Colorado Trek, Part 2: Cold Air, Crosswinds, and a True “Run It to Zero” Range Test

In good conditions, we regularly see close to 350 miles of range and roughly 2.5 mi/kWh when towing the AE.1. However, Colorado in winter presents a trifecta of challenges for towing efficiency: cold air, real wind, and sustained highway speed. So we ran a loop east of Denver into the plains, where there’s nowhere to hide from the gusts and we did something we almost never do in daily use: We ran both the truck and the trailer all the way to empty.

Not “close to empty.” Not “we should probably turn around.”

All the way to 0%.

The setup: Colorado plains loop 

Date: December 9, 2025
Tow Vehicle: Rivian R1T dual motor, max pack 
Trailer: 2026 Lightship AE.1 Atmos 
Total distance: 270 miles (loop)
Route Type/Terrain: outbound dropped ~1,000 ft of elevation; inbound gained it back climbing into Denver
Weather: 40s–50s °F, overcast
Wind: significant swirling winds with gusts up to 40 mph
Speed profile:

• Highways: 65–75 mph
• Backroads: 60–70 mph
• City: 30–50 mph
• Average speed: 57 mph

If you’re looking for adverse towing conditions, this is pretty close to the full menu, especially when you keep speeds in the 70+ range. Aerodynamic drag is already the dominant load at highway speed, and strong winds only amplify it.

The goal

This loop had two clear objectives:

• Demonstrate AE.1 performance in adverse conditions (cold + wind + high speed).
• Capture a true range number by running the system down to empty.

There’s something uniquely clarifying about a true-to-zero test. It removes the optimism, the mental math, and the “we could have made it further if…” arguments. You get a real number at the end.

The benchmark (what most EV truck owners expect)

For reference, the commonly-cited real-world baseline for a Rivian R1T Dual-Motor Max Pack, towing a large travel trailer is around ~140 miles.

And in these conditions—40 mph gusts, cold temps, and 70+ mph speeds, you’re getting closer to ~100 miles as a reasonable expectation for many conventional towing setups.

That gap between what the truck can do solo and what it can do towing is the pain point we built TrekDrive to solve.

Departure → Result: no charging stops, and we took it to zero

Departure: 9:00am

• Truck: 100% SOC
• Trailer: 98% SOC

Result:

• Completed the loop with no charging stop
• Initially returned to the factory with:
  • Truck at 3% SOC
  • Trailer at 0% SOC
• Then we kept looping the factory lot until the Rivian also finally hit 0%

Total distance at zero: 270 miles

That’s the clean headline: 270 miles total, towing, in cold and very windy conditions, at real highway speeds, until the truck hit 0%.

Efficiency: what we saw, and what it means

All told, that 270-mile run equated to:

2.03 mi/kWh average while towing (versus roughly ~.70 mi/kWh towing traditional large travel trailers)

And that’s why this test matters: it wasn’t a gentle loop on calm days. It was explicitly a “worst-case-ish” scenario: cold, windy, fast and yet the system still returned towing efficiency that’s roughly double what many people see with conventional trailers.

What stood out on this drive

A few qualitative observations that matched what the numbers later confirmed:

• The wind was the story. The gusts were real, and the swirling nature of them is what makes it hard—wind direction changes, the load changes, the rig is constantly being asked to re-stabilize.
• And despite this, the stability stood out.  In swirling crosswinds, the trailer never felt unsettled. The low profile and low center of gravity gave the whole setup a stable, planted feel that you don’t find in traditional trailers, especially at highway speeds.
• Speed compounds everything. At 70–80 mph, you’re basically volunteering for the steepest part of the aerodynamic curve. That’s fine, we wanted the truth but it’s a strong reminder that efficiency is a choice you make with your right foot.
• The “no charging stop” outcome is the point. It’s not just that the number was big. It’s that the route stayed simple. No detours. No station scouting. No “will we fit?” stress.

How we think about “what’s possible” from here

This was a long, adverse, high-speed loop. On routes with smoother conditions, we expect higher efficiency, approaching and potentially eclipsing 3 mi/kWh depending on conditions and speed.

Although to be clear: there are never perfect conditions, and wind and speed will always matter. TrekDrive doesn’t repeal physics. But it does change how much of that physics the tow vehicle has to shoulder alone.

If you’re curious how TrekDrive performs on a more typical route, we also documented a 200-mile loop in Northern California where we finished with a meaningful buffer at the end. That margin meant fewer charging decisions, more flexibility at the destination and a simpler day overall. You can read the full breakdown, here.