mile legs with stops that took a theoretical stop in assumed minutes doesn't mean it actually didn't take 50 or 60 or who knows number of hours. There's only so many times you can stop for fuel and combine a charge with a stay or a meal when it's occurring every hour to 90 minutes.