Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by tantony 1718 days ago
If it makes sense energy wise, it makes sense distance wise too. If the EV can go 4 miles for every one mile towed, then why would it not make sense?
1 comments

Ah I think I was tripped up by the same thing as the top commenter. This sounds like it violates the law of conservation of energy.

The key here is that when towing (as opposed to going downhill) you can put much more energy into the motor generators per mile than is required to drive a mile. Due to charge/discharge losses, for your example this would have to be > 4x the amount. This obviously assumes the EV can regen at high sustained rates and you have a powerful tow vehicle.

So yes, you're right. The energy/distance argument should be one and the same.