this post was submitted on 26 Nov 2023
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The theoretical use case is for cars without the capacity to tow. Either due to engine power, or lack of a tow ball. Effectively, it's a small, self driving vehicle, that can tow. It just follows close behind your care, and so needs far less in the way of navigation capabilities.
It's a stupidly small niche however. Anyone who could justify and afford one could do far better just by hiring a driver and tow vehicle.
That's not even mentioning that you can get hitch receivers that you attach to just about every car out there. Hell even back in the 50s it was common place to see a sedan with a tow hitch. Unless you're driving a car that struggles to carry itself up a hill the only thing stopping you from putting a hitch on a Prius or Challenger is your willingness to buy a receiver hitch and bolt it to the frame.
Given the likely pricetag, you're talking luxury cars and upwards. The owners don't want a tow ball ruining their car's look. They might also want to avoid the additional strain on the engine. I'm not sure how high end cars deal with low speed high torque situations, but I doubt Porsche does much testing with towing in mind.
True I only picked out Challenger as an example of how if you really wanted you can put a hitch on just about anything and engine power is rarely an issue. My bigger point is that if my 1956 bel air can haul a boat on top of being a generally heavy car your Prius can absolutely houl your couch. And if you're actually hauling heavy stuff every day then a truck/dedicated tow vehicle is actually justified.
I tow a lot with an EV and when towing my miles per kWh halve.
For EVs this fixes this range problem as you are no longer towing. Improving range while towing is important for people who tow a lot with EVs becoming more prevalent.
However you now have to charge the trailer and the car, which is a right pain.
Plus relying on wireless connection is just massively dumb.
There are trailers coming that conventionally hitch and have their own motor and battery. This improves range but now your trailer is massively heavier, more expensive, and requires its own charging.
Majority of EV public chargers are just not setup for pull through charging so you have to unhitch. Just painful even with motormovers to move the trailer off the car.
We should be working to reduce drag as this is the biggest issue for the trailer at motorway speeds, and then weight.
I do occasional towing with my 4-cylinder car, and it reduces my mileage from about 30mpg to lower 20's (around 22mpg but varies by speed etc).
Everybody should get a trailer hitch on their car unless it's so low that it physically can't have one. I don't need a pickup truck anymore since I got a 5x8 light trailer for my car, and it also lets me use a rear cargo rack or bike carrier.
Oh agree completely, there are even places that will hire them to you so you could eveb make use of one infrequently without having to buy and store it. Most (UK) cars can tow an unbraked trailer with a 750kg limit, which is pretty sizable for a lot of household stuff.
I tow a 1400kg caravan (chosen as it's the lightest in class for its size) so you have to be careful around matching. But towing with an EV is godly as you have instant access to 100% of torque so you don't ever notice it pulling on the car.
it doesn't solve it though, it just adds a second vehicle to the mix that can actually do the job. this is literally just a truck but worse, because now you need a car in front to carry passengers and steer this goofy thing. just rent a truck for the day and leave the car at home
Yeah no truck can fit another full sized car in the truck bed or something of similar size. In Europe you cannot even get something the size of a F150 let alone the really big trucks.
sure, but my point was the car is unnecessary in this scenario. you're already renting another vehicle to tow the trailer, get one with a drivers seat and passenger compartment instead of using 2 vehicles to move 1 trailer
Well you weren't in what I meant with my example, you already have a car, just get a tow bar fitted to it then you can use a trailer any time you need one. While its not suitable for everyone Its a really good idea if you are doing even irregular house maintenance or other big jobs and a trailer by itself is massively cheaper than hiring a truck.I can hire a trailer big enough to put a car on for £80 for 24 hours.
Agreed, if your car can do the job that's clearly the most sensible option. But either scenario this goofy robot solves nothing. Either your car can pull the trailer itself, or it should be left at home while you rent something that can. Deliberately renting a robot truck with no seats that forces you to also bring a car would be silly
Without a mechanical connection, the tow bot could be remote controlled, or even have a handle on it, and be guided into a charging bay.
You have that already for trailers with motor movers, I have one in mine. Works with a remote control.
https://www.powrtouch.com/
It doesn't remove the total PITA of EV charging with a trailer on a non pull through space. I have to detach the trailer, move the car into the EV space, move the trailer into a EV space, start charging both bits, all while not blocking a busy EV charging area.