Any electric vehicles out there that can be
flat towed and charge themselves while being towed? If not there should be! It could be possible and what a convenience! I would buy one tomorrow, Bob
Forum Discussion
40 Replies
- Am I the only one that finds a huge inefficient RV towing an electric car amusing?
Actually I find electric cars amusing altogether. Aside from the upside that they can be very fast and mechanically efficient, they are far from eco friendly in terms of production and energy cost and means to charge them. Sort of like solar panels. Sure on the surface (pardon the pun) they look efficient but the materials used to manufacture them and the waste used in production is hardly eco friendly. westernrvparkowner wrote:
CoeyCoey wrote:
Regenerative braking is not something that could just be retrofitted into your current class A and then piped to the batteries of the EV. I guess you could configure the EV braking system to activate and stop the RV, but the brakes on a 2000LB EV isn't going to help stop a 40,000lb diesel pusher very much. On top of that, the whole idea of an RV and towed is to use the RV on the long part of the trip (not much braking) and the towed for the stop and go driving in town. I don't think this concept is going to be a lynch pin of the New Green Deal.Airdaile wrote:
Not long ago someone here proposed using a bicycle type generator or a ram air generator to charge the toad battery while being towed. Like everything else, it was generally poo-pooed here.
Although both would work, both would provide constant drag while towing. Having the EV apply regenerative braking when the towing vehicles applies its brakes would generate a lot more energy and only when you want to slow down. And ideally, you could have a manual potentiometer that would allow you to adjust the force of the braking so you aren't using the RV brakes and all, and just the EV's regenerative braking. By doing so, you could get a huge amount of energy in those batteries while slowing down both vehicles. Especially something like a class A. And you are saving the service brakes.
What would be even more amazing is if they make the EV so that it uses wheel power during acceleration and hill climbs to reduce or even eliminate the load on the RV. This way you would not increase the load on the RV at all for better mileage and acceleration, and because the car is in the draft of the RV, it would use far less energy than normal.
No dude, not regenerative braking in the RV. No one said that. The EV would have regenerative braking of its own. When you need to slow down the RV, you can use the regenerative braking of the EV. And it doesn't even have to help slow down the RV, it just needs to apply the regenerative braking to charge the EV batteries. You don't expect a 2,000 pound trailer with brakes to slow down an RV, do you? Why are so many people having a hard time with grasping the concept of getting a free battery charge on your toad EV??CoeyCoey wrote:
Regenerative braking is not something that could just be retrofitted into your current class A and then piped to the batteries of the EV. I guess you could configure the EV braking system to activate and stop the RV, but the brakes on a 2000LB EV isn't going to help stop a 40,000lb diesel pusher very much. On top of that, the whole idea of an RV and towed is to use the RV on the long part of the trip (not much braking) and the towed for the stop and go driving in town. I don't think this concept is going to be a lynch pin of the New Green Deal.Airdaile wrote:
Not long ago someone here proposed using a bicycle type generator or a ram air generator to charge the toad battery while being towed. Like everything else, it was generally poo-pooed here.
Although both would work, both would provide constant drag while towing. Having the EV apply regenerative braking when the towing vehicles applies its brakes would generate a lot more energy and only when you want to slow down. And ideally, you could have a manual potentiometer that would allow you to adjust the force of the braking so you aren't using the RV brakes and all, and just the EV's regenerative braking. By doing so, you could get a huge amount of energy in those batteries while slowing down both vehicles. Especially something like a class A. And you are saving the service brakes.
What would be even more amazing is if they make the EV so that it uses wheel power during acceleration and hill climbs to reduce or even eliminate the load on the RV. This way you would not increase the load on the RV at all for better mileage and acceleration, and because the car is in the draft of the RV, it would use far less energy than normal.CoeyCoey wrote:
Yes and an EV does not work that way. That is I don't know of any EV that will just coast along and only regenerate power when the brake is pressed.
Yes, thank you for understanding this concept. I am in awe that some people think you would charge the batteries when driving and not braking. That makes zero sense. You only want to charge when needing to brake. Going down a few mountains would add a lot of energy to the batteries. You wouldn't want to try and charge the batteries full because then they won't regen when you needed to brake.
