Quote:
Originally Posted by jamesqf
Seems like you'd be getting rather Rube Goldbergish, though. Say I have solar panels on my roof, and want to charge my hybrid with them. Pretty easy with electricity, but with an HH you'd have to add something like an extra electric pump to the system, plus plumbing &c.
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That is very possible ... depending on the details of a specific setup.
For Solar ... I suspect the PHEV has a significant efficiency , complexity, etc ... edge for the pre-charge side.
For Mechanical RE ... Wind , Water , etc ... It might be possible to design a system that could get comparable performance ... but even there it would not be an easy task.
Of course all the pieces have analogies ... plumbing or wires ... pump or charge controller ... etc... even if they are not all equally analogous.
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Another factor to consider about the source for Plug in options is the utility of the source for other potential loads ... RE that outputs electricity has a multitude of other uses ... RE that outputs pneumatic , or hydraulic pressure storage ... maybe if it were located somewhere that needed such things ... or if the RE would only have the one use , for the vehicle pre-charging.
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Of course sense the vast majority of current RE systems are designed and built for electric output ... that kind of gives anything charging from that electric output a significant head start / lead ... technology , cost, etc ... at least on the pre-charge side.
That isn't a guarantee it will always be that way ... but that is the way it is now ... and that gives a disadvantage to anything that is trying to buck that trend / system and do it differently ... The utility and diversity of electricity is a elephant in that room ... one I don't think is going away any time soon.