All electric towing rig sets world record
Battery-powered tow vehicle and electric caravan travel 386km without rechargingThree years after unveiling its all-electric caravan of the future, German RV manufacturer Dethleffs has proven that the concept works in practice by setting what is believed to be a world EV towing record -- hauling a full height caravan almost 400km without recharging.
The Dethleffs E.Home Coco concept displayed in 2018 incorporated two 40kW lithium batteries, mounted flat in the floor, that sent power to the caravan's dual-motor axle.
The battery-driven caravan axles were designed to reduce the load on the tow vehicle, and Dethleffs said the aim of its recent real-world test was to prove that it's possible to tow a caravan while not reducing the range of the EV tow vehicle.
The tow vehicle chosen was an Audi e-tron Sportback, which can tow up to 1800kg, and while no weight was given for the Dethleffs caravan, we presume it was around 1000kg or more.
The tow test was conducted on freeways as well as over some more challenging roads through the mountainous Alps region, and neither the batteries in the tow vehicle nor the caravan were fully depleted at the end of the six-hour plus real-world test.
The tow vehicle was fitted with a towing force sensor that detected whether the vehicle was accelerating, decelerating or rolling, and used this information to control the caravan's two electric motors which then regulated their drive torque and ensured that the Audi never had to move more than 20kg of towed load during the record run.
The Dethleffs van was fitted with mechanical disc brakes, and also had a recuperation system to recover energy during deceleration.
All up, a total of 386km and up to 4870m in altitude were recorded without recharging. The average speed was 62.4km/h, with the e-tron Sportback consuming 62kWh of energy (i.e. 21.2kWh/100km), and the E.Home Coco consuming 74kWh (19.2 kWh/100km).
“Even though there are still hurdles to be cleared before it is ready for series production and registration – the E.Home Caravan developed by Dethleffs, the Erwin Hymer Group and ZF is already a practical and future-proof solution for environmentally conscious and economically sensible caravanning for everyone,” Dethleffs Managing Director Alexander Leopold said.
Related:
Tesla Model 3 passes caravan tow test
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