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I really like the modular and retro-fit features of the pusher trailer. The downside to just adding an EV trailer to an existing gas powered sedan would be around town driving while towing a trailer... the post office, the mall, Starbucks and strip mall parking lots near downtown aren't very 'trailer-friendly'.
On the other hand, an EV pushed by Diesel powered APU trailer sounds more appealing the more I think about it. If you work 10 miles away, use the EV wo/trailer. If you are going out of town, headed out on a long trip, hitch up the APU trailer of choice, have it push you down the hiway. When you get to your destination, hotel, temp job site, aunt Madilda's, un-hitch the APU trailer, chain it to the nearest lightpole and use EV power locally.
Train locomotives generate electricy via big Diesel engines that drive electric motors to propel the train down the tracks. But the torque loads are huge, transmitting mechanical power alone through gears has huge losses so the generator makes sense in that case. I am not sure how efficient an EV car with a Diesel electric generator trailer would be, by nature is sounds kind of lossy.
Either way, the cool thing with the pusher trailer or generator trailer is you aren't tied down to any one source of propulsion. Mix-n-match your auxillary power unit, you can own several... if Diesel goes out of fashion, switch to a gasoline APU while you are retro-fitting your Diesel APU to run on french fry grease or biomass fuel. Gasoline lines too long? Switch over to a compressed natural gas powered APU (CNG) that you Phill up through your household NG outlet (Google "Phill CNG"). Will some sort of fuel cell technology take over in 3 years? Hydrogen? Build a pusher trailer around that.
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