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Flat towing a Rivian

Hmp10

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My point is very simple. Regenerative braking will not "automatically kick in" when an EV starts to coast or has its brakes applied. EV motors will not just go into and out of regeneration mode based on whether the EV is being towed, whether it is being braked, whether it is going up or down hill, or what a towing vehicle is doing.

You can disengage the electric motors for towing and use only the friction braking to assist with braking the tow vehicle, as you could with towing an ICE vehicle.

However, if you're going to recharge an EV by towing it -- which is the point around which this discussion began -- the motors have to be switched into regeneration mode. Once they are, if the EV is being towed on flat terrain the regeneration drag will increase the burden on the towing vehicle, as stated in the article Cappyjax cited. It was your claim that the author was inaccurate and that a vehicle could be towed for recharge without increasing the burden on the towing vehicle as long as it "was done right" that raised this question.

Exactly what has to be "done right" to recharge an EV when towing without increasing the burden on the towing vehicle? The only way to have the towed EV not add drag to the towing vehicle is for the EV motors to be taken out of regeneration mode. It is simply impossible for an EV to be charged by towing without adding drag to the tow vehicle. This drag may be desirable when going downhill, which is where the concept of "free energy" comes in, as you are essentially converting the force of gravity into electrical current via the motors-cum-generators. It also may be desirable when braking the tow vehicle, as you're also getting "free energy" from converting the potential energy of the two cars' forward motion into electricity. But when towing on flat terrain or uphill, that added drag of the EV being recharged is overcome not by gravity, but by the increased output of the ICE engine in the tow vehicle. And that energy is not free. If you want to pay that penalty to charge the EV because of the lack of charging infrastructure where you are going, that's fine. But there will be that penalty.

If you want to use flat towing to recharge an EV and do so without increasing the burden on the tow vehicle, my question remains how do you do that? What sensors, devices, or programming are in the towed vehicle to take the motors out of regeneration mode on flat terrain when there is no driver in the car and you do not want the added drag of flat towing the vehicle in regeneration mode?
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stank65

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My point is very simple. Regenerative braking will not "automatically kick in" when an EV starts to coast or has its brakes applied. EV motors will not just go into and out of regeneration mode based on whether the EV is being towed, whether it is being braked, whether it is going up or down hill, or what a towing vehicle is doing.

You can disengage the electric motors for towing and use only the friction braking to assist with braking the tow vehicle, as you could with towing an ICE vehicle.

However, if you're going to recharge an EV by towing it -- which is the point around which this discussion began -- the motors have to be switched into regeneration mode. Once they are, if the EV is being towed on flat terrain the regeneration drag will increase the burden on the towing vehicle, as stated in the article Cappyjax cited. It was your claim that the author was inaccurate and that a vehicle could be towed for recharge without increasing the burden on the towing vehicle as long as it "was done right" that raised this question.

Exactly what has to be "done right" to recharge an EV when towing without increasing the burden on the towing vehicle? The only way to have the towed EV not add drag to the towing vehicle is for the EV motors to be taken out of regeneration mode. It is simply impossible for an EV to be charged by towing without adding drag to the tow vehicle. This drag may be desirable when going downhill, which is where the concept of "free energy" comes in, as you are essentially converting the force of gravity into electrical current via the motors-cum-generators. It also may be desirable when braking the tow vehicle, as you're also getting "free energy" from converting the potential energy of the two cars' forward motion into electricity. But when towing on flat terrain or uphill, that added drag of the EV being recharged is overcome not by gravity, but by the increased output of the ICE engine in the tow vehicle. And that energy is not free. If you want to pay that penalty to charge the EV because of the lack of charging infrastructure where you are going, that's fine. But there will be that penalty.

If you want to use flat towing to recharge an EV and do so without increasing the burden on the tow vehicle, my question remains how do you do that? What sensors, devices, or programming are in the towed vehicle to take the motors out of regeneration mode on flat terrain when there is no driver in the car and you do not want the added drag of flat towing the vehicle in regeneration mode?
The key capability to be able to flat tow an EV is being able to decouple the motors. This was earlier in the thread. Being able to actively couple and decouple the motors also allows for higher efficiencies . Decoupled wheels are allowed to spin freely without the spin loss of the motors. This is why a single motor Model 3 gets greater efficiency than a dual motor -- because of the inability to decouple and avoid spin losses.

There are 3 different scenarios of driving that need to be accounted for, two different battery situations, and if you want to get tricky you can add a choice choice to mimic exhaust braking

Battery has room to charge and do not mimic exhaust braking
Accel - Decouple
Coast - Decouple
Brake - Couple and Regen and apply friction brakes

Battery no room
Accel - Decouple
Coast - Decouple
Brake - Decouple and apply friction brakes

Battery has room to charge and mimic exhaust braking
Accel - Decouple
Coast - Couple and Regen
Brake - Couple and Regen and apply friction brakes

You could do this simply with the existing types of connections that they have today for ICE cars and forget the third scenario

You could also create a new device that connects to the OBD and wirelessly communicates the situation of the RV to the Rivian

----------------------------------------------------

For highway driving without being towed this could greatly improve the efficiency of the Rivian also .

