Towing the "i"

[jray3]

thank you iWatson for posting your RV dinghy experience. I've long thought that the i-MiEV would be perfect for this job with one addition- an interface allowing the car to do both full regen and full pushing for improving RV mpg and performance.
Of course that could be hacked by just putting the car in B mode and an actuator on the go pedal, and now that used i-MiEV are so cheap, the risk is minimized. I'd favor a spring-return pneumatic actuator for failsafe and fast operation with a simple single-tube setup. Since the i-MiEV has a vacuum pump, it could be a vacuum actuator for minimum added parts. I haven't found an appropriate air cylinder yet...

For a tow bar to pull the car on four wheels, the attachment brackets needn't be conspicuous, but if they don't stick through holes in the bumper and instead hang below, front clearance will be compromised. My 92 Civic with a Blue Ox towbar base plate often scraped on driveway transitions even at stock height.

With our tiny front overhang and relatively high clearance, a baseplate/front tow bar brackets shouldn't be too hard to fab up, but no major mfr would want to due to our tiny market.

 

[mckemie]

I just towed my second imiev home from a distant dealer. The first, mentioned above in the thread, was towed in about 30 mile segments for about 200 miles using a rope. For the second, I configured a tow bar of sorts. Some photos and commentary here:
https://plus.google.com/102434734002949174273/posts/4fc5j5XVFri
The tow bar was pin connected to the tow loop on the car with a 1" bolt. That is, a towed car driver is required since the geometry is not stable under tow car braking.

Briefly: about 30 miles of towing at about 45mph in "D" regens in about 50 miles worth of battery energy. 45mph and "D" were chosen to keep the regen power in the middle of the range.

 

[iwatson]

Nice looking car! Oh, BTW, The Tesla looks nice too

 

[jray3]

Willie, you're a wild one- I like that! Did you happen to run Canion and/or notice if the battery received or needed any air conditioning during that forced fast-charge? (Though D doesn't put near the load on the tow vehicle that B would.)

 

[mckemie]

I wasn't "together" enough to attempt the bluetooth app thing. I haven't used it in quite a while, it's always seemed flaky. I do "somewhere" have an adapter that seemed to work.

 

[mckemie]

Willie, you're a wild one- I like that!

Have I found an audience for my towing projects?
https://plus.google.com/102434734002949174273/posts/ZDF23Eyrhpu

 

[kiev]

You have indeed--very impressive towing feats of strength, thanks for sharing

 

[JoeS]

Have I found an audience for my towing projects?
https://plus.google.com/102434734002949174273/posts/ZDF23Eyrhpu

Willie, you have indeed - from both an i-MiEV as well as Tesla workhorse perspective! Thank you for sharing.

You had attached your single towbar to the eye in the center of that forward crossmember. Two questions:

1) Had you considered adding a couple of eyes - one on each side - to allow a "V" towbar which might obviate the need for someone to be in the towed i-MiEV?

2) Did you have any issues with ground clearance or the bar coming up too high when the towing vehicle went over a bump?

I like what jray3 suggested and I just tried it with two cars in tandem: my bluetooth has sufficient range for CaniOn to stay connected while viewing the tablet from the towing vehicle (at 292fps - I had disabled a few CaniOn features).

 

[mckemie]

1) Had you considered adding a couple of eyes - one on each side - to allow a "V" towbar which might obviate the need for someone to be in the towed i-MiEV?

Recall that I configured the tow bar to pick up a new car at a dealer about 150 miles from me. I didn't want anything that would require ANY car modification.

Yes, if I wanted to tow regularly, with one driver, a car in my possession, I would have developed some other solution.

2) Did you have any issues with ground clearance or the bar coming up too high when the towing vehicle went over a bump?

Not at all. I was somewhat surprised. One of the photos is of the hooked up pair of cars at a convenience store; to exit, we had a little dip from the parking lot on to the highway. No problem there. Incidentally, that was more than a "convenience store". It is a Kolache Mecca:
http://www.hruskas-bakery.com/
An intended and anticipated stop on the route.
Other than that kolache stop, the entire towing route was a major highway, SH71.

[/quote]

 

[Palm35]

In this topic Post subject: Re: Single LEV50-cell wanted for our Citroen C-Zero PostPosted: 25 Aug 2015, 20:06, Martin, (me68) wrote :
My wife towed me at home with the Golf - C-Zero was on at this Trip in gear selection D, right foot standby at the breakpedal. At a speed of round 50km/h this results in 11kW recuperation power - it was easy to handle.
My findings: a towline should stay in each EV - it's the universal charging equipment!
Martin

 

[JoeS]

...My findings: a towline should stay in each EV - it's the universal charging equipment!

Unfortunately, nowadays in California there are gobs of restrictive regulations. Here's a quick summary of applicable requirements:
http://www.eyershitch.com/california-towing-laws.html
Not shown is that towing with a rope is not permitted on a freeway.

I'm looking at towing one of my i-MiEVs 400 miles to loan to my brother-in-law for a few months and realize I can't get from here to there without getting stopped, even if I rig a decent towbar, because the load would have no active brakes and exceeds the 1500# towing weight limit.

Plan B: a towing dolly makes more sense to me than a full trailer from the standpoint of overall towed weight reduction. I've unsuccessfully looked for a used towing dolly for a few months and I'm now tempted to buy this:
http://www.americancardolly.com/photos/
They evidently drive around the country and personally deliver this to one's doorstep.
Anyone have any experience with or thoughts about this particular product?

