Quote:
Originally Posted by zamler
80/20 will make a very heavy vehicle and hurt efficiency/performance. And it will be expensive you'll have a large battery and the gas engine with all the weight and complexity to go with it. And cargo space will be poor since you'll have a big battery and normal sized fuel tank.
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Possibly. I was thinking more along the lines of something like a 1.5L (or smaller) engine in a larger vehicle and the space savings plus a little bit of cargo space used for the remainder battery motor.
I mean, even 1.5L is a bit overkill IMO as I am not intending for the engine to be performance at all. That sized engine is placed in mid sized SUVs as the economical regular driving option and I agree it's bulky. My suggestion for the engine was more along the lines of being able to allow the vehicle to use gas to hobble to a charging station + be a gas generator for electricity in the event the battery reserves are too low. I am literally imagining something like a motorcycle engine would more than suffice and the gasoline tank be something like 5-10L only.
Heck, maybe let's move away from an engine in general. Let's just connect a unit like this that essentially idles away and reduces energy usage/charges the batteries while you drive on extended trips.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/DeWALT-8...8000/307457717
This thing has a 7.5 gallon reserve which allows it to run for approximately 11 hours. Doesn't a fully depleted Tesla take around the same to fully charge? Wouldn't a unit like this (if integrated into a Tesla or equivalent for instance) technically double the distance a Tesla can cover (minus the time constraints of charging)? Let's conservatively say the generator can reduce the depletion rate by 30% while driving long distances. Isn't that adding 100KM ish range before you need to hit a supercharger station?
But yeah, I get you. If it's that easy, then I'd be rich and these things would be everywhere. I'm just saying that maybe if someone took a reasonably priced performance EV and then allowed the installation of a small gasoline generator to extend the max distance from let's say 300km to something closer to 450-500km, that might kill traditional gasoline vehicles far faster than waiting for a pure EV to hands down destroy the gasoline vehicle.