911吃瓜

Adaptive Electric Tow Platform for Human-Centered, Low-Carbon Transportation

The E-Traction Tow Unit is an intelligent, motor-assisted trailer designed to enable any rider to tow heavy loads (cargo or even additional passengers) with virtually zero added effort. The system integrates a custom battery pack, advanced BMS, electric drive motor, and precision load sensors into a coordinated control platform that automatically provides traction support based on towing demand. Capable of assisting on slopes up to 10%, the unit includes full safety logic, braking control, and regenerative braking for extended range and improved energy efficiency. 

The Project 

The Adaptive Electric Tow Platform, also referred to as the E-Traction Unit, is a student-led capstone project developed by a team of five undergraduate students in 911吃瓜鈥檚 School of Sustainable Energy Engineering. The project began in Fall 2025 with the goal of designing and building an electric-assist system for a bicycle trailer.

The design objective was to retrofit a conventional bike trailer with a battery-electric motor and an intelligent control system. A load cell mounted at the trailer hitch detects the force demand between the rider and the trailer. Based on this signal, the control system determines when the trailer should provide assistance by pulling or pushing as needed, reducing the effort required from the cyclist while maintaining safe and responsive operation.

The student team designed, fabricated, and integrated the prototype, including the trailer retrofit, sensing system, motor drive, battery system, and control logic. The prototype was successfully tested and demonstrated in April 2026.

The capstone courses are instructed and supervised by Mina Xu and Gordon Mc-Taggart Cowan, who provide academic oversight for the project. Technical consulting support is provided by Igancio Galiano, and the official project client is the CREATE Lab.

The Capstone Team - Spring 2026

Jay Vyas, Haseeb Khan, Amrit Brar, George Pavlov, Ken Chisholm