Electric Tow Vehicles - Getting close
Used to be a guy on the forum towing a tear drop with a tesla but really not suitable for the vast majority of RVers. We had a young family camp next to us this weekend and something didn't look rig...
Forum Discussion
Don't get me started on Plug-In-Hybrids. They are doable today and there is no reason they can't be financially viable today. Again, I think they tried to do too much going pure battery EV and missed the better option.
A PIH with a 50mile battery range (not towing) - Maybe 20-30kwh battery bank for $2-3k and another $2-3k for the electric motor sandwiched between the ICE and transmission and a small efficient 170hp (continuous rated output) ICE would be a game changer.
- Most days commuting or running around town, it functions as a pure battery electric vehicle. (if you do exceed the battery range, the ICE kicks in, no big deal). This would represent probably 90-95% of miles for most owners.
- Have a "road trip" setting (not towing) where you input your estimated trip distance before you next expect to plug in and it optimizes your battery use to first keep the ICE at it's ideal efficiency and when possible, uses battery only.
- Have a "tow/haul" setting where it goes to the ICE even with a full charge on the battery pack. I lost the source but your average midsize trailer, the engine is putting out around 140hp at freeway speeds on level ground. If you hit a steep grade, the battery can boost the output if you exceed the ICE capability and then engine brake thru the electric motor to recharge the battery bank on the downhill.
- They could have an advance setting for the "road trip' & "tow/haul" modes where it integrates with GPS to predict the grades and using that info, it can maximize the battery usage. ie: if you are starting with a 5mile flat ground before doing a 10 mile downhill grade, maybe it runs battery only for the first 5 miles before recharging on the downhill. Or you are 10 miles out and it has enough battery to make 12miles under battery, so it kills the ICE and finishes on battery.
- This also substantially addresses some of the other issues raised on this thread. A 30amp shore power pedestal can handle 2kw to charge the battery overnight, so no need for 50amp or if the campground has limited power, it could be set to self recharge using the onboard ICE. If boondocking, you could set a reserve battery level, so you arrive with say 10kwh and can plug the trailer into the truck and run the aircon overnight off the truck battery. 20kwh battery bank is maybe 500lb so it's not crazy amounts of weight added and substantially reduces the concerns about mining lithium.
if your driving is mostly highway a hybrid isn't any better than a fuel efficient gas motor, a buddy I work with has a plug in hybrid and in town it is phenomenal , but commuting to work and back he just gets slightly better milage than I do, were talking about 1/2 a MPG better than I get, but he paid 10K more for the "Hybrid" version of our car, so now we are back to the "is it worth 10K to get 1/2MPG better? "
