Rivian towing a large travel trailer

Wayne

Wayne

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We saw this Rivan towing a fairly large travel trailer from the Pingree campground to Fort Collins on CO-14. This is a very windy and steep grade. I was driving the Durango and I didn't keep up with him. I was amazed he didn't end up over the side in the river. He must have thought it was race day or something.

I would like to know how much battery he had left after pulling up to the campground. Maybe he was trying to recharge the battery on the grade so he could make it back to Fort Collins. :)

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Yep, that is a chunk of trailer.

That being said, back when we were sort of considering a Lightning for the wife, we would have kept the Ranger (And the Acura) and I would have loved to take the Lightning on our weekend 'getaway' trips which are usually under 100 miles to a state park.

What we generally do is leave Friday around noon, drive the 80-100 miles to a state park, set up, have dinner somewhere local, and then come back late Sunday afternoon. There would be plenty of time there to charge the truck on a 50a pedestal and still make it back home. (As long as the campground allowed it of course).

But, the wife didn't want one, and they priced themselves out of my market, so that was all just a dream.
 
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sort of interesting to me that these EV's have some potential but for a limited application of people and use patterns.
Hybrids are the best answer right now.
Even if you could potentially get a slew of people into EV's I doubt the power grid could handle it

you see stories where good old Kalifornia is going to ban diesel trucks by a certain year and
you know in your head that idea flies in the face of economic and mechanical reality.
 
How far up the Pooder did you go? We went as far as CO-27 when we were there, it's amazing how consistent the grade of the river and road are. Would you take your trailer out that road?

Back to EVs, we saw a Tesla SUV whatever towing a sub 20' trailer out there, must be a thing. Doing a quick search about regenerative braking I found this:
Regenerative braking was first invented in 1967 when the American Motor Car Company (commonly referred to as American Motors) created an electrical regenerative brake for their conceptualized electric car. However, Toyota was the first car manufacturer to commercialize regenerative braking systems (RBS) with the Toyota Prius.
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I have seen a few of them towing trailer. When the plug in at night to charge the grill turns green to indicate charging. Well that is what the owner told. Both were towing pretty good sized trailers. The capability is there, but the both said it helps to plan out charging along the way.
 
Azjeff said:
:Regenerative braking was first invented in 1967 when the American Motor Car Company (commonly referred to as American Motors) created an electrical regenerative brake for their conceptualized electric car. However, Toyota was the first car manufacturer to commercialize regenerative braking systems (RBS) with the Toyota Prius.
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Prius is first practical car on the road with that system. Allison Hybrid drive used in transit buses has the same feature.. Formula 1 race cars also have a form of it.. idea has been around for a long time, back in the day you might remember those small windup toy cars that you'd push them by hand a few times and then let them go. Same thing. :)
 
MSCH said:
Prius is first practical car on the road with that system. Allison Hybrid drive used in transit buses has the same feature.. Formula 1 race cars also have a form of it.. idea has been around for a long time
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Train do regenerative braking, but all they do with the heat is waste it into the air. I'll bet you lunch that in the next few years we will start seeing trains with battery cars so they can store the energy from regenerative braking.
 
Wayne said:
Train do regenerative braking, but all they do with the heat is waste it into the air. I'll bet you lunch that in the next few years we will start seeing trains with battery cars so they can store the energy from regenerative braking.
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Surprised there isn't already. Although, trains mostly don't do a lot of stop and go, so the gains might be very minimal.
 
ctechbob said:
Although, trains mostly don't do a lot of stop and go, so the gains might be very minimal.
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Trains do brake often to control slack-action and to control speed down-grade. Commuter trains, like what I took for years in Chicago do a lot of stop and go.
 
Wayne said:
Trains do brake often to control slack-action and to control speed down-grade. Commuter trains, like what I took for years in Chicago do a lot of stop and go.
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True, my mind defaulted to long haul freight, forget that we actually have some commuter rail here.
 
Wayne said:
Train do regenerative braking, but all they do with the heat is waste it into the air. I'll bet you lunch that in the next few years we will start seeing trains with battery cars so they can store the energy from regenerative braking.
Click to expand...
in a sense, there isnt much design difference between a generator and electric motor, so it probably wouldn't be too difficult to accomplish as the machinery is already in place.
 
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