There are aftermarket hidden hitches for the Model S. I routinely pull a trailer with my S, sometimes up to the 2500lb hitch rating. It has served me better than my pickup truck I previously owned, and it only takes a moment to drop the trailer before Supercharging at stations where I can’t pull thru.
I just got a Model S actually, and am considering installing a hitch for carrying bikes. But I would NEVER pull a trailer..
What if I do, and my trailer collides with something/someone, and I become liable for millions in damages, not covered by my insurance...
At least in Norway, how large a trailer you can pull is regulated in the license of the car. For a Model S this number is 0 kg. And insurance covers what the license says.
(IANAL, but Norwegian Tesla forums seem to agree that hitches are for carrying bikes only around here, until Tesla is bothered to officially submit trailer crash tests or similar)
My apologies for Norway’s public policy stance on the situation (I’m in the US). I’m permitted to add a hitch, and my large national insurer has confirmed in writing I’m covered up to my policy limits with the vehicle modification.
That's an impressively terrible rating for something with the curb weight of a 90s 1/2 ton pickup. I suspect the vehicle could comfortably handle far more considering how much better the power and brakes are than a 90s pickup but they don't want to be replacing certain parts under warranty (my guess would be CVs since the S has plenty of torque and traction to hurt them with).
In almost a decade of owning a 1/2 ton pickup, only twice did I pull a load over that rating. No need to optimize for rare workloads. If I need to haul more than 2500 lbs, I’m renting a truck for the job.
The underlying issue is a lot of pickups are road queens and entirely unnecessary for their daily workloads, existing as status symbols first and a mode of transportation second.
Meh. Most people only ever use the front row of seating in their vehicle the overwhelming majority of the time. Pickups are just vehicles where the extra space is optimized for non-human cargo. The richer you are the more likely you are to buy enough vehicle for the most extreme case. If we all bought what we needed for the average case there would be a lot more subcompacts sold.
Right, which is why pickups should be taxed more than cars to internalize their externalities (lower fuel economy, more damage done to other vehicles in accidents). It’s not like it can’t be done (See: this article on Norway).
They are. Any gas tax is a tax on the fuel economy of the vehicle. If pickups get less MPG, they are taxed more on gas tax. Some US states base vehicle registration fees on the weight of the vehicle, which is another tax on heavier vehicles (like pickup trucks). More damage done in accidents is something the insurance companies would have to deal with, and if it's actually a problem you can guarantee those insurance companies have already factored it into the rates.
I regularly nearly exceed the load capacity of a 1/2 pickup. Some of them are road queens but some people actually use a truck for its intended purpose.
There's a lot more to towing than just the curb weight of the vehicle. For example SUVs with CVTs often have lower towing capacity than the same SUV with a normal automatic transmission even though they weigh the same.
There's a lot that goes into making a vehicle good for towing, and a luxury sedan is not normally expected to have a good towing capacity no matter how much it weighs.
