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Towing Regularly, Battery life, Limit, and General Concerns.

Hookboss

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I ordered my truck today and I am excited to see what my future will be like owning an all electric pickup. I have owned at least a dozen pick up trucks in my life and love the capabilities. I know the future will be electric and the torque they produce is outstanding. I have concerns though, battery life for example much like fuel mileage I would imagine range will be more limited. Another concern is electric vehicles are very heavy a trailer and the weight of the truck could put too much strain on components like the brakes. The autonomous options will have to be disabled I would imagine while towing. While the instant torque and impressive power of electric motor can be ideal for accelerating with a trailer, the main issue comes when slowing down. Unlike a conventional internal combustion engine, electric motors can instantly switch to become generators as you come off the accelerator pedal, converting kinetic energy into extra charge for the batteries and slowing the vehicle down. Towing a heavy trailer down a steep hill will provide lots more kinetic energy than normal, which could overwhelm the electrical system. I hope these are thing they will address and give us some more information as production nears.
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Alan Burns

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Heavy trailers have their own braking system. It is connected to the towing vehicle's brake system so if the vehicle slows it causes the trailer brakes to apply as well thru a hydraulic/electric connection. There is sort of a relay box mounted underneath the steering column with a lever which allows the driver to apply trailer brakes only.

If there is not enough dynamic braking capacity for the load in the batteries then there is always hydraulic brakes to supplant the electric braking.

Do not worry, electric trucks towing will be just as easy to control and stop as ICE vehicles are so long as they are not overloaded.
 

Hmp10

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Regenerative braking will handle a lot of the braking load in most circumstances. The Tesla Model S weighs almost 5,000 pounds and, at least as of a couple of years ago, no Tesla had had to have its brake pads replaced, due to the reduced brake wear from regenerative braking. Also, most ICE cars put significantly larger brake components on the front wheels than the back due to the greater braking load on the front wheels. However, the center of gravity in a Tesla is so low due to the location of the battery pack that there is less forward weight shift during braking. Consequently, the Tesla rear brakes are almost as robust as the front brakes. This means that the brake load is distributed much more evenly between the front and rear wheels than in an ICE vehicle. I suspect the same factors will come into play with a Rivian.

You're right that there are limits to how much energy regenerative braking can put back into the battery due to several reasons: the rate at which the battery can absorb energy, the regenerative output of the motor (which varies by electric motor type and speed at which braking is engaged), the engineering choices the manufacturer makes about regenerative braking characteristics. These limits might become relevant when towing a trailer down a long, steep hill, but that's probably going to be a relatively small part of overall use of the vehicle and probably not enough to cause excessive wear of the brake components.
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