Once you get over a certain speed and reduced accelerator input, two of the motors could decouple and the wheel couple spin freely.

The is similar to how some GMC V8 engines will put 4 cylinders to sleep under certain driving conditions.
 

Hmp10

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Thank you. That is the answer I was looking for. Now the question is whether the Rivian will be equipped with a means to decouple the motors based on the occurrence of the above dynamic conditions instead of inputs from a driver. (But, of course, this means you wouldn't get any recharging while towing on flat terrain, as the drive motors are decoupled from the wheels that would turn the rotator coils to generate electricity in the stators that would flow into the battery.)
 
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stank65

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Thank you. That is the answer I was looking for. Now the question is whether the Rivian will be equipped with a means to decouple the motors based on the occurrence of the above dynamic conditions instead of inputs from a driver. (But, of course, this means you wouldn't get any recharging while towing on flat terrain, as the drive motors are decoupled from the wheels that would turn the rotator coils to generate electricity in the stators that would flow into the battery.)
All of the conditions above are driver inputs. Not dynamic conditions. Push accelerator, push nothing, push brake. This mirrors how exhaust braking works. Push accelerator and exhaust brake disengages even if the RV is not yet accelerating. No input to accelerator or brake pedal and exhaust braking engages. Exhaust brake continues upon braking.
 

Hmp10

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They are inputs from the driver to the tow vehicle. Seen from the perspective of the towed vehicle, they are changes in dynamic conditions. Driver inputs to the towed vehicle would be things such as applying or lifting off brake and accelerator pedals that are connected to the systems of the towed vehicle. This is why, for instance, that the slowing of a tow vehicle cannot in and of itself switch a towed EV motor from propulsion to regeneration. That has to be done by a switch that reverses current flow. Unless the EV is equipped with some sort of sensors that react to changes in dynamic conditions and are connected to that switch, the motor would not go into or out of regeneration mode just because of something the tow driver did.

The same applies to decoupling. There has to be some sensor or switch in the towed vehicle that activates decoupling, not just a change in dynamic conditions . . . unless, of course, the decoupling mechanism itself operates off inertial force -- something which would be very tricky to execute and require a lot more engineering than towing recharge is probably worth.
 

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All of the conditions above are driver inputs. Not dynamic conditions. Push accelerator, push nothing, push brake. This mirrors how exhaust braking works. Push accelerator and exhaust brake disengages even if the RV is not yet accelerating. No input to accelerator or brake pedal and exhaust braking engages. Exhaust brake continues upon braking.
You are trying to educate someone who thinks they know everything already and refuses to research how things actually work. Been there, done that. Better to just give up.
 

Hmp10

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I did research the matter. Perhaps Page 2 of this article will help frame my question more clearly: https://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-parts/brakes/brake-types/regenerative-braking1.htm

It explains that a car motor spins in one direction when generating propulsion. It must be made to spin in the opposite direction to act as a generator. The forward momentum of a vehicle that is slowing can be used as the power source to spin the motor in the opposite direction, BUT a control signal must first be sent to the motor to make it spin in the opposite direction. Without that control signal, a motor that has been deprived of its current supply does not spontaneously reverse its spin but will just spin down in the original direction as the car starts coasting, until friction and aerodynamic drag bring it to a stop.

The article then goes on:

"Sophisticated electronic circuitry is necessary to decide when the motor should reverse, while specialized electric circuits route the electricity generated by the motor into the vehicle's batteries. In some cases, the energy produced by these types of brakes is stored in a series of capacitors for later use. In addition, since vehicles using these kinds of brakes also have a standard friction braking system, the vehicle's electronics must decide which braking system is appropriate at which time. Because so much is controlled electronically in a regenerative braking system, it's even possible for the driver to select certain presets that determine how the vehicle reacts in different situations. For instance, in some vehicles a driver can select whether regenerative braking should begin immediately whenever the driver's foot comes off the accelerator pedal and whether the braking system will take the car all the way to 0 mph (0 kilometers per hour) or will let the car coast slightly."

My question all along has been quite simple. Simply slowing the tow vehicle will not put the towed EV motors into reverse spin. So what sends the electronic signal to the EV motors to reverse their spin when there is no driver in the EV to press its brake or accelerator pedals that function as the switches that send that signal?
 
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CappyJax

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"It explains that a car motor spins in one direction when generating propulsion. It must be made to spin in the opposite direction to act as a generator."

I didn't even read your full post, because I had to stop right here. This is 100% absolutely, positively, wrong. The motor does NOT need to change direction in order to act as a generator. The current reverses direction, not the motor.
 

stank65

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"It explains that a car motor spins in one direction when generating propulsion. It must be made to spin in the opposite direction to act as a generator."

