Feasability of going from gas to only electric

[Isaac Zackary]

Pros and cons!

Objective:

An economical way to go with only one car, an EV.

Challenges:

I live in the worst place in the world to pull it off, with running out of charge a very likely scenario on most trips.

Options thus far discussed:

Upgrade EVSE to Level 2 capacity

Pros:

• This is a no brainer. It will help in many circumstances, including with some ideas below.

Cons:

• Won't help if I don't have a 240V generator and I don't make it to somewhere I can plug into 240V.

Aero mods

Pros:

• Can be cheap. (The Aero Civic only took $400 to complete?!)

• Can extend range without needing more fuel or electricity.

Cons:

• Time consuming (The Aero Civic took several hundred hours to complete).

Renting a car for out of town trips:

Pros:

• No ICE maintenance.

• No modding necessary.

• No EV hacking.

• Can rent the type of vehicle necessary for the trip.

• Cheap (about $35 per day for an economy car).

Cons:

• Having to deal with the car rental and their hours (9:00am to 1:00pm)

• Can't take my vehicle anywhere.

• Can't cross the boarder into another country (this really applies to me).

Generator in trunk

Pros:

• Cheap (can be less than $1,000 inicial, plus fuel).

• Inconspicuous for outside, except when charging from it.

• If small enough, it would be for emergencies, making me look for charging stations first and keep my EV mostly an EV.

Cons:

• Most inverter generators don't offer a lot of power, meaning I'd have a long charging time using it. (What if the next town's charging station isn't working? A 3 hour trip in an ICE would no longer be a 7 hour trip in an EV. It would be a 24 hour trip!)

• For Level 2 charging I'd need a large, heavy and expensive (+$4,000) generator.

• Fuel smell in the car unless I use a propane gen set, which would take up more space.

• High emissions.

Pusher or generator trailer.

Pros:

• Fastest way to travel long distances in an EV.

• Could be done for not much more than a gen set, possibly for as little as $1,000.

Cons:

• Even with a road-approved motorcycle or scooter engine, the emissions would be very high when compared to an actual car engine.

• Retrofiting a front clip of a newer ICE car would be rather time consuming and expensive if I were looking for best emissions. In such a case, might as well as keep an ICE car instead.

• A generator trailer would involve hacking into the EV electrical traction system.

• A pusher trailer could affect handling and control.

40kW turbine gen set trailer

Pros:

• High efficiency.

• Low emissions.

• Low maintenance.

• Absolutely cool!

Cons:

• Could be very expensive in the end.

• A bit overkill.

Adding more chargers

Pros:

• Would make charging faster at Level 2 charging stations.

Cons:

• Expensive.

• Requires hacking into EV electrical system.

Battery trailer.

Pros:

• Keep it 100% EV!

• The battery trailer could have other uses, such as for collecting solar energy at home for night charging my EV.

Cons:

• Expenses could be very high.

• Requieres hacking into EV electrical system.

Portable solar charger

Pros:

• Charge anywhere!

• Keep it 100% EV!

Cons:

• Expensive.

• Would likely not charge very fast, unless made very expensive.

• Can be very heavy, unless lightweight panels are used, which are even more expensive.

• Would either have to be towed on a trailer, or require lots of assembling.

• Wouldn't work at night, and wouldn't work well in bad weather.

Other ideas could be:

• Fuel cell generator trailer.

• Liquid air engine trailer.

• Steam or stirling engine generator/pusher trailer.

[Isaac Zackary]

Maybe the solution is right under my nose??

Maybe if I make a pusher trailer out of my 1985 VW Golf diesel. BUT! The two things I'd have to get rid of are 1) the black smoke screen at full throttle and 2) the extreme noise, reducing it somehow.

I guess the smoke screen wouldn't be that hard to get rid of. I'd just simply have to dial back the max injection until there isn't any visible smoke. That might not be enough to maintain 75mph (it already barely maintains 75mph at full throttle). But it should be enough to keep me going a lot longer between stations.

The VW already has tow bar hookups on the front bumper...

Engine was replaced not too many decades ago...

It gets as much as 60mpg as it is now...

The main things I don't like about my VW Golf are 1) the interior and exterior are shot, 2) it's noisy and 3) it leave big black smoke screens when I floor it and 4) it's very underpowered.

[freebeard]

It occurs to me that if a pusher trailer isn't pushing, it's a drag. Any improvement would be the net of total push minus total drag.

If the diesel is weak now, isn't the Leaf heavier? Leaf plus trailer?

[Stubby79]

The IDI VWs didn't have the best BSFC. A later (97-04, ALH/AHU) TDI has much better BSFC. I don't know how complex the earlier ECUs are, but the MK4 VW ECUs are quite a pain in the butt with their anti-theft stuff. Hopefully the 97-99s are more easily transplanted...

