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...which begs the question, why transport around an ICE and generator when you don't need it?
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Somewhere, in some Volt discussion, a GM engineer or rep of some sort mentioned EV "range anxiety".
That's the about the only way a series hybrid makes sense to me too- to have an answer to range anxiety.
I've been conflicted about Volt in many ways: price, fe claims, violating the K.I.S.S. principle, and the whole series hybrid thing. I have to try to remember that there is no one-size-fits-all solution, and different motorists have different conditions and needs. Volt is so far off from meeting my needs and desires I can hardly develop any personal interest in it. What I have to work at is imagining where it is an optimal solution. I guess that would be: if one is rich, needs to be an "early adopter" of "new tech" or make a statement of some sort with their car purchases, has a sub-40 mile daily routine AND ONLY RARELY ventures out further than that, so as to be able to almost always rely on the plug-in power; and they'd also not have access to a dedicated long-range vehicle.
Who is that???
Whew. I'd much rather have an EV-1.
Or... I know it doesn't have that idiot-proof convenience factor of dragging the genset all over creation with the vehicle at all times, but when I think about it, I rarely am away from home and all of a sudden OOPS, need to run a surprise long distance trip. I'd like my... let's say, 40 mile range EV to not be burdened by 1) the weight and inefficiency of a series genset for all that local running around and 2) the inefficiency of the series system... but if I wanted this one vehicle to "do it all" then perhaps there could be a "plug-n-play" parallel ICE unit that sits in the garage, waiting for that long trip. It would have to be on wheels or a dolly and, say, the business end of the vehicle opens up and you wheel that ICE power unit in there, it has a simplified interface with the vehicle so with the snap of a multi-pin connector it's all ready to plug-n-play, then I can go see the world.
...?
... an EV pusher trailer, only integrated so it isn't a trailer.
Or maybe then in long range mode, the vehicle doesn't really make use of the batteries, so why am I hauling those heavy things along? Do the plug-n-play modes (local <40miles and long distance >40 miles) also need to include batt pack removal/install?
Dang. It's looking like a dedicated local EV and a separate long distance ICE vehicle would be the best.
These guys have first-hand experience:
http://www.evconvert.com/article/ev-pusher
http://www.mrsharkey.com/pusher.htm
http://www.jstraubel.com/EVpusher/EVpusher2.htm
Engineering. It's all about compromise.