I didn't even read your full post, because I had to stop right here. This is 100% absolutely, positively, wrong. The motor does NOT need to change direction in order to act as a generator. The current reverses direction, not the motor.
Yeah I was just going to say the same thing. This is a fundamental misunderstanding of how regen and electric motors/generators work.
 

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I have read articles both that say a controller has to send a signal to a motor, sometimes to switch its spin direction and sometimes to reverse its current flow, to start regenerative braking. I have also read articles that support your position, such as this one from the University of Tennessee Engineering School: https://www.utc.edu/college-engineering-computer-science/research/cete/electric.php.

One the other hand, that same article also says: "Most electric vehicles do not utilize a transmission. The motors are usually single speed and acceleration is smooth, no bump or jolt like transmissions in today's vehicles."

In fact, that statement is wrong. Almost all EVs, including Tesla and Rivian, have transmissions (https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-ca...-electric-cars-have-multi-gear-transmissions/) . . . and their motors are not single speed motors (which are something you might find in a pool pump or a well pump, but not in a car), but actually operate over such a side RPM range that a single-speed transmission is necessary to find an optimum balance between torque and speed.

In short, it's difficult to know which article to believe, or which part of which article to believe.
 

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stank65

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I have read articles both that say a controller has to send a signal to a motor, sometimes to switch its spin direction and sometimes to reverse its current flow, to start regenerative braking. I have also read articles that support your position, such as this one from the University of Tennessee Engineering School: https://www.utc.edu/college-engineering-computer-science/research/cete/electric.php.

One the other hand, that same article also says: "Most electric vehicles do not utilize a transmission. The motors are usually single speed and acceleration is smooth, no bump or jolt like transmissions in today's vehicles."

In fact, that statement is wrong. Almost all EVs, including Tesla and Rivian, have transmissions (https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-ca...-electric-cars-have-multi-gear-transmissions/) . . . and their motors are not single speed motors (which are something you might find in a pool pump or a well pump, but not in a car), but actually operate over such a side RPM range that a single-speed transmission is necessary to find an optimum balance between torque and speed.

In short, it's difficult to know which article to believe, or which part of which article to believe.
Pretty much everything in that how stuff works article is wrong -- comically wrong.
 

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I have read articles both that say a controller has to send a signal to a motor, sometimes to switch its spin direction and sometimes to reverse its current flow, to start regenerative braking. I have also read articles that support your position, such as this one from the University of Tennessee Engineering School: https://www.utc.edu/college-engineering-computer-science/research/cete/electric.php.

One the other hand, that same article also says: "Most electric vehicles do not utilize a transmission. The motors are usually single speed and acceleration is smooth, no bump or jolt like transmissions in today's vehicles."

In fact, that statement is wrong. Almost all EVs, including Tesla and Rivian, have transmissions (https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-ca...-electric-cars-have-multi-gear-transmissions/) . . . and their motors are not single speed motors (which are something you might find in a pool pump or a well pump, but not in a car), but actually operate over such a side RPM range that a single-speed transmission is necessary to find an optimum balance between torque and speed.

In short, it's difficult to know which article to believe, or which part of which article to believe.
The article does not apply to a Rivian or the new Tesla motor because they use a permanent magnet motor.The car uses AC to operate the motor, when the motor is not being powered by the inverter from the battery and wheels are turning in a forward direction the motor is producing an AC current which is converted to DC to feed the battery. The braking function results from a counter electro motive force that naturally occurs when electrons are flowing through the motor that tries to slow down or stop the motion that is making the electron flow.You essentially have to dump the electricity some where when the battery can't take it or open the circuit so no electrons will flow and shut off the magnetic field that is working against the motor so it will coast when you need it to coast. This is not hard to do electrically.
 

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Thanks.

What opens the circuit to allow the car to coast?
 

Hmp10

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Pretty much everything in that how stuff works article is wrong -- comically wrong.
I accept that now.

The problem for me is what to believe when researching things on the internet. One would think, for instance, that an article sponsored by the engineering department of a university would be reasonably authoritative. But then you find a lack of understanding even there of what a single-speed motor is and why most electric cars use transmissions.

Since one cannot query the authors of these disparate articles, the only way to try to flush out the most credible answer is to probe and repeatedly test the positions of people who can answer -- in other words, to keep debate going on a forum such as this.
 

cllc

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Thanks.

What opens the circuit to allow the car to coast?
I don't have all the details or the electrical schematics, its could be a simple switched relay or a more complex variable transistor which could feed a portion of the current to battery, bleed off to resistors or capacitors, or open up and save nothing. My dads RV bus talks to his Jeep that he tows wirelessly for signaling brake lights and such, There would have to be some kind of communication between the two vehicles.
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