Carmakers Have a New Idea to Boost EV Range: Add a Gas Engine

bookofjoe

https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/carmakers-have-a-new-idea...

guiriduro

"New"? Like hybrids haven't been around forever?

butterknife

BMW i3 REx with range extending petrol engine was released in 2014.

BoingBoomTschak

Sounds like what Mazda did with the MX-30 ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda_MX-30 ) which flopped hard. They used their new Wankel engine as range extender, perfect use case since the power:weight ratio of these is impressive.

irishcoffee

I worked on unmanned ground vehicles that did this... 10 years ago. In fact we designed them from scratch. FWIW, now you have all the same joys of engine maintenance that one has with a traditional ICE car: oil changes, oil filter changes, spark plug replacement, starter replacement, coolant, probably an alternator, etc, along with needing to worry about an IG bolted on to the side of the engine connected to an MV bus. It is a complex design. The maintenance on these will be quite expensive.

delijati

bwahhhaahhaaaa so to sell more of their old crappy ice they just change the narrative to "ice + e_car == e_car + ice" :D

fooqux

Every time they try and do this, it fails. The math is very much against you with converting energy this way and obviously they haven't solved that. This seems to be a huge investment to make just to try and market the same technology but better this time.

pornel

Stellantis is still producing 400V EVs with below-average efficiency. Their cars display estimated range based on their marketing number rather than real battery condition and driving history, so the range drops by 1.6 miles for every mile driven. A lot of range anxiety would go away if their EV tech wasn't crap.

ectoloph

The REX issue is an interesting one. The BMW i3 used what was basically a scooter engine. The Ampera/Volt used what was essentially an Opel Corsa engine (from memory). Toyota's approach of using a small battery and modified atkinson cycle engine seems to have paid off. Taxi drivers love them and fuel economy is pretty consistent. But the engine is a core part of the process. So it isn't dead weight a lot of the time. The real question is whether an 'Extended Range EV' is using a motor intended to work efficiently as just a generator or whether it's another parts bin special.

jamesnorden

Won't gas just varnish if you don't ever have an emergency where you need this? This seems ill conceived.

ernsheong

Toyota was right all along.

nottorp

Apparently the first modern vehicle to have this was indeed the BMW iREX. However, the first vehicle to have this at all was some 1901 Porsche model...

vincnetas

For people thinking that pure ev + backup generator is more reliable than PHEV, i recommend this video : Nobody understands the point of hybrid cars from Technology Connections It explains why PHEV is actually a very clever idea and now it simplifies things not complicates them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnUFH5GX_fI

bluebarbet

ITT: a disappointing number of low-effort drive-by comments responding to the headline alone.

stego-tech

For me anyways, range isn’t the issue. It’s charging facilities being down far too frequently, whereas gas stations are rarely bone dry. It’s sites lying about charging port availability, leading to wasted range on red herrings (thanks for lying about NACS chargers, Sheetz!). It’s the anxiety of not knowing whether a charging area will be safe to hang out in for half an hour, unlike a gas station where you can pump and run pretty quickly if necessary. The anxiety doesn’t come from a “limited” range (especially when gas vehicles get comparable or worse ranges); it’s the experience surrounding charging itself that needs improvement. One series of service stations offering reliably available charging ports with both plug standards and offering clean bathrooms, hot food, and space to wait in, is what’s needed to soothe “range anxiety”.

ddmf

Electric buses in the UK have been charged with diesel generators and there was a bit of an uproar about it at first, but a large static diesel generator running at a constant speed can be more efficient than multiple stop/start diesel engines, and therefore more friendly to the environment. Usually seen as a stop-gap until they can get the power upgraded in the depot to support multiple charging buses.

orwin

Isn't it very old tech? Like WW1 tanks used this, no?

Eddy_Viscosity2

Diesel-generated electrical propulsion in ships have been a thing for a long time. You can use several generators and only fire up the ones you need for the power you need and the ones running can do so in or near their optimal efficiency zones. You can also do away with the weight and mechanical losses from gear boxes because the electric motors don't need them.

wookmaster

“New idea” ? The Chevy volt had this in 2010.

ryandvm

"New idea", lol. Diesel locomotives have worked this way since the 1920s.