Earlier quoted context omitted.
Plus in Europe it's forbidden to tow with a rope like he does. You must use a rigid link, like a bar or a tube.
Not true, a rope is fine.
Until the tow truck hits the brakes…
Towing a Tesla at 70 MPH replenishes battery at fast charger rates
81–90 of 399 posts
Re: Towing a Tesla at 70 MPH replenishes battery at fast charger rates
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think the brake pedal was being used in this test, though.
My understanding is that above 95% SOC, even if you’re not using the brake, regen will not occur and an error is presented to the user notifying them about regen limits.
Sure, so the car stops charging and still won't waste/damage its brakes in the tow.
Re: Towing a Tesla at 70 MPH replenishes battery at fast charger rates
#83The most spectacular example of regenerative braking are trains that are used in Scandinavia, heavily loaded with iron ore that is transported to the coast: "In Scandinavia the Kiruna to Narvik electrified railway carries iron ore on the steeply-graded route from the mines in Kiruna, in the north of Sweden, down to the port of Narvik in Norway to this day. The rail cars are full of thousands of tons of iron ore on th…
This is fascinating. So they are essentially harvesting the gravitational potential energy of the iron ore at altitude to charge the batteries (and then some) for the cargoless return trip. Outstanding.
Reminds me of this dam operation around here that pumps water up to a mountain top reservoir during the day when power is cheap and then lets it go at night when it can generate and sell the electricity for more money. I was always in awe of the lake size battery they created.
Re: Towing a Tesla at 70 MPH replenishes battery at fast charger rates
#84We have trains in chicago that reach whiskers up to charging lines above them. Same as the trolley systems in San Francisco. What if every major city to city freeway stretch had these in a lane for electric vehicles?
Volvo did a trial of this. Not sure how it ended up.
https://www.volvogroup.com/en/news-and-media/news/2018/sep/v...
Re: Towing a Tesla at 70 MPH replenishes battery at fast charger rates
#85What would be great to see is what's the energy balance between tesla towing another tesla at this speed.
Re: Towing a Tesla at 70 MPH replenishes battery at fast charger rates
#86The most spectacular example of regenerative braking are trains that are used in Scandinavia, heavily loaded with iron ore that is transported to the coast: "In Scandinavia the Kiruna to Narvik electrified railway carries iron ore on the steeply-graded route from the mines in Kiruna, in the north of Sweden, down to the port of Narvik in Norway to this day. The rail cars are full of thousands of tons of iron ore on th…
The heavy iron ore is essentially a large battery storing gravitational energy. In a way it's just another natural energy source. Maybe in the future clean power can be generated from pulling down mountains.
> Maybe in the future clean power can be generated from pulling down mountains.
it takes a lot of power to dismantle mountains and load them onto trains. and folks get real grumpy about mining operations leveling off mountains.
Re: Towing a Tesla at 70 MPH replenishes battery at fast charger rates
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not true, a rope is fine.
I don't think so. Most vehicles have virtually no braking power with the engine off. It's definitely completely forbidden in France to tow with a rope, and I'm pretty sure this applies to all or at least most of UE too. In Germany, even tow dollies are forbidden.
Towing rope is legal in Germany, but you are only allowed to tow a car to get it out of the way and to the nearest repair opportunity after it has broken down, not for general transport - for that, it needs to be completely off the ground.
Re: Towing a Tesla at 70 MPH replenishes battery at fast charger rates
#88The most spectacular example of regenerative braking are trains that are used in Scandinavia, heavily loaded with iron ore that is transported to the coast: "In Scandinavia the Kiruna to Narvik electrified railway carries iron ore on the steeply-graded route from the mines in Kiruna, in the north of Sweden, down to the port of Narvik in Norway to this day. The rail cars are full of thousands of tons of iron ore on th…
The heavy iron ore is essentially a large battery storing gravitational energy. In a way it's just another natural energy source. Maybe in the future clean power can be generated from pulling down mountains.
>Maybe in the future clean power can be generated from pulling down mountains.
With added bonus efficiencies from combusting the coal that fortuitously falls out!
Re: Towing a Tesla at 70 MPH replenishes battery at fast charger rates
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
And going up it is empty. Its basically exploiting the fact that rocks at the top of a hill have higher potential energy than at the bottom. If you charged the trucks with wind/solar at peak times and used them to carry the rocks back uphill you could have yourself a very convoluted and mechanically fraught battery!
A good visual demonstration of entropy. Heat death occurs when all of the mountains have been leveled and there are no altitude differences to exploit.
That's excellent! I'm stealing that.
Re: Towing a Tesla at 70 MPH replenishes battery at fast charger rates
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
Teslas will switch to friction brakes when regeneration limits (peak current or battery SOC) are exceeded. I’ve sustained constant 50kw regen while downhill through Appalachia passes, no issues, with the caveat that regen current is limited if the pack is cold until it approaches operating temperature (yellow dashed lines on the regen current display indicate your reduced regen capability).
Teslas have no resistor banks? A great omission.
Why would a resistor bank be better than mechanical brakes? Both get rid of excess power as heat, and you probably need the mechanical brakes anyway.