Sometimes when you think something is obvious as hell...
I will say again what you want is a plug-in hybrid MH. Going to be a few more years.Airdaile wrote:
Not long ago someone here proposed using a bicycle type generator or a ram air generator to charge the toad battery while being towed. Like everything else, it was generally poo-pooed here.
Although both would work, both would provide constant drag while towing. Having the EV apply regenerative braking when the towing vehicles applies its brakes would generate a lot more energy and only when you want to slow down. And ideally, you could have a manual potentiometer that would allow you to adjust the force of the braking so you aren't using the RV brakes and all, and just the EV's regenerative braking. By doing so, you could get a huge amount of energy in those batteries while slowing down both vehicles. Especially something like a class A. And you are saving the service brakes.
What would be even more amazing is if they make the EV so that it uses wheel power during acceleration and hill climbs to reduce or even eliminate the load on the RV. This way you would not increase the load on the RV at all for better mileage and acceleration, and because the car is in the draft of the RV, it would use far less energy than normal.steved28 wrote:
westernrvparkowner wrote:
CoeyCoey wrote:
The only flaw in your plan is that pesky law of physics known as the law of conservation of energy. Simply put, energy cannot be created. The energy you would put into the batteries would come from increased loads on the tow vehicle. Any savings in costs of recharging from a traditional plug connection would be more than offset by decreased fuel economy in the motorhome.
What I want is an EV that can be towed, and then the regenerative braking power goes into the car battery and house batteries. Also, you could use the EV as an extra battery back for electricity when boon docking.
With one exception. The idea behind regen braking is to use energy that would be otherwise turned into heat in the pads etc. So if the toad has a braking system, and you utilized the regen braking only when you are actually braking, then you could recover energy that would have otherwise been used to heat the pads.
Yes, thank you for understanding this concept. I am in awe that some people think you would charge the batteries when driving and not braking. That makes zero sense. You only want to charge when needing to brake. Going down a few mountains would add a lot of energy to the batteries. You wouldn't want to try and charge the batteries full because then they won't regen when you needed to brake.
Sometimes when you think something is obvious as hell...- Not long ago someone here proposed using a bicycle type generator or a ram air generator to charge the toad battery while being towed. Like everything else, it was generally poo-pooed here.
westernrvparkowner wrote:
CoeyCoey wrote:
The only flaw in your plan is that pesky law of physics known as the law of conservation of energy. Simply put, energy cannot be created. The energy you would put into the batteries would come from increased loads on the tow vehicle. Any savings in costs of recharging from a traditional plug connection would be more than offset by decreased fuel economy in the motorhome.
What I want is an EV that can be towed, and then the regenerative braking power goes into the car battery and house batteries. Also, you could use the EV as an extra battery back for electricity when boon docking.
With one exception. The idea behind regen braking is to use energy that would be otherwise turned into heat in the pads etc. So if the toad has a braking system, and you utilized the regen braking only when you are actually braking, then you could recover energy that would have otherwise been used to heat the pads.steved28 wrote:
I don't believe parks are going to allow mass charging of electric vehicles without charging at the very least. In our situation, we do not allow charging of EVs. Our electrical infrastructure cannot support both the electrical needs of the RVs and the increased demand of charging electric vehicles and our electrical system is far superior to many RV parks.
Some Ford hybrid/plug-in hybrids can be towed 4 down. I don't know why you would want to use the regen to charge, it would be like towing a vehicle with the brakes on. No gain. Better would be to use the flat rate electricity you are paying for at most campgrounds and use it to charge the vehicle.CoeyCoey wrote:
The only flaw in your plan is that pesky law of physics known as the law of conservation of energy. Simply put, energy cannot be created. The energy you would put into the batteries would come from increased loads on the tow vehicle. Any savings in costs of recharging from a traditional plug connection would be more than offset by decreased fuel economy in the motorhome.
What I want is an EV that can be towed, and then the regenerative braking power goes into the car battery and house batteries. Also, you could use the EV as an extra battery back for electricity when boon docking.
