Charging electric car

[obiwancanoli]

With the continued proliferation of electric cars, I wonder if RV manufacturers are working toward a way my RV can charge a Tesla, or other electric vehicle, while plugged into shore power, or on the road while being towed...?

Alternatively, can my current RV be modified to allow for this?

I wonder if there's anything on the horizon, or that has been published that you lnow of, that speaks to this eventual advance?

[time2roll]

There are exactly ZERO EVs rated to be towed 4 down.

[JRscooby]

philh wrote:

JRscooby wrote:
So I learn. It would take some reprogramming to tell the toad to roll with no foot on the go pedal. And some to have the first part of the proportional brake controller to regen, then when more brake would start the friction.

Not that's getting into territory that will never happen.

There's no way to get a toad to receive communication from MH, much less be able to communicate back to the MH.

I'm talking just about the toad being set to charge at some unknown charging rate.

Excuse me? No communication? With my dumb pickup towing a dumb trailer, using technology that has been around for decades, I step on the brake pedal, the trailer brakes come on. Harder on pedal, pickup slows at faster rate, more voltage to trailer brakes. No communication?
My understanding of toad brake system, the more brake applied to MH means more brake applied to toad. I can see the computer in the toad reading Voltage on brake wire. Say 0- 1V, freewheel, 1.2-3.5 regen, and above 3.5 start increasing the friction brakes.
And have not even got into wireless. How many have a wireless cameras mounted on trailer? Just aim the camera at the gauge panel.

Both our EV’s have neutral positions on the selector. You can select it on the fly and the car literally free wheels. However. The cars need to be on.

If the neutral circuit is there, just need to toggle it by a signal from MH throttle position, so goes to neutral as soon as the engine is signaled to pull. And as the the throttle nears WFO, the motors re-engage, and power up. Of course, if the MH driver is wanting to go faster than he has horses he might not have any battery power at the end of day.

[Reisender]

joebedford wrote:
The old-style truck manufacturers have tow packages. It's not beyond the realm of possibilities that an E-truck could have a toad package.

I don’t think it will be hard to set up an EV for towing four down. I do think it will be hard to enable regenerstive breaking.

Both our EV’s have neutral positions on the selector. You can select it on the fly and the car literally free wheels. However. The cars need to be on.

Any of the front wheel drive EV’s can be towed on a dolly. They can be left off when towing on a dolly.

[joebedford]

The old-style truck manufacturers have tow packages. It's not beyond the realm of possibilities that an E-truck could have a toad package.

[philh]

JRscooby wrote:
So I learn. It would take some reprogramming to tell the toad to roll with no foot on the go pedal. And some to have the first part of the proportional brake controller to regen, then when more brake would start the friction.

Not that's getting into territory that will never happen.

There's no way to get a toad to receive communication from MH, much less be able to communicate back to the MH.

I'm talking just about the toad being set to charge at some unknown charging rate.

[JRscooby]

philh wrote:


Regen braking is exactly that. No throttle, regen applies to load to match coast down FMVSS requirements. Apply the brake, and they system applies greater regen loads... until you exceed regen loads and friction braking takes over.

So I learn. It would take some reprogramming to tell the toad to roll with no foot on the go pedal. And some to have the first part of the proportional brake controller to regen, then when more brake would start the friction.

[Reisender]

maillemaker wrote:
I would expect the easy thing to do would be to run your generator and have an output to the EV to charge while towing.

We casually know someone who tows his Tesla on a trailer and does exactly that.

[maillemaker]

I would expect the easy thing to do would be to run your generator and have an output to the EV to charge while towing.

[philh]

JRscooby wrote:

Reisender wrote:

Yah. Really it’s a matter of software and a brake pedal sensor for the Motorhome. Just a matter of someone writing it and the warranty thing.

In normal driving of the EV, you want to slow, step on the brake, does the regen start then? And can you lift your foot from the go and whoa pedals, coast for some distance? (Remember, I know I'm ignorant.)
And most brake systems use some system to move brake pedal of toad? Any brake systems that do not use input from the MH brake pedal?
Unless I'm way off on any of this, I would say it would take very little change in programming, the technology is there.
Now I can see it would take some re-programming, but not a lot of change, for the toad to help the MH. And likely some changes to MH. (At least something to let the car know it is behind it's MH so it would not try to ride that close to another vehicle.

