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 US Patent and Trademark Workplace (USPTO) on August 3, and initially filed Feb. 1, 2022, particulars using bidirectional charging to attach an EV and a battery-equipped trailer, permitting power to stream between them.

Ford trailer bidirectional charging patent picture

The system would prioritize holding 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 keeping with the applying. The trailers may be used to cost their very own cargo. Within the utility, Ford means that trailers could possibly be geared up with chargers for issues like electrical jet skis, bikes, ATVs, or filth bikes.

Illustrations present a pickup truck with a particular cab-forward design that appears to be popping up in a variety 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 could possibly 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 just isn’t a brand new thought. The Boulder journey trailer from Colorado Teardrops has a 75-kwh battery pack that can be utilized to cost a tow automobile whereas stationary. Airstream confirmed an eStream idea in 2022 incorporating a system that provides electrical motors to a trailer to assist take a few of the load off the tow automobile. That system, with a special trailer, managed to get 240 miles of real-world vary out of an Audi E-Tron Sportback EPA-rated at 218 miles.

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