Towing can have a huge impact on EV vary, so Ford is mulling including batteries to trailers to assist compensate.

A Ford patent utility revealed by the USA Patent and Trademark Workplace (USPTO) on August 3, and initially filed Feb. 1, 2022, particulars the usage of bidirectional charging to attach an EV and a battery-equipped trailer, permitting vitality to circulate between them.

Ford trailer bidirectional charging patent picture

The system would prioritize retaining the towing EV’s battery pack charged, drawing energy battery packs in a number of trailers linked to collectively in a “daisy-chain configuration,” in accordance with the appliance. The trailers may be used to cost their very own cargo. Within the utility, Ford means that trailers may very well be outfitted with chargers for issues like electrical jet skis, bikes, ATVs, or dust bikes.

Illustrations present a pickup truck with a particular cab-forward design that appears to be popping up in quite a lot of Ford patent filings. The automaker plans a high-volume electrical full-size pickup as a follow-up to the F-150 Lightning in 2025, however the patent submitting notes that trailer charging may very well be utilized in different automobiles, together with SUVs like a three-row mannequin with 350 miles of vary additionally scheduled to launch in 2025.

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Utilizing a trailer to increase EV vary is just not a brand new concept. The Boulder journey trailer from Colorado Teardrops has a 75-kwh battery pack that can be utilized to cost a tow car whereas stationary. Airstream confirmed an eStream idea in 2022 incorporating a system that provides electrical motors to a trailer to assist take a number of the load off the tow car. That system, with a unique trailer, managed to get 240 miles of real-world vary out of an Audi E-Tron Sportback EPA-rated at 218 miles.

Normal Motors has filed a patent utility for an alternate system that provides a self-propelled tow-assist system between the tow car and trailer. This would offer supplementary propulsion to assist transfer a trailer however, like Ford’s trailer battery, it is nonetheless only a patent submitting.