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TT with its own motors!

Rbertalotto
Explorer
Explorer
How about a TT with two electric motors to help with the towing? And at the campsite, it can unhitch and back itself into the camping spot! Designed to be used with electric vehicles, but has applications for petro powered vehicles too....

https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1133124_towing-with-an-ev-are-electric-trailers-the-future
RoyB
Dartmouth, MA
2021 RAM 2500 4X4 6.4L
2011 Forest River Grey Wolf Cherokee 19RR
520 w solar-200ah Renogy Li-Epever MPPT
11 REPLIES 11

colliehauler
Explorer
Explorer
Skibane wrote:
Basically, it looks like a "solution" targeted at people who don't want to buy a vehicle which is capable of towing a trailer.

Want a travel trailer, but don't want to give up your Maybach?

No problem - We've got a trailer for you!
If you own Maybach I believe your in Provost territory. LOL

Skibane
Explorer II
Explorer II
Basically, it looks like a "solution" targeted at people who don't want to buy a vehicle which is capable of towing a trailer.

Want a travel trailer, but don't want to give up your Maybach?

No problem - We've got a trailer for you!

1320Fastback
Explorer
Explorer
I don't see how a light duty electric truck will ever have any kind of towing range until the trailer itself is stuffed with batteries to either power the truck also or like this power the trailers wheels.

For now I'll keep my Diesel.
1992 D250 Cummins 5psd
2005 Forest River T26 Toy Hauler

Bobbo
Explorer II
Explorer II
Isn't that what a Class C is? Or Class A or Class B, for that matter? A drive-able RV?
Bobbo and Lin
2017 F-150 XLT 4x4 SuperCab w/Max Tow Package 3.5l EcoBoost V6
2017 Airstream Flying Cloud 23FB

Skibane
Explorer II
Explorer II
gbopp wrote:
Clicky


Oh, Lordy...The subfloor under the trailer is completely filled with batteries - 1300 pounds of them.

Grit_dog
Nomad III
Nomad III
Yeah thatโ€™s a great ideaโ€ฆ..
Paging Reisnederโ€ฆ.
2016 Ram 2500, MotorOps.ca EFIlive tuned, 5โ€ turbo back, 6" lift on 37s
2017 Heartland Torque T29 - Sold.
Couple of Arctic Fox TCs - Sold

time2roll
Explorer II
Explorer II
As a rental or a bit larger for full time I really like the concept.

gbopp
Explorer
Explorer

rlw999
Explorer
Explorer
Interesting concept, but I wonder if it's worth all the complexity and expense of putting powerful drive motors in the trailer rather than just putting batteries there and some kind of charge cable that allows charging while driving?

Being able to motor the trailer around the campsite sounds like a nice feature, but it better have some good safety lockouts, would not be fun to have the trailer accidentally accelerate to 50mph while you're trying to reposition it in the campsite.

valhalla360
Nomad
Nomad
The problem with electric vehicles is installing motors big enough to pull a trailer but supplying that power to those motors (F150 Lightning has 560hp)

While it's possible to design a powered trailer axle, it's complicated and expensive (and their example was a tiny 1500-2000lb trailer (at least before the battery pack got added).

A simpler and far cheaper solution would simply be to add a large battery pack in the trailer with a quick connect that could feed the trailer battery power to the tow vehicle to give extended range.

Assuming you can stop a short distance away from the campsite, you then have a battery pack capable of powering the rig for a couple days (not conservation mode but crank up the air/con and be comfortable support).

Say you have an F-150 Lightning with 150kwh battery pack and 300 mile range.
- Add a 25ft trailer and you are probably down to 150mile range towing.
- If the trailer had 75kwh, you could up the range to 225 miles.

Swing by a fast charger (assuming you can fit in) just before arriving at the campground and you may start the weekend with 70kwh.
- With air/con and other misc loads, you may be drawing an average of 1.5kw, so 70kwh will last you around 46hours.
- Swing by the fast charger on the way out to top up and you have 225 mile towing range on the way back.

Still going to be a hassle compared to just filling the gas tank and it's going to add probably $10k to the cost of the trailer (including beefing up the suspension) but some of that will be balanced against buying and maintaining a generator. Net will cost more but not insurmountable for trailers at the upper end of what 1/2 ton trucks can pull.
Tammy & Mike
Ford F250 V10
2021 Gray Wolf
Gemini Catamaran 34'
Full Time spliting time between boat and RV

Lwiddis
Explorer
Explorer
I would be concerned with the weight of the batteries and electric motors. Wouldn't be like a train with engines in the rear.
Winnebago 2101DS TT & 2022 Chevy Silverado 1500 LTZ Z71, WindyNation 300 watt solar-Lossigy 200 AH Lithium battery. Prefer boondocking, USFS, COE, BLM, NPS, TVA, state camps. Bicyclist. 14 yr. Army -11B40 then 11A - (MOS 1542 & 1560) IOBC & IOAC grad