For all the things electric vehicles can do well, towing and range remain elusive.

At least, that’s the verdict after YouTuber Tyler Hoovie excitedly tested out the towing capabilities and range of his fancy new 2023 F-150 EV, only to have it completely flop.

Hoovie called the test a “complete and total disaster,” adding in the video, “If a truck towing 3,500 pounds can’t even go 100 miles — that is ridiculously stupid. This truck can’t do normal truck things. You would be stopping every hour to recharge, which would take about 45 minutes a pop, and that is absolutely not practical.”

The test involved two round-trip tests in a single day, each around 32 miles one way. Both times, he would drive to his destination with an empty trailer and back with a medium to light load. The total range should have been around 128 miles round-trip, including both trips.

Hoovie started the day with his vehicle charged up to 200 miles, which left plenty of room for error. Considering the trailer was empty for half of the trip (the first half of each leg), it should have been fine, right?

Wrong. After driving just a quarter mile with the empty trailer, Hoovie noticed he had already used up 3 miles of range. And it didn’t get better from there.

After a single run, Hoovie got a warning from the vehicle that he had only 50 miles of range left. Hoovie said, “Are you kidding me? That’s almost 90 miles of range in 30 miles. Are you serious? That’s nuts. What a joke,” he added, “So, yeah, that was abysmally bad, and if the future is electric, there has to be some kind of solution for this,” he said. “I have no idea why EVs tow so bad. My guess would be it doesn’t have a normal transmission where there are gears and a car’s in a lower rev range.”

The range continues to be the single most significant barrier to many people considering a switch to EVs. Still, now you can add towing abilities to that “not ready for customers” list.