Ebike to tow a caravan?

cwah

100 MW
Joined
Jul 24, 2011
Messages
4,256
Location
Between paris and london
Hello

I was wondering if an ebike could be used as a main way of living and transportation?

Couldit be used to tow a few thousand kg caravan? It wouldn't need to move very fast, just a max speed of 30 mph would be enough to move from place to place.

Anyone tried? How many watt motor would be needed?
 
DoctorBass pulled a school bus in 2009, not sure the where the videos ended up....

Channel here, but no bus?
https://www.youtube.com/user/Doctorbasss/videos

https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12895
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=28899
 
captain387 said:
DoctorBass pulled a school bus in 2009, not sure the where the videos ended up....

Channel here, but no bus?
https://www.youtube.com/user/Doctorbasss/videos

https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12895
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=28899

Thanks but i think a bus is infinitely heavier than a caravan so i wouldn't worry lol
 
gentletent-b-turtle-camper-4.jpg


gentletent-b-turtle-camper-5.jpg


gentletent-b-turtle-camper-6.jpg


B-Turtle inflatable bicycle camper makes long two-wheel journeys more comfortable:
https://newatlas.com/gentletent-b-turtle-inflatable-bike-trailer/54960/
 
cwah said:
captain387 said:
DoctorBass pulled a school bus in 2009, not sure the where the videos ended up....

Channel here, but no bus?
https://www.youtube.com/user/Doctorbasss/videos

https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12895
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=28899

Thanks but i think a bus is infinitely heavier than a caravan so i wouldn't worry lol

You betcha it's heavier, but you asked if an ebike could pull a caravan weighing a few thousand kg :wink: Standard ebike pack range 5 m a day :p
 
^^ `Kay... "used to tow a few thousand kg caravan"... Braking also? :wink:
 
It wouldn't need to move very fast, just a max speed of 30 mph
I like the way you worded that.... very fast just :lol:

Why the appeal to a travel trailer on a bicycle?
Just buy a tent, a nice air mattress, and suitable sleeping bag.
Tent trailers arent that appealing to vehicles nor bicycles. To each their own I guess. Be way cooler, In My Humble Opinion to have a narrower trailer - single track - so you can go more places and camp out in even more locations. Start looking at those long distance riders setups.

https://youtu.be/T0eMguzMSmU?t=563

i'd prefer to buy one ready made! Hence usage of a car caravan!
 
cwah said:
LockH said:
^^ `Kay... "used to tow a few thousand kg caravan"... Braking also? :wink:

I'm hoping to have a motor strong enough for good regen braking as well :wink:

Hehe... (thinks rubber tires are glued to road surfaces...) Unfortunately, there's that whole awkward "physics thing"...
 
Yes, you can even tow your actual caravan:

[youtube]yQ8-fov4FOU[/youtube]
 
^^ Hehe... Seen the unedited version? Where he tries to brake and before the hospital visits... very interesting!
 
I don't think you could do it practically unless you put a separate battery and motors in the caravan itself, along with it's own braking system, that is completely capable of driving the caravan while simply using the bike or trike "pulling" it as a seat and a control point. I'd recommend separately controlled motors in each wheel, so you can steer with them as well, because you won't have enough traction with the bike or trike "pulling" it to be able to do that.

If you try to pull, steer, and stop with the bike/trike itself, I'd guess you're likely to get scrubbed and squished at some point, because the caravan is many times the mass of the bike/trike, and you simply won't have the traction needed in many situations.


I've used the SB Cruiser to pull a trailer with a piano on it in one case, and several hundred pounds of dog food in another, but the trike plus me on it weighs at least half of the trailer+cargo weight, or more. Even so, I wouldn't wanna do it at 30MPH. 10-15MPH is more than fast enough with that kind of weight behind me.

If the trailer itself was powered and braked and steered with it's own onboard system, that'd be different, but I still wouldn't wanna haul something many times my trike's weight at high speeds. (25-30MPH+)
 
amberwolf said:
...

