Specifications:

• rated 4,000 lbs receiver hitch
• rated 6,000 lbs stainless steel 2" ball
• rated 4,000 lbs tow bar
• two 1/4" steel plates tie-down adapters, custom built
• 5/8" bolt through tie-down hole
• interconnected tow wiring
• Chevy G30 van, Coachman conversion
• 350 CID, fuel injected
• electronic shifted automatic transmission
• Anti-lock brakes
• tow Prius running in "D"

Any questions?

Bob Wilson

 

What is the air speed of an average Swallow?

Looks good, I assume towing it in D is what you need to do to flat tow the Prius gen I? No worries about overcharging/recharging or other charging?

 

Beer burps are about -4 mph.

I've just started my initial testing. In this case, I had to take the tow vehicle to a shop for repairs so I towed the Prius, unhooked and ran my other errands. So when I picked up the van, I hooked up the Prius again and drove home, ~3 miles.

I have a Graham scanner and a 25 ft. serial cable so I'll start collecting some engineering data. But on the short trip back, there were three "reg" icons and then the last bar was clean. The Prius in "D" won't over charge the battery and the only question is when in tow, does it try to apply a little engine drag and if so, how much.

SPECULATION: It may make sense to tow the Prius in "D" for about 10 miles to fully charge the battery. Then stop, check all the fittings, spin up the engine (aka., turn on MAX AC); slip it into "N" and turn off the AC for the rest of the trip. This may reduce the vehicle drag enough to reduce total fuel consumption.

Bob Wilson