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Old 07-11-2013, 02:42 AM   #160 (permalink)
redpoint5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by P-hack View Post
A gas powered pusher trailer would make much better use of the gas, the generator->charger setup would be very inefficient.
I'm not sure a generator would be much worse for efficiency. It could be sized to produce just a little over the amount of electricity needed to maintain a given cruise speed. The small excess capacity could be used to charge the battery after having expended large amounts of energy going up hill, or accelerating from a stop. The generator would be run at peak efficiency at all times, and be less complicated/expensive/dangerous than a pusher parallel hybrid.

All that said, I would choose to drive a conventional car long distances instead of an EV. In multi-car families, only one of the vehicles needs to have long range capability, while all the others can be EV.
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