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Which is why the "correct" way to build a hybrid vehicle is an electric vehicle with an optional gas powered range extender. Im not sure why this isn't more com
by ActorNightly 3y ago
Which is why the "correct" way to build a hybrid vehicle is an electric vehicle with an optional gas powered range extender. Im not sure why this isn't more common.
- germinalphrase 3y agoIsn’t this exactly how most PHEVs are designed?
- jackmott42 3y agoyes, or approximately so. many can also have the generator drive the wheels.
- newaccount74 3y agoI think most of the PHEVs (at least in Europe) are hybrids that have a normal gas engine and a small electric engine.
- Toutouxc 3y agoThat’s called a series hybrid and very few cars use that configuration. BMW i3 had a series hybrid version that was discontinued a few years ago, and there was the Chevy Volt (also discontinued).
- glogla 3y agoThe current Honda hybrids (Civic for sure and I think CRV also) work kind of that way - in slow speeds it works like a series hybrid and only in freeway speeds it connects the ICE to the wheels. The claimed mileage is similar to Toyota's planetary power splitting thingie, no idea how it works in the real world. You could also say that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are series hybrids, since the fuel cell mostly charges a battery, which is much more flexible in what power it can provides and can be recuperated into, unlike a fuel cell which is one-way.
- loire280 3y agoI drive a Volt and I’m convinced this configuration of car is what many Americans should be buying until battery manufacturing ramps up and EV fast charging infrastructure is widely deployed. It gets 45-60mi range but it charges just fine overnight from a 120v plug. Most of the time it’s an EV, but we need the extra range several times a month for longer local trips or to visit family in a nearby city. The gas engine requires very little maintenance because it runs infrequently and at optimal RPM and load, it weighs less than a 200mi+ range battery, and (for now) it’s easier to manufacture from more common materials.
- malyk 3y agoI agree. I also drive a volt and 98% of the time it's driven with the battery, but those 2% of the time where I need/want the engine (like a camping trip this past weekend), it's really great. I don't every want a 100% electric car. We're a 1 car household so I really want the flexibility of going wherever without having to plan around the charger network.
- fomine3 3y agoHonda e:HEV, Nissan e-power are series hybrid system afaik. It was considered to inefficient system in theory, but it seems fine (but not so great as THS), drive feeling is very close to BEV, and can share development resource with PHEV/BEV.
- Buttons840 3y agoThe "gas powered range extender" is a generator I assume?
- jackmott42 3y agoyes
- hedora 3y agoI bought an EV without a range extender (an identical car with a range extender was a comparable price). Why would I want to change the oil on the range extender, deal with emissions tests, and so on? That's a bigger pain than just renting an ICE car for the 1-2 times a year when we take a road trip.
- ActorNightly 3y agoBecause the goal is to transition to electric first, not have electric cars and traditional ICE cars for everyone who doesn't fit the use case for an electric car.
- Faaak 3y agoSame here. I have two old EVs. A Renault Twizy, 70km of range, which is really great for city driving (I even have a tow hitch on it in order to go to the recycling place), and a more "real" car: Hyundai Ioniq, 200km of range, which I use to go on road trips and the like. Yes, it takes more time, but hey, there's no maintenance, and I love that.
- freedomben 3y agoYou're evaluating it for yourself, and that's normal, but there's a lot of diversity out there with vehicle needs and EVs have serious limitations for some use cases.
- bittercynic 3y agoEmissions testing is only once every other year, and changing oil is easy to do at home and takes less than an hour including gathering the tools and cleaning up after. Every time I've rented a car it's been a substantial hassle, and I've felt anxious about how much it might cost me if something happened to the car while I was responsible for it. Different people have different ideas about what's a pain.
- Toutouxc 3y ago> changing oil is easy to do at home and takes less than an hour including gathering the tools and cleaning up If you already own and know everything you need, yes. Most regular people don’t own a jack capable of lifting the car high enough. Most people don’t own jack stands to make getting under the car safe. Most people don’t own an oil filter wrench. Most people in cities can’t just do all this on the street without getting their legs run over. Most people don’t know how to dispose of motor oil. Most people don’t know or are not allowed to know which oil to buy and how much (my car’s manual doesn’t say that).
- drewg123 3y agoRange extenders should be something on a trailer you tow behind you, and which you can rent for a long-haul road trip. Whether that something is a 200KWh battery pack, or a gas/diesel based generator doesn't really matter.
- Pet_Ant 3y agoI mean at that point can't you just tow a trailer running a diesel generator recharging your car?
- JimtheCoder 3y ago"optional gas powered range extender" Is this how we are re-branding internal combustion engines?
- freedomben 3y agoThere are still plenty of ICE engines that aren't "optional gas powered range extenders." If anything it seems more like a re-brand of "generators" since the engine producers electricity rather than direct drive train force. The term seems genuinely useful to me, not just some marketing buzzword or spin.
- adastra22 3y agoThat's exactly what a hybrid car is. My 2021 Toyota is an all-electric drive train. Even the old Prius there used to be people practicing "zen driving" where they try to keep the engine from turning on. That's only possible if the gas engine is being used as a range extender. It's just that the no-gas range of a hybrid is something crazy low, like 4 miles or something, since it has a very small battery. The plug-in hybrids improve that situation just by adding a larger battery, not by changing the mechanics of how the drive works.
- Toutouxc 3y agoNope, Toyota uses a pretty complicated arrangement of an ICE mechanically linked to the wheels and two electric motors able to send power back and forth and a planetary gear transmission between them. It’s an amazing system that makes it feel like the ICE isn’t even driving the car directly, but most of the time it actually is.
- adastra22 3y agoThen how are people able to drive without the ICE even being on?
- Toutouxc 3y agoIt’s a planetary gear, three shafts go in. The ICE one is stopped, the wheels one is driven by an electric motor and the third one is rotating freely.
- ProfessorLayton 3y agoToyota's HSD is pretty brilliant, and uses planetary gears that can blend electric/engine 0-100% depending on needs. The engine is never "disconnected" when the electric motors are the ones providing power.
- kayodelycaon 3y agoThis is basically how Toyota's hybrid engine works. Almost everything is powered off the inverter. I think the only thing that isn't is the gas engine's water pump, which has no reason to be electric. It's way more efficient to build the a hybrid with the gas engine as part of the drivetrain than only use it power electric motors.
- somerandomqaguy 3y agoToyota's eCVT? Not at all. The gas engine can drive the front wheels directly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jofycaXByTc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jofycaXByTc Conceptual explanation of the system. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O61WihMRdjM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O61WihMRdjM Weber Auto giving an extensive hands on explanation.
- kayodelycaon 3y agoWhich I indirectly mention in my second paragraph.
- Toutouxc 3y agoIt’s true that most accessories in the car are electric, but the ICE is a full blown, powerful car engine that’s mechanically connected to the wheels and that in some regimes directly drives the car. I don’t think that was what OP meant.