After test driving the Prius the other day I got to thinking about other extensions for hybrid technology and came up with an innovative idea. Thought it'd be a good one to banter around with some of the innovative minds on here.

Travel trailers are a wonderful form of recreational vehicle but suffer from one major problem. The ones big enough to really enjoy and live comfortably in require a tow vehicle that is large and gets poor mileage. This extra size and power is only needed when towing the trailer so it's quite wasteful for all other times.

Why not design a trailer that helps tow itself using hybrid technology? The trailer has a good size bank of batteries (which they usually do anyway to run components when divorced from the electrical grid). They generally have a fuel source (propane tanks) on board. They normally require some form of electrical braking system. On each wheel, why not put a small but powerful electric motor/generator for propulsion assist and regenerative braking. A computerized electronic system would control the power into and out of the wheels and batteries with input from accelerometers, sensors in the hitch, possibly links into the towing vehicle's computer system, gas pedal, and brake pedals. The trailer would have some form of small propane-powered generator to supplement the batteries with assists from solar cells all over the trailer roof.

The electronics would sense when the trailer is being accellerated forward and apply an assist from its motors. During breaking or decelleration of the tow vehicle such as on mountain roads, the regenerative braking would help.

Suddenly people with smaller efficient vehicles could start pulling larger travel trailers. It sure sounds feasible to me. Any discussion?

Art