MotorTrend Coverage of LightShip at the LA Auto Show

[turbopilot]

The Lightship AE.1 Camping Trailer Wants to Solve EV Towing

A telescoping roof solves aero issues while a battery and motor ease the load on your truck or SUV.

www.motortrend.com

 

[Holdmybeer]

"..but no one else makes the body change shape" .No one in the EV camper trailer end, but the Hi-Lo and Trailmanor were doing this decades ago.

 

[turbopilot]

"..but no one else makes the body change shape" .No one in the EV camper trailer end, but the Hi-Lo and Trailmanor were doing this decades ago.

Hi-Lo is out of business but it was the pioneer in the retractable canopy RV segment. In all my years of RVing I have never seen a TrailManor retractable canopy trailer. They have some very clever ways to recover interior space and functionality with the canopy up. The foldable hitch is a great idea for compact storage. But even with the canopy down the slab sided, square cornered design will have a high coefficient of drag for a low profile trailer.

 

[Holdmybeer]

"High" is a relative term. Otherwise, the rolling resistance ( friction) of the tandem axle Lightship must be quite "High" and certainly much greater than that of a Trailmanor. Likewise the grade resistance at over twice the weight of a Trailmanor is very "High". Both offset temporarily, ie., for the first 300 miles, by the Trekdrive, after that you're on your own. If you're arriving at a remote boondocking location after driving 300 miles with the Trekdrive engaged you're arriving with a fully or near fully depleted battery, which would take about one week to recharge via the vehicle's solar array.
Then there's the hitch weight of ~800lbs (before loading ) and no possibility to install a Weight Distribition Hitch. The Trailmanor has a 4-500 lb hitch weight ( depending on model) but that is offset with a WDH.

 

[turbopilot]

Then there's the hitch weight of ~800lbs (before loading ) and no possibility to install a Weight Distribition Hitch. The Trailmanor has a 4-500 lb hitch weight ( depending on model) but that is offset with a WDH.

A factually incorrect statement. LightShip comes standard with a WDH. In testing they have been using a Curt TruTrack 2P Round Bar to qualify against the constraints of use the hitch mounted force sensor. I don't know of any other trailer manufacturer who delivers a trailer with a WDH that has been tested with the trailer.

As to your comparisons between the Trailmanor and the LightShip they are clearly very different products. Comparing a 3,300 entry level towable to an 8,200 lb premium towable is a futile exercise.

Like your previous posts you really add no value to this discussion. The only reason I respond is to correct factual inaccuracies in your posts so that the casual reader of this forum is not confused.

 

[Holdmybeer]

A factually incorrect statement. LightShip comes standard with a WDH. In testing they have been using a Curt TruTrack 2P Round Bar to qualify against the constraints of use the hitch mounted force sensor. I don't know of any other trailer manufacturer who delivers a trailer with a WDH that has been tested with the trailer.

As to your comparisons between the Trailmanor and the LightShip they are clearly very different products. Comparing a 3,300 entry level towable to an 8,200 lb premium towable is a futile exercise.

Like your previous posts you really add no value to this discussion. The only reason I respond is to correct factual inaccuracies in your posts so that the casual reader of this forum is not confused.

Lightship does not come standard with a wdh, Lightship Atmos however does. My bad.

 

[turbopilot]

For those following this discussion. LightShip includes a weight distribution hitch with the purchase of any model of LightShip. The reason is because the hitch mounted force sensors are impacted by the presence of a WDH. So the trailer firmware needs to be calibrated to compensate for the impact on the force sensor measurements.

I was hoping to see a more modern WDH on the LightShip than the Curt TruTrack Round Bar system but in the end they settled on this WDH because of the constraints of the hitch force sensor.

For reference, here are some images of the production version of the hitch force sensor. It senses loads in all three axis at the hitch. These two sensors sample forces 10 times per second passing that information to ECU in the trailer that commands the electric motor to drive the LightShip or to convert to regenerative braking. The ECU is programmed to always keep slight about of tension on the ball in all modes in motion. The whole system requires extensive testing that is still taking place at Lightship.