Cleaned or new injector nozzles will probably clear up your black smoke issue. The fuel probably isn't atomizing worth a damn as it is now, unless you simply have too large of nozzles on there.

BTW, a push trailer should be notably more efficient and simpler then a generator-trailer. Though I love the idea of generating power, it's a losing battle of efficiencies at every step. Putting the power directly to the ground will be the most efficient way, plus then your leaf's built in systems can regen safely without you modifying and messing up the battery pack or electrical system.

[Isaac Zackary]

Originally Posted by freebeard

It occurs to me that if a pusher trailer isn't pushing, it's a drag. Any improvement would be the net of total push minus total drag.

If the diesel is weak now, isn't the Leaf heavier? Leaf plus trailer?

That's definitely something to take into consideration. My theory is that even if it only supplies half of the power needed it would still double the electric range.

Originally Posted by Stubby79

The IDI VWs didn't have the best BSFC. A later (97-04, ALH/AHU) TDI has much better BSFC. I don't know how complex the earlier ECUs are, but the MK4 VW ECUs are quite a pain in the butt with their anti-theft stuff. Hopefully the 97-99s are more easily transplanted...

Cleaned or new injector nozzles will probably clear up your black smoke issue. The fuel probably isn't atomizing worth a damn as it is now, unless you simply have too large of nozzles on there.

I'll look into getting new injector nozzles. The great thing about these IDI VW's is that they're cheap. I think an injector costs about $10 the last time I looked. I always thought the black smoke problem was from the high altitude. I notice a lot more smoke at 12,000ft than at 8,000ft. I've dialed back the max injection to the point that smoke was barely visible. But then acceleration was almost nonexistent. It could still cruise at +60mph on flat ground but took a few minutes to get there.

[freebeard]

Putting the power directly to the ground will be the most efficient way, plus then your leaf's built in systems can regen safely without you modifying and messing up the battery pack or electrical system.

I like this — a through-the-road electric/electric hybrid.

My theory is that even if it only supplies half of the power needed it would still double the [reduced] electric range.

Fixed that.

[Stubby79]

Did some calculations...the 1.5L IDI VW engine seems a pretty good fit, if you ask me, for pushing the Leaf. Why?

The leaf needs ~15kw to maintain 60 mph on level ground. So if the pusher put out ~15kw, the electric motor would only have to supply power for acceleration and hill climbing, and the reverse of both - going down hill and braking - would put said energy back in to the battery pack. Of course, its not 100% efficient, so you want a bit more than 15kw.

The IDI 1.5L VW Diesel is most efficient at 2500rpm, where torque is at it's max(normal behavior for ICE engines). At said RPM and max torque, it's generating 20kw of power. Less any inefficiencies getting it to the road and less any loss for lack of air density at your altitude. Plus extra drag (or maybe less aero drag, if you do it right) for the trailer, unfortunately.

So, unless your altitude loss and inefficiencies add up to more than 5kw, you can theoretically drive indefinitely at 60mph @ 2500 rpm (where the engine is most efficient). If you need more power, well, then you need to bump up your RPMs at the cost of lower fuel efficiency.

A small turbo might make up for the altitude loss, if it's worth the effort, and can actually boost your fuel mileage...

[Isaac Zackary]

I forgot to mention it's a 1.6L. Also, even if it made 14kW instead of 15kW, I'd have 21kWh of usable electric energy. So 1kW of electric + 14kW if diesel = 21 hours of both. If I need 2kW electric I'd have 10.5 hours until I ran out. If I needed 5kW electric I'd have about 4 hours of driving. Of course there are many variables. I could also slow down and put the diesel in 4th gear and still make road time with less electric use.

[Stubby79]

Originally Posted by Isaac Zackary

I forgot to mention it's a 1.6L. Also, even if it made 14kW instead of 15kW, I'd have 21kWh of usable electric energy. So 1kW of electric + 14kW if diesel = 21 hours of both. If I need 2kW electric I'd have 10.5 hours until I ran out. If I needed 5kW electric I'd have about 4 hours of driving. Of course there are many variables. I could also slow down and put the diesel in 4th gear and still make road time with less electric use.

Exactly how I see it.

BTW, 1.6L non-turbo would put out about 25kw at sea level, if it's healthy.

Quick search suggests you're going to lose about a third of your engine output at a 10000ft elevation. +/- as you go up higher or come down lower. so 25kw is now 17kw. Right where you want to be, theoretically.

More math suggests that, if you can keep the engine at peak efficiency, you'd get about 22 km/l or 51 mpg US @ 60mph/100km/h.

[freebeard]

So how do you turn a FWD sedan into a trailer? I'd start with a stress bar to connect the tops of the Macpherson strut towers and the cut off the entire cowl, dashpard and footwell. And take off the fenders for some utility trailer fenders.

It would be pretty small.