The Tesla Model 3 has a maximum towing capacity of 2,200 pounds (almost 1,000 kilograms), making it suitable for towing an average-sized camper trailer or a trailer carrying a small boat or a pair of motorcycles—you get the point.
What the Tesla Model 3 wasn’t designed to tow is a 15,000-pound (6,803-kilogram) modular home, so it goes without saying that people shouldn’t attempt something like this. Well, that hasn’t discouraged the CEO of Boxabl, a housing construction technology company, from hitching a trailer carrying the Boxabl Casita prefabricated home to a Model 3.
Galiano Tiramani, the founder of Las Vegas-based Boxabl, shared a video on Twitter showing a Tesla Model 3 towing a trailer loaded with a Boxabl Casita on the streets of Las Vegas. The loaded trailer weighed a total of 19,000 pounds (8,618 kilograms), with the Boxabl Casita alone tipping the scales at 15,000 pounds.
This was obviously a publicity stunt, with Tiramani telling Teslarati that he wanted to show “just how transportable our room modules are. What better vehicle to use than a Tesla? As expected, the Model 3 was amazing and easily able to tow the 15,000-pound Casita.”
To make this possible, Tiramani said his team fitted a tow hitch on the Tesla, adding that they were confident the EV would be strong enough for the job.
“Even though the Tesla Model 3 does not have a tow hitch, we decided to pick one up and modify it. We knew that although it’s not rated to tow a Casita legally, it would be strong enough.”
While the video shows the Model 3 towing the Boxabl Casita on Las Vegas Boulevard in stop-and-go traffic, the stunt also included a drag race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway between two Model 3s, each towing a Boxabl Casita. Tiramani claims the Model 3 did the 1/8 mile in 20 seconds towing the tiny house on a trailer.
The Boxabl Casita has walls, a floor and roof that fold into each other to form a self-contained transportable unit. The company claims the pre-fabricated home can be unpacked and assembled in less than an hour.
The homes are manufactured on an assembly line similar to automobiles and Tiramani says the company’s goal is to one day produce one house per minute, just like Tesla makes one vehicle per minute.
