Car shoppers in the market for an electric truck can spend over $100,000 on their EV. Yet despite the steep price tag, electric trucks experience challenges when it comes to one important aspect of truck ownership: towing.
Towing a heavy load can decrease an electric truck’s range by over 50%, resulting in more charging stops, longer trips, and countless headaches on a long road trip. And these challenges aren’t exclusive to EV owners. Traditional gas-powered trucks can also see fuel efficiency slashed upwards of 50% when towing heavy loads — potentially adding thousands to your annual gas bill.
But one startup believes it’s solved this pain point for gas and EV-powered vehicle owners alike with its electric trailer platform that propels itself behind the towing vehicle.
Wild, a San Francisco-based startup that recently launched out of stealth, created a trailer with a built-in electric motor that allows drivers to achieve a normal driving range, as if they weren’t towing anything at all.
Founded by twin brothers Riley and Justin Rodenburg, Wild raised a pre-seed round of funding from TechNexus Venture Collaborative, SOSV, Third Sphere, Mana Ventures and more.
TechNexus invested in Wild through corporate partner Thor Industries, the world’s largest maker of RVs. Wild is unveiling its product at a Demo Day Tuesday, May 20 in San Francisco.
Watching EV Truck Towing Challenges First-Hand
Both Rodenburg brothers saw the range-loss issues electric trucks face during their previous experience at separate truck companies. Riley, an electrical engineer at Bollinger Motors, and Justin, a battery engineer at Rivian, saw these respective truck companies struggle when towing heavy loads.
“It was surprising to me just how terrible the range of those electric trucks were when you started towing,” Justin Rodenburg said. “It was a big barrier for a lot of people to buy electric trucks, and we felt like there had to be a solution to improve that. And once we started digging into it, we realized it wasn't only an issue with electric trucks, but it was also an issue with gas trucks.”
“We saw a huge opportunity to fix the efficiency of towing from the trailer side,” added Riley Rodenburg. “We're really modernizing and electrifying the trailer space.”
It’s not uncommon for someone buying a camper trailer to also buy another truck in order to tow that camper trailer, Justin Rodenburg explained, resulting in a huge investment. With Wild’s electric trailer, people can use their existing vehicles to tow larger loads.
An Electric Trailer for Any Job
Wild is initially focused on camper trailers — the largest trailer segment — but its platform approach allows the company to work with any type of trailer, from construction to semi-truck trailers.
With industries like construction, which see daily use from their trailers, Wild’s gas savings really begin to add up.
“The benefits just get multiplied,” Riley Rodenburg said.
Wild’s electric trailer is made up of four main components: the hitch, which controls the trailer and determines how fast it should move relative to the vehicle; the power box, which controls the system and contains the primary electronics; the battery pack; and the motor.
“We provide those four key components to our partners, to integrate into their trailer, " Riley Rodenburg said. “It's really universal and can work with any type of trailer.”
Wild currently doesn’t have any direct competitors building electric travel trailers, creating a major opportunity for the startup to change the way the world tows, from campers to construction equipment.
“Wild is bringing unique, new technology to a space that could desperately use it,” Riley Rodenburg said. “There's a huge opportunity to bring automotive-grade technology into the trailer space.”
Building a startup with your twin brother has its pros and cons, Riley and Justin admit. But even with all their similarities, it’s their differences that have helped Wild innovate.
“We already have a great working relationship just from growing up together,” Riley Rodenburg said. “What we've discovered through this process is that we are actually quite different, but in a great way.”
“It really benefits the product,” Justin Rodenburg added, “because we're not just agreeing on everything. We really have to make sound decisions because we don't agree.”