If the trailer itself was powered and braked and steered with it's own onboard system,...

Then we would load the bike in, and drive to destination :D
Sure the only safe way to do

Anyway, I don’t believe the police would let you pull a caravan on the road with a bike. Not in this part of the world.
 
tow a few thousand kg caravan? It wouldn't need to move very fast, just a max speed of 30 mph

Hmmmmm I see, I have a crystal ball in front of me and I do seeeeee
The rent-free fella had his bicycle trailer locked up to a light pole and had some little windows but it wasnt as fancy as what I see around on YT, the rent-free fella had a box, 4' high x 7' long x 4' wide.
It was an interesting concept, I guess that was his turf for bottle picking or whatever. Not like 100 other bums are picking the same garbage cans, nor do they wish to hurt or break a bone for some easy cash. While other rent-free fella's would have a base camp, hidden away behind some bush and it would be neat and tidy, sometimes they would flatten the tent when not in use or cleverly camo it, while others would do the same but have junk everywhere creating attention. To each their own.

I am not saying thats what you will be doing

A few thousand kilo is 6500lbs or 3.25 tons tons. Imagine the bottle depot cash receipt on that one with the cans all crushed up ;) :oops:

Gosh, 3 tons, you'd need two wheel drive trailer with MXUS 3T 5000W in 12" rims and lots of juice. Thats one big battery pack.
Then have one of those Cyclone 7500W rigs as well.

18kw motor, its all about gearing with 3 tons and 30mph (50kph)
http://www.cyclone-tw.com/motor.html

Hey who woulda thunk
http://www.ebikes.ca/tools/simulator.html?bopen=true&motor=MX4503_SA&batt=B7223_AC&cont=cust_75_70_0.03_V&wheel=12i&mass=2500&hp=0&cont_b=cust_75_70_0.03_V&motor_b=MX4503_SA&batt_b=B7223_AC&wheel_b=12i&mass_b=2500&hp_b=0&add=true&blue=Lbs
at first 180Wh/km
 
^^ VERY much amused by the energy ("cost") of moving any mass at "some speed" over "some distance"... "safely"... Wanna play physics?
 
I am an old guy who has been towing trailers for most of his life. Believe me, there Is nothing more scary than an emergency stop when you are in a vehicle that is too light to control the trailer that is pushing it. Trailer brakes are good but never count on them. When I'm not riding my solar charged, zero pollution ebike I am driving my loud obnoxious polluting Dodge 3500 duely diesel truck because I have found it to be the best tool for towing my RV (caravan).
 
^^ Watt he said. :wink:
 
yeah just last week i watched a boat on a trailer push a SUV down a hill with its anti-lock brakes going nuts because the car couldn't take the weight of the trailer and the boat. also there is a term called Wag the Dog when the trailer gets a death wobble and whips the towing vehicle around like a rag doll.. cool idea though. i tow my kids around in a small bike trailer all the time and i have jammed all my fishing gear, deep cycle battery, troller and my kids in there and it felt like my brakes were non-existent.
 
Tent trailers are the best tents one can have. Ours was 16 feet long on the road and 24 feet long when set up. One person could set it up and take it down. It had hot water, shower, and the usual stove that could be used indoors or out, propane fridge, etc. It could be ordered with air conditioner and microwave. It was easy to tow (for a vehicle). Stored in a small space and less volume than a car.

I would not want to tow one with a bike. The tongue weight was several hundred pounds.

Another approach we saw at one campground was a luxury trailer made from a 40 foot semitrailer. They would just hire a tow and drive their luxury car to the campground. Same thing could be done for the ebike, just hire a tow for your trailer when you need it moved.
 
^^ Hehe... Careful... dealing with "big brains" here. :wink:
 
Get a Trike:

View attachment 2

Replace the rear wheel with a 13" (max torque) 8kW hub motor:

20180202170637_277.jpg

And place a tow ball just in front of the rear axle line above the rear tire.


Hook up the caravan and make sure to get enough, but not too much, weight on the tow ball. Happy camping 8)
 
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