R1S flat towing behind an RV?

[socaladam]

I searched but could not find my answer.

Anyone know if the R1S can be flat towed behind a RV?

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[godfodder0901]

Brian Gase told be that this is possible. You will be able to disengage drive from any of the wheels.

 

[skyote]

Lengthy thread & discussion at the link below. But yes, flat tow capability has been confirmed by a number of people & channels.

http://www.rivianforums.com/threads/flat-towing-a-rivian.82/

 

[gdenon3]

Will you be able to charge the car by towing it with an RV?

 

[ajdelange]

There are 4 motors each driven by its own inverter, 4 gear boxes and 4 wheels. Turning off all the inverters decouples all the wheels and prevents them from delivering or absorbing torque. The vehicle is in the BEV equivalent of Neutral and provided there is a properly engineered tow point (i.e. one designed for long range towing - not something like the kluge on the Tesla Model X) there is no reason why it couldn't be towed.

A vehicle being towed is like a vehicle being rolled down hill in that there is a force pulling it forward. Thus regenerative braking (which charges the battery) could be enabled in a vehicle being towed. But Rivian will not do anything to enable this. In fact I would think they would be more likely to do something to disable it by sensing load on the tow point for example.

 

[BillArnett]

There are 4 motors each driven by its own inverter, 4 gear boxes and 4 wheels. Turning off all the inverters decouples all the wheels and prevents them from delivering or absorbing torque. The vehicle is in the BEV equivalent of Neutral and provided there is a properly engineered tow point (i.e. one designed for long range towing - not something like the kluge on the Tesla Model X) there is no reason why it couldn't be towed.

A vehicle being towed is like a vehicle being rolled down hill in that there is a force pulling it forward. Thus regenerative braking (which charges the battery) could be enabled in a vehicle being towed. But Rivian will not do anything to enable this. In fact I would think they would be more likely to do something to disable it by sensing load on the tow point for example.

One knowledgeable Rivian guy I talked to at the Mill Valley event assured me that it is indeed possible to charge the battery by towing.

 

[ajdelange]

Yes, it is quite possible as I explained in my last post. It is just not something you would want to do.

 

[BillArnett]

Yes, it is quite possible as I explained in my last post. It is just not something you would want to do.

Right. I can't think of a circumstance when it would be useful. If the battery is dead and you're some distance from a charging point you could tow for a while to charge the battery enough to drive the rest of the way normally. But it would be more efficient to just tow the whole way.

 

[skyote]

Mamy states require braking assistance from the towed vehicle, and it would make a lot of sense to have the Rivian regenerate during braking & help the tow rig stop in the process.

Doing regen while towed under constant speed is a waste.

 

[CappyJax]

Right. I can't think of a circumstance when it would be useful. If the battery is dead and you're some distance from a charging point you could tow for a while to charge the battery enough to drive the rest of the way normally. But it would be more efficient to just tow the whole way.

Actually, it would be free energy. Instead of using the friction brakes of the towing vehicle, you could use the Rivian regen braking to slow both vehicles and recharge the battery for free. You could almost recharge completely coming down something like the Ike.

 

[ajdelange]

It's probably worth mentioning here that Tesla's position is that this (dinghy or any other kind of towing) is something one must not do to their vehicles. I have often wondered why that is and, of course, in the current context, whether Rivian will come up with the same caveat.

 

[skyote]

It's probably worth mentioning here that Tesla's position is that this (dinghy or any other kind of towing) is something one must not do to their vehicles. I have often wondered why that is and, of course, in the current context, whether Rivian will come up with the same caveat.

Rivian has confirmed multiple times that their vehicles can be flat towed.

 

[StevieD]

I'm a full time RVr so flat towing is important to me. Key considerations to flat tow my R1T "TOAD" include:

1. Attachments: It would be a huge plus the design had removable covers to hide the attachment points for the towbar, electric harness, breakaway line, and air brake hose (I have a 45 footer). There are several manufacturers that make adapters for the TOAD. It would be nice not to modify the frame or cut the front to place the removable adapters. A strong front cross-member would also eliminate the need for an external one.

2. Supplemental Braking: Most Diesel RV's use air brakes to stop the "house". Systems like AIR FORCE ONE "AFO" provide the ability to extend this to the TOAD to support proportional braking as well as breakaways. AFO creates vacuum for the braking system to reduce required braking force and a piston located on the brake pedal to perform the braking. Design considerations should at a minimum consider the placement and interconnection routing of the required components and perhaps integrate the functions completely within the R1T design.

3. Electric Harness: If the harness is incorporated into the design, under-frame wiring and diode-ORing for the rear lights (left, right, brake, tail) could be avoided. While not needed, I prefer a 7-pin connector to extend a few other features including charging my TOAD's battery.

Battery charging while towing would be great as long as it doesn't drag down my RV's performance too much. If supported, it would be a great idea to have the ability to disable it.

 

[CappyJax]

I'm a full time RVr so flat towing is important to me. Key considerations to flat tow my R1T "TOAD" include:

1. Attachments: It would be a huge plus the design had removable covers to hide the attachment points for the towbar, electric harness, breakaway line, and air brake hose (I have a 45 footer). There are several manufacturers that make adapters for the TOAD. It would be nice not to modify the frame or cut the front to place the removable adapters. A strong front cross-member would also eliminate the need for an external one.

2. Supplemental Braking: Most Diesel RV's use air brakes to stop the "house". Systems like AIR FORCE ONE "AFO" provide the ability to extend this to the TOAD to support proportional braking as well as breakaways. AFO creates vacuum for the braking system to reduce required braking force and a piston located on the brake pedal to perform the braking. Design considerations should at a minimum consider the placement and interconnection routing of the required components and perhaps integrate the functions completely within the R1T design.

3. Electric Harness: If the harness is incorporated into the design, under-frame wiring and diode-ORing for the rear lights (left, right, brake, tail) could be avoided. While not needed, I prefer a 7-pin connector to extend a few other features including charging my TOAD's battery.

Battery charging while towing would be great as long as it doesn't drag down my RV's performance too much. If supported, it would be a great idea to have the ability to disable it.

Ideally you would use the Rivian regenerative breaking to slow down and maintain speed going down hills. If your RV and the Rivian weigh 10,000kG together, then the energy needed to slow you down from 55mph would be around 1kWh. So, you wouldn't want to charge the vehicle while being towed, but rather allow the regenerative braking of the Rivian to slow both vehicles down and maintain speed on hills to charge the pack with otherwise lost energy.

 

[StevieD]

Regen charging would be great if it doesn’t hurt my RV mileage (45 footers are diesel hogs!) Or if it could be disabled if not desired would be a great feature.

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