Regen braking is exactly that. No throttle, regen applies to load to match coast down FMVSS requirements. Apply the brake, and they system applies greater regen loads... until you exceed regen loads and friction braking takes over.

Ford has a screen that shows percentage of braking that went to regen. I got pretty good at 100%. Friction braking takes over completely IRC at 5mph and below. Pretty easy to modulate the pedal to achieve 100%.

[philh]

joebedford wrote:
I guess I'm not explaining myself properly or my idea is just too stupid. The bus is dragging the toad down the road; the toad's wheels are turning; the toad's motor(s) are turning - throw in a little regenerative braking on the toad and its battery will charge. The bus has to work a bit harder but there is no modification to the bus.

Your idea has merit...

However, the concept of towing 4 down is mostly a mystery to the OEM world, and specifically, in Electrification you typically have young people working at the OEM's.

Couple of things to overcome, what rate do you charge at, is it full charge over two hours at 55 mph? four hours? six hours?

Now you're also generating heat. How do you shed that heat? Remember, you typically don't have airflow across the radiator and no way to eliminate heat build up. What's the plan there?

[Reisender]

obiwancanoli wrote:
We got a little off-topic here, but I've learned a lot... appears charging EV while being towed isn't a sensible option... thus, if one anticipates a lot of use while situated at chosen location, best to use ICE vehicle. EV charging while on the road appears less reliable...

It’s one of those “it depends” things. Although the US, Canada and Mexico are behind the rest of the modern world with charge infrastructure it is getting quite good even here. Tesla is still the king of the heap as they are designed to use any Chademo charge facility in addition to their own Supercharger network. But even those of us driving non Tesla’s have little difficulty finding facilities in “many” areas.

[Reisender]

JRscooby wrote:

Reisender wrote:

Yah. Really it’s a matter of software and a brake pedal sensor for the Motorhome. Just a matter of someone writing it and the warranty thing.

In normal driving of the EV, you want to slow, step on the brake, does the regen start then? And can you lift your foot from the go and whoa pedals, coast for some distance? (Remember, I know I'm ignorant.)
And most brake systems use some system to move brake pedal of toad? Any brake systems that do not use input from the MH brake pedal?
Unless I'm way off on any of this, I would say it would take very little change in programming, the technology is there.
Now I can see it would take some re-programming, but not a lot of change, for the toad to help the MH. And likely some changes to MH. (At least something to let the car know it is behind it's MH so it would not try to ride that close to another vehicle.

So yes. Kind of. As soon as you take your foot off the pedal max regeneration occurs. However moderating your pressure on the accelerator controls the amount of regeneration. This is how EV’s with “one pedal driving” are able to do that. Everything is controlled from the go pedal. Completely removing your foot causes quite strong regeneration and fairly strong decelation. It will actually bring you to a stop. However the software engages the service brakes for the last few kmh as regen fades away. Of course you can always still use your service brake pedal for even faster braking. Brakes don’t get a lot of wear in an EV. Brakes are good for the life of a car.

Hope that helps.

[obiwancanoli]

We got a little off-topic here, but I've learned a lot... appears charging EV while being towed isn't a sensible option... thus, if one anticipates a lot of use while situated at chosen location, best to use ICE vehicle. EV charging while on the road appears less reliable...

[JRscooby]

Reisender wrote:

Yah. Really it’s a matter of software and a brake pedal sensor for the Motorhome. Just a matter of someone writing it and the warranty thing.

In normal driving of the EV, you want to slow, step on the brake, does the regen start then? And can you lift your foot from the go and whoa pedals, coast for some distance? (Remember, I know I'm ignorant.)
And most brake systems use some system to move brake pedal of toad? Any brake systems that do not use input from the MH brake pedal?
Unless I'm way off on any of this, I would say it would take very little change in programming, the technology is there.
Now I can see it would take some re-programming, but not a lot of change, for the toad to help the MH. And likely some changes to MH. (At least something to let the car know it is behind it's MH so it would not try to ride that close to another vehicle.

[MrWizard]

6 km is approx 4 miles,
Regulator gas is $3.599 st my local fuel up station, if you avg 20 mpg, then that's 18 cents a mile, 11 cents for 6 km/4 miles equals 2.75 cents per mile, a real bargain
The more you pay pet kwHr
The closer.the two become, the smaller the gain,
I think.around her 33 cents pet kwhr would be closer to it, making it about 11 cents per mile
Using an EV, still cheaper than gas