Family towing camper across Australia in an EV to prove ScoMo and doubters wrong

The McLennans are aiming to clear up some electric vehicle (EV) misconceptions by towing a camper around Australia with a Kia EV9, and the family recently finished a major leg of their trip.

Before they set out on their trek in April, the EV advocates criticised former Prime Minister Scott Morrison, calling his anti-EV remarks “wrong”.

They called out one quote of his, where the former Australian leader said: “An electric vehicle won’t tow your trailer, it’s not going to tow your boat, it’s not going to get you out to your favourite camping spot with your family.”

Starting in Perth, the McLennan family – Tim and Renee and their children Ellie and Xavi – crossed the border into the Northern Territory late in May.

They recently shared key stats from the 8140km Western Australia leg of their adventure in their EV9 Earth AWD.

They’ve been towing a New Age Wayfinder 12F Adventurer, with a tare weight of 1480kg and a circa-$57,000 price tag.

They claim they averaged range of between 260km and 300km per charge, while their overall average energy consumption – including some shorter trips without their camper – worked out to be 32.2kWh/100km.

Just looking at trips with their camper hooked up, this reached 35.7kWh/100km.

For reference, Kia claims energy consumption on the combined cycle – naturally, sans a camper – of 22.3kWh/100km, with WLTP range of 512km.

All up, the McLennan family spent $466 on charging in Western Australia, using a mix of both fast and slow chargers and including the cost of powered campsites they used along the way. Some of the chargers they used were free.

You can follow the McLennan family’s adventures on their blog and Facebook account.