Plan C is to wait until the DCQC network is completed between central California and Oregon :roll:

 

[mckemie]

Points you've probably already considered:
The drive, then tow/regen scheme gives you a lot of leeway to pick good/easy tow legs. Without consideration of laws, I would avoid towing on high traffic interstates. You can likely increase your drive segments with a few chademo sites even if they don't cover your entire route. Using a "rigid rope" towbar as I did reduces the stress level to near zero.

Your drive, then tow/regen starts with ~65 miles followed by multiple 30 mile tows followed by 50-60 mile drives. So, for 400 miles, no more than five tows. Total towing, about 150 miles or less.

I don't think you should tow an imiev at more than about 45mph.

Can anyone comment on the advisability of towing an imiev in "neutral" at perhaps higher speeds?

All this with "towing" to mean flat towing with rear wheels on the ground.

 

[kiev]

Talking about in neutral and READY mode, or in neutral and key to accy or ON ?

 

[mckemie]

Talking about in neutral and READY mode, or in neutral and key to accy or ON ?

Any. Academic interest. "Ready" is what I would be most likely to try. Just as if I were regen towing.

Which brings to mind some oddities of the car. The first time I tried to drive my first imiev, it took me a long while to figure out how to make it go. Twist the key as if you were cranking the starting motor. Idiotic! Just like the not optional creep. Amusingly, several friends had first driven the car. They had no trouble what so ever. I had come to it from a conversion, then a Leaf, then a Tesla. All either on or off.

 

[kiev]

After doing a little search in the FSM, it appears that the motor control unit cooling loop gets power in the ON mode, so the EV-ECU controller is likely active and can sense the temperatures and turn on the coolant pump if needed.

i was concerned about possible bearing damage due to heat generated in the bearings if towed in neutral for 600 miles, and with no coolant loop. i may have an opportunity to test this if i can rig up one of them rigid tow ropes like you did.

 

[PV1]

Mckemie, the Tesla Roadster 1.5 starts just like the i-MiEV. The newer Roadsters simply turn the key two clicks to On, and the car powers up automatically.

I would definitely have the car READY, just so that it wouldn't be different than coasting in N while driving the i-MiEV normally. Plus, no worries of the coolant pump running the 12 volt battery flat.

Ultimately, a proper car trailer would be the least stressful to both you and the i-MiEV. This is how I got Koorz home from 3 hours away. Of course, one would need a truck, as the U-Haul trailer we used weighed as much as the car did.

 

[iwatson]

Which brings to mind some oddities of the car. The first time I tried to drive my first imiev, it took me a long while to figure out how to make it go. Twist the key as if you were cranking the starting motor. Idiotic!

I thought it was just me!

The first time I went to look at one, I couldn't get it going! The dealer (a Chevy dealer) had no clue? I left and went home thinking the battery was too low. After some internet research, I realized my error was that I hadn't turned the key to start. My mindset was the same as yours....Electric car, there's just on or off!

 

[JoeS]

I have towed one or the other of our i-miev's lots of times on a tow dolly behind the motorhome. Turn it around backwards and put the rear (drive) wheels on the dolly, then lock the front wheels straight with two ratcheting straps hooked onto the steering wheel and the front seatbelt anchors.

More and more I'm tending to the dolly solution, but still have trouble visualizing full immobilization of the steering wheel. lwatson, any chance of a photo of your setup, and is there still not a bit of play in the wheel (which actually might be beneficial in absorbing road irregularities)?

 

[iwatson]

Sorry Joe,

Still no pictures. My Motorhome is still in the shop. All my gear and straps are stored in the rear compartment. Off-topic, but I also left a set of keys that I need and some medicine for my dog (which isn't good for him) in the RV. I will call them today and see how close to done they are. I'll gladly shoot some pics as soon as I can.

Back-on-topic now, The straps lock the steering down tight, which in my mind, is what you want so the thing doesn't start to sway on you. BTW, there are two types of tow dolly. The one I have is an older design where there is a pivoting platform that the tires sit in. This type is for cars with a front steering that locks. With my i-miev turned around backwards with the rear tires on dolly, the rears don't steer so they are like the front wheels of a car with a locking steering column. Then I need to make the front tires of the i-miev perform the same way as the rear tires of a front drive car. Since they don't steer then it stands to reason that the i-miev fronts must be locked straight (not steering). The other type of dolly lacks the pivoting platform and is only for cars that do not have a locking steering column (which is the case of most new cars). When you turn a corner in this setup the unlocked steering is what pivots instead of the platform. I assume that this type would not be proper to tow our i-miev.

Or is it? I got most of my help with towing the i-miev from a guy by the name of Todd Larson. He hangs out on Google+ and you can look him up there. In his description to me of how to tow the i-miev, he made no mention of locking down the steering, and seemed to suggest that they track along and steer as needed? If true, it seems dangerous to me because of the sway that I mentioned. But It could be that he uses this type of tow dolly.

 

[Don]

Plan B: a towing dolly makes more sense to me than a full trailer from the standpoint of overall towed weight reduction. I've unsuccessfully looked for a used towing dolly for a few months . . . .

I rented a dolly from our local U-Haul dealer when I need to bring a car 1,000 miles from Northern Iowa to Biloxi - $30 for the weekend so long as I had it back to him when he opened up on Monday

We drove up Friday afternoon/Saturday morning, put the car on the dolly and drove home Saturday afternoon/Sunday. About 2100 miles on their dolly, all for $30! I had looked to buy one too, but no more often that I would use it, renting made more sense. I haven't needed to use one since and that was several years ago

Don