[pfznik]

I have been thinking about powered trailers for sometime now so I googled "Powered trailer" and found this site which I think is great. I registered immediately and, while this is my first post, I certainly doubt that it will be my last.

I will be retiring shortly and would like to buy a vintage travel trailer for restoration and to spend two or two or three months a year seeing something of the country. Unfortunately, Pulling a trailer (even a small one) with a pickup or large SUV is in direct conflict with my basic inclination to be as green as possible. Since my home is in the city, the most appropriate vehicle for me would be agile, easy to park and economical. Probably a small hybrid because of their excellent mileage in an urban environment, not something capable of towing 5000-10000 pounds.

With this in view, my ideal powered trailer would never actually push the tow (guide??) vehicle since I believe this would require much more design effort to assure an acceptable level of safety. Rather, the goal would be to supply power to the wheels which wheels to assure that tension in the hitch was always as close to zero as possible and would
never be in compression that would cause the tow vehicle to be pushed. my thinking is that the drive system would consist of internal combustion engine, generator, batterys, and an electric drive motor, possibly one for each wheel. Also required would be a sensor for determining the load in the hitch and lots of supporting electronics. I would like to see the engine/generator as light and small as possible so that it could be moved to an out of the way location when the trailer was in use (parked, not traveling).

My biggest question is to learn how much power would be needed to move the trailer along at 65-70 mph keeping in mind that it will be drafted to some extent by the guide vehicle. I look forward to finding the answer to this and many other questions relating to efficient trailer pulling on this forum.