Why don't portable, emergency 10KWh chargers exist yet?

[cstork]

If you run out of battery, it would be nice it AAA or other services had an emergency charger to give you the extra 30-50 miles to get you to a real charging station. I think 10-20KWh would often be enough. And DC charging from battery to battery should be very fast and pretty simple. It could have a CHAdeMO & Tesla adapter. Why doesn't this exist yet?

 

[CharleyBC]

It has existed. See this from 2011: AAA Unveils North America's First Roadside Assistance Truck Capable of Charging Electric Vehicles | AAA NewsRoom. But I seem to recall that AAA has since bailed on that program. I wrote them recently encouraging this. We no longer own an ICE and this service will keep them relevant and valuable.

 

[run-the-joules]

It's probably faster for them just to tow the car in question to a charging station.

 

[DirtyT3sla]

Economics. That thing would be expensive. How often do people really run out of electric charge? You can just get a tow.

 

[ggies07]

There is this company I found awhile ago....haven't checked in with them for long time because they didn't have the product out yet.

Portable Electric Vehicle Charger | Eliminating Range Anxiety | SparkCharge

edit: seems they are still not selling to individual owners yet, just partners.

 

[hmgolds]

Portable, truck mounted welders typically consist of a generator and an arc welder (powered by the generator). I've seen these generators with 14-50 outlets. I realize there is a bit more to electricity than volts and amps, but I wonder if you could plug into the generator for a bit of charge. But one drawback is how long the truck would have to sit there with you for even 20-30 miles of added range.

 

[KenC]

Like @CharleyBC wrote, they did exist at one time. You can still see mobile charging vans in China. NIO uses them.

 

[RC2785]

They're huge and inefficient, they used a 3 kWh one here

 

[run-the-joules]

Portable, truck mounted welders typically consist of a generator and an arc welder (powered by the generator). I've seen these generators with 14-50 outlets. I realize there is a bit more to electricity than volts and amps, but I wonder if you could plug into the generator for a bit of charge. But one drawback is how long the truck would have to sit there with you for even 20-30 miles of added range.

The pro move would be for them to have those on the tow trucks and give you a charge on the way to the charging station that they're towing you to.

 

[smatthew]

The pro move would be for them to have those on the tow trucks and give you a charge on the way to the charging station that they're towing you to.

Actually, that would be super useful. Just enough charge that you can drive into the charging spot instead of being pushed.

 

[powaking]

How about just pull the car and let the car brake regen enough to get you to where you are going? Probably not the safest but may be able to find someone willing to do it and wouldn't require a tow truck per-se.

 

[run-the-joules]

Actually, that would be super useful. Just enough charge that you can drive into the charging spot instead of being pushed.

Yup, and gets your battery out of the danger zone as well.

 

[holmgang]

Doesn't Tesla have mobile chargers to supplement supercharged when they're clogged.

Using battery specs of Panasonic cells used in Teslas, 10kwh capacity would be around 50kg, plus controls, packaging, etc, maybe 100kg total.

The powerwall holds 13kwh and weighs 100kg or so. It's not the largest or heaviest thing to carry around

 

[Tes La Ferrari]

How about just pull the car and let the car brake regen enough to get you to where you are going? Probably not the safest but may be able to find someone willing to do it and wouldn't require a tow truck per-se.

this is a pretty good idea!

 

[Evbwcaer]

This is a PTO system that can be fitted to existing trucks in many cases. This is probably the most practical solution for the time being.

Electric Vehicle Mobile Power Solution|REAL POWER

This video shows a 50kw Chademo. Even 50amp/240v would be helpful and take much less space, be cheaper, and fit on existing tow trucks.

 

[Rogue Synapse]

How about just pull the car and let the car brake regen enough to get you to where you are going? Probably not the safest but may be able to find someone willing to do it and wouldn't require a tow truck per-se.

Yup, it's feasible and weirdly efficient:

 

[TT97]

Yup, it's feasible and weirdly efficient:

It's efficient for the Model 3; the Raptor is trying to drag a car with its brakes on.

 

[SageBrush]

Economics. That thing would be expensive. How often do people really run out of electric charge? You can just get a tow.

10 kWh would be ~ 12 minutes of charging

 

[Rogue Synapse]

It's efficient for the Model 3; the Raptor is trying to drag a car with its brakes on.

Yeah but they ran the numbers and even though it's wildly inefficient for the Raptor, the overall efficiency of both vehicles combined with Raptor pulling a reluctant/charging Model 3 then sending the Model 3 out on its own is actually better than the Raptor alone driving normally, due to the ridiculous efficiency of the Model 3 by comparison.

 

[640k]

Yup, it's feasible and weirdly efficient:

is towing any EV with all four wheels planted even a good idea? what if the vehicles were traveling at highway speeds? it's also kind of surprising that the nanny controls in the Tesla didn't prevent all of that from happening (force it in to neutral, etc).