There are a range of outfits around hoping to solve this dilemma by creating many kinds of trailers all over EV battery packs. The concept is that you get to wherever you’re heading and use the trailer’s stored energy to restore the EV tow rig to a to some degree standard overall helpful variety. In this scenario, it really is a little teardrop camping trailer from Colorado Teardrop Campers with a 75-kWh battery pack developed into the frame.
CTC phone calls it The Boulder, and it weighs 1,950 lbs dry. It’s no Airstream, although like most teardrop campers, the proportions within and out are modest. Inside the Boulder, you can expect to uncover a queen-size mattress and a pair of bunks that snooze four in total—in shut proximity. The beds fold up into a lounge arrangement, and a desk unfolds out of the flooring for a minimal indoor dining or recreation place. A galley folds out of the rear, with a cooktop and refrigerator, and even an optional oven. Optional updates can make the Boulder a lot more off-highway capable, like some of CTC’s other trailers.
Charging is fairly easy. On the road, the towing EV and the trailer can be billed at any charging station with a almost ubiquitous CCS charger, which include DC fast chargers. What it are unable to do is charge your tow motor vehicle on the transfer, for a wide variety of motives, but can undoubtedly be made use of at a quit if the tow rig are unable to make it to the future charging station. CTC made an algorithm that estimates the reduction in assortment when towing a Boulder and optimizes the battery pack dimension to strike the customer’s goal, confirmed with a Tesla Model X and a stand-in trailer of close to the same shape and excess weight. That implies that when the 75-kWh pack should be a superior suit for most folks, CTC is looking at other pack sizes in the potential. CTC’s target is to be equipped to supply 100 miles of assortment in as tiny as 10 minutes, in ideal conditions, although that is an ambitious goal and will rely on a large selection of variables.
As you can see by the illustrations or photos, the Boulder seems exist only in the electronic place for now. Some of the components is still TBD, like the onboard charger and the battery supplier. The corporation is using orders and charges start out at $55,000 generally, with early reservation holders finding a low cost that decreases as a lot more Boulders are ordered. Furthermore, comprehension that some kinks are liable to need to be labored out of the first run, the very first 25 entrepreneurs have the solution of investing in their Boulders on a brand name new 1 immediately after a year.
Right up until someone finds a good alternative to the range reduction issue for EV tow vehicles, it looks like trailer-mounted batteries like people fitted to the CTC Boulder are heading to be a stable alternative, however it’d be cooler if the trailers could charge the tow vehicle while on the transfer…
