EVs Are Great Around Town, But.......

[dremd]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Reminds me of the Y2K motorcycle. The helicopter turbine engine returned 4 MPG city, 17 highway. Lenno said he accidentally melted a bumper from a nearby car while riding it.

Turbine efficiency is HIGHLY related to load. they are decent at or near full load, but terrible fuel efficiency at low loads/ idle. Cool as can be though.

[dremd]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

The only battery traction tie ins I have seen all involved adding more battery.
I saw no reason why it couldn't be generator power.

Voltage would be only limit in my opinion, finding generator that outputs exactly pack voltage may be difficult, so some sort of charge management is likely required, where as a same voltage battery pack has no risk of overcharging the Leaf pack.

[oil pan 4]

Originally Posted by dremd

Voltage would be only limit in my opinion, finding generator that outputs exactly pack voltage may be difficult, so some sort of charge management is likely required, where as a same voltage battery pack has no risk of overcharging the Leaf pack.

Producing 400v DC from 240v AC really isn't a problem for me.

[csnyder]

Just don't let your insurance company know what you are doing. ANd don't get stopped by a curious highway safety officer. You need to have a double-redundancy emergency shut-down mechanism to make sure you can kill the engine IMMEDIATELY if anything goes wrong, and if the throttle opens up (intentionally or not) in a turn the handling can get REAL SCARY in short order.

How do you anticipate handling the throttle and transmission? What about the brakes on the pusher? How do you GUARANTEE the trailer will not continue to push when you have the brakes on - particularly in a turn????

Ever seen a "pit maneuver"? That's what happens if a pusher gets away on you in a turn.

If you want to only own one car, and it is an electric, plan on renting a vehicle for longer trips.

IF you decide to build a "pusher" make sure it is very close coupled and has a very stiff connection to the rear of the car. A one wheel pusher with a 2 point hitch MIGHT make sense for highway use - - - but something like a Chevy Volt would likely be a better idea -- -

[csnyder]

The splined drive would be fine - but what abouit gearing? Just use a centrifugal clutch and only engage it at speed? Might work. Use the electric for acceleration and reversing -- -

Maybe - - -

[csnyder]

When I was teaching in Zambia back in the seventies, gasoline was the equivalent of $1.65 per liter - and diesel was less than half that. Untaxed diesel was less than 1/3 and nobody checked.

A white south african "redneck" had an old Morry Minor that he drove around town, but it was not well suited to taking the Great North Road up to Lusaka or the Copperbelt from Livingston. He had an old diesel Morris Lorry that he'd park the Minor on and drive IT up to Lusaka - at a lower cost than driving the Minor - then he'd do his "town driving" in the minor, load it back on the lorry, and drive back home.

[Snax]

As appears to have been brought up twice, BMW addressed this concept head-on with the i3 REx. Whether it succeeds well on that point is debatable, but I thought it was good enough to purchase a 2016 about 6 weeks ago.

Yes, it adds weight, but it's not a lot. Bottom line is that it can be thought of as an integrated genset with the charging while driving issue thoroughly honed for optimal efficiency at cruising speed.

I had been up and down and all over so many of the points discussed in this thread that it boiled down to this:

If you want range extending with a mass produced EV, purchasing an EV with that already built into it's design is the only practical way to go. Efforts to push or charge any other mass produced EV are simply going to end up overly complicated, troublesome, and more expensive in the long run - particularly if one is buying a car that is a few years old.

The flip side of this is EV conversions. If you already have one that you built or had built and can accept a charge on the move, do it!

In the end, as much as I wanted to convert my 02 Miata to full electric however, the cost factors involved in that simply did not make much sense to me either. To be clear - I would not build an EV these days given what is currently available on the used market for mass produced EVs. It would only be for love of a particular car to make that remotely pragmatic.

Bottom line: Unless you already have a converted EV, all other discussions surrounding this will ultimately cost more to implement when ready made cars already exist today that can do what you want - albeit with compromises. The only other solution as others have mentioned is to purchase the 'right tools for the right job'. I.e., if you want EV efficiency for most of your local driving, get a pure EV, and if you want something that can do 1000 miles in 15 hours of driving, get a gasser. Everything else in between is a hybrid and is a compromise between ultimate efficiency at either end of the scale.

Don't try to reinvent the wheel, and don't try to make a knife work for a gun fight!

[Piotrsko]

Show me an not conversion EV with an 8 ft box that will tow 5000 lbs.

[Angel And The Wolf]

Originally Posted by Snax

don't try to make a knife work for a gun fight!

I drive 20 to 30 miles per day around town. every few months, I might drive a couple of hundred miles in a day. it is only those rare times I would need a range extender. The idea is to avoid having that extra weight in my car when I don't need it. That's taking a knife to a knife fight, and carrying a gun only when I need it. That's having a city caer, and a highway car only when I need it. I don't think that is impractical.

[redpoint5]

It's impractical because it's easier to have a friend or family member that has a car to swap with for those infrequent longer trips.

It's also more practical to have a 2nd car that is a gasser.

I can't think of a reason to have a genset or pusher other than it's a neat concept and fun project (or you already own the genset). Either that, or someone is extremely unlikable or untrustworthy, yet still wants to own only an EV, but still take longer trips, and not hassle with renting a car, or stopping to charge periodically.