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Old 12-21-2011, 12:13 AM   #10 (permalink)
Frank Lee
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: up north
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Blue - '93 Ford Tempo
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The engine might be 32% but it's putting the power to the ground via generator then battery then electric motor then transmission(?) then wheel vs engine/trans/wheel. I could get behind a gen-set strategy if the usage for it was, say, just to get a tiny bit beyond how far electric only would go, like if an EV could go 70 miles on a nice warm day but now it's winter and rolling and air resistances are way up and you're headed into a vicious headwind on your 70 mile trip so you need a little help on the tail end, occasionally.

For me, if I'm gonna go somewhere out of town, I transition from a few miles of in-town puttering around, to 100-350 miles one way trips. Batteries ain't gonna cut it and since I like to go straight through, I won't plan on stopping somewhere for a recharge either. For that putting the ICE power to the wheels seems like a no-brainer.
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Last edited by Frank Lee; 12-21-2011 at 12:21 AM..
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