Electric TT
A group is apparently working on a trailer that can make up for some of the shortcomings of the Electric trucks. Lightship website
Forum Discussion
wanderingaimlessly wrote:
Funny, nobody addressed what I thought was really odd about the article on this prototype. Supposedly this thing will "help" the tow vehicle to gain range.
Either the trailer would have to have a large battery and a means of providing power TO the tow vehicle, which currently the EV's are not set up to accept.
Or, it would have it's own drive motors to assist in propulsion.
If it provides propulsion via its own wheels, that will get interesting for how quickly it senses what is needed, and actually how the tow vehicle could end up reacting to the "push" from the trailer. And a flat tire on the trailer would do??????
Also, how heavy will this battery pack have to be? What starts out as a small light trailer will get heavy in a hurry.
Considering the current crop of EVs are heavily over powered and since they have tons of low end torque, I think it would make far more sense to work out some sort of charging bypass system rather than a whole secondary drivetrain that has to be coordinated with the tow vehicle drivetrain.
This would keep the towing mechanics essentially the same as any standard tow vehicle other than an electrical cable from the trailer to the tow vehicle to deliver that power.
Assuming the EV is operating at somewhere around 400v (I believe that is what Tesla uses), dumping 30hp from the trailer battery to the car would be around 55amps. It would need some safety considerations but well within technological capability.
For reference, I ran some numbers and my F250 with V10 needs a bit under 70hp running empty and around 100hp towing a 7000lb trailer. So if the trailer can provide the extra 30hp, you would in theory have the full range of the tow vehicle. Maybe bump it up to 35hp to account for the extra weight of the battery in the trailer but still within reason.
This would require some sort of collaboration with the manufacturer but I'm betting it's just a simple interlock where if you are charging, the car's computer won't put the vehicle in gear, so it should be a relatively simple thing to bypass it.
