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Old 11-08-2023, 03:06 PM   #2 (permalink)
JSH
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Adventure Seeker - '04 Chevy Astro - Campervan
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Yes, this is an interesting product. I was wondering which company would be the first to build a range extended truck as CARB's ZEV mandate allow up to 20% PHEVs with a range of at least 50 miles. Trucks and large SUVs make perfect candidates for this kind of tech with the size required for both a battery and engine and the need to tow.

Some are surprised by the choice of a NA V6 as for the engine. It makes sense to me from both a manufacturing side (use what you have at least at first) and from the fact that it has to be large enough to provide enough power to maintain highway speeds while towing.

The battery size is a bit more of a mystery to me. At first look it seems way larger than needed as is the 150 mile range it provides. A battery half the size could still provide the range needed to cover more than 90% of trips on battery alone. Maybe they need that much battery to get the level of power they wanted. Maybe they still want to cover 90% of trips with a 10 year old battery in the dead of a Minnesota winter.
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