Electric truck towed Idea

[ereck.po]

I submitted an Idea for electric truck use to Ford, GM and Dodge. This is mostly what I sent, tell me what you think:

An all electric truck on a tow bar could be used to help push, and slow a motor home and turn it into a Hybrid.
Today I saw that Airstream has developed a travel trailer that is self propelled. It has a battery pack and motors to drive the wheels to help the tow vehicle, by pushing up hills and re-gen braking downhill. This gave me an idea; Why not do this with an electric truck.
https://www.foxnews.com/auto/self-pr...ravel-trailers
The Electric power of the Towed truck or car could be used to help push the motor home from a stop or to help maintain speed up hills and use a lot less fuel. My Diesel Pusher has 385 hp and another 2 or 3 hundred would be welcome on a mountain pass.
The regeneration mode on the down hills would help slow the motor home and save brake wear for both the motor home and the towed truck.
I think it could be done with software, maybe a ‘MODE’ button in the truck and a wireless controller on the dashboard of the motor home.
I can’t justify a new Allison Hybrid Transmission but I could justify a new truck. And I think it might be popular with other MH owners too.

[pasdad1]

I think it’s a good idea. None of the big automakers will care however, because the market is just too small.

Maybe a small company can jump in, and whip up something….we could hope…… however the lawyers in this country seem to stifle innovation, as liability for something that goes wrong would cost dearly.

[radar]

I like the idea. But regen braking would be null once the battery was over about 95 percent. Probably best to start with a half charge or so.

[tinkerreknit]

Originally Posted by ereck.po

I submitted an Idea for electric truck use to Ford, GM and Dodge. This is mostly what I sent, tell me what you think:

An all electric truck on a tow bar could be used to help push, and slow a motor home and turn it into a Hybrid.
Today I saw that Airstream has developed a travel trailer that is self propelled. It has a battery pack and motors to drive the wheels to help the tow vehicle, by pushing up hills and re-gen braking downhill. This gave me an idea; Why not do this with an electric truck.
https://www.foxnews.com/auto/self-pr...ravel-trailers
The Electric power of the Towed truck or car could be used to help push the motor home from a stop or to help maintain speed up hills and use a lot less fuel. My Diesel Pusher has 385 hp and another 2 or 3 hundred would be welcome on a mountain pass.
The regeneration mode on the down hills would help slow the motor home and save brake wear for both the motor home and the towed truck.
I think it could be done with software, maybe a ‘MODE’ button in the truck and a wireless controller on the dashboard of the motor home.
I can’t justify a new Allison Hybrid Transmission but I could justify a new truck. And I think it might be popular with other MH owners too.

Brilliant! I also think it would be mostly a software tweak.

[GWBGE]

It would take a of hell of a towbar.

[radar]

Originally Posted by GWBGE

It would take a of hell of a towbar.

I was thinking about that. Should be doable though. Even with existing tow bars, slamming on the brakes on the coach and having the weight of the toad pressing on the towbar must generate a fair amount of pushing force. I’m not trained in figuring all that out but I’m sure there are engineers thinking it through. Same as the self propelled trailers being developed.

[doc]

Didn't Toyota do this with their Prius years ago? I realize they had an engine for long distance and recharge but I distictly remember the display showing recharge as we were going down a long hill and braking