Featured PHEV Tesla Model 3

That's how range extended EVs should be done.

 

What a novel idea:

• ~18.6 kWh usable battery
  • 125 kW (168 hp) rear drive motor
  • 72 mi (115 km) EV range
• 2-cylinder motorcycle engine
  • 25 kW (33 bhp)
  • 6 L/100 km (39 MPG)
  • 78 mi (125 km) premium/mid gas range

This 2014 BMW i3-REx is backup for our Tesla Model 3. It was my gateway to our Tesla Model 3. But our former Prius Prime, not so much. But when our Model 3 has been down, I used the BMW to drive 120 miles each way to the nearest Tesla Service Center to get the parts.

My Standard Range Plus Model 3 has a large, empty space where the front motor would go. It is not easily reachable for additional storage. However, a 1.5-2.5 kW inverter would easily fit. Alternatively, the Rex from a BMW i3 although the exhaust and cooling would have to be customized. But really, this has no appeal because a front engine becomes a battering ram aimed at the cabin in the event of a crash. Our BMW i3-REx has the engine in the rear, over the drive wheels.

So no, I don't hate this Model 3 approach but pity some poor decisions. There is a rear, recessed trunk, that has more volume than the front trunk. He did not try to integrate his engine/generator with the existing Tesla drivetrain but rather put an undersized, serial hybrid inside a Model 3 shell.

Now if he wants to impress me, take an ICE car and put his drivetrain in that shell:

• Bugatti Chiron
• Lamborghini Aventador
• Ferrari 812
• Lexus LX
• Rolls-Royce Wraith
• Mercedes-Benz AMG
• Maserati Levante
• Audi R8 Spyder

Of course Bob Lutz approves this nonsense along with the Lutz mods to a Fisker.

Seriously, this modified Model 3 has no appeal to any customer. The ICE fans will hate it; the Tesla fans have no more interest than they do ordinary ICE, and; there is no reasonable source of Tesla 'gliders' but just salvaged Teslas.

Not everything that can be done should be done:

Bob Wilson

 

Nice take on the PHEV. Love the end result, but I'm not clear on how it's really supposed to work. Buy a 3 and pay to get it reworked, or do they upfit and then sell as finished or what?

At 17kWh, they're packing about double what's in the Prius PHEV, right? I suppose it's a heavier car, but that seems like a lot.

 

i guess i don't understand the point. i would no more be intersted in this altered model 3 than i would be in a factory one. neither serves to replace existing vehicles in a meaningful way.

 

Thanks for pointing this out, but I’m not a fan.

If I had an exceptionally practical EV like the Model 3, I’d positively loathe the idea of having anything to do with ICEs, period, regardless of the few limited conditions where it could have practical value.

Ultrayuckomatic in my book, but thanks for sharing this story!

 

I don't know if they're seriously trying to sell these things. They've made an effective demonstration that it is possible to build the Model 3 as a PHEV for a lot less money than as a BEV, but so far I think that's all they've done.

The math would be a little different for everyone, but it's really not bad- if you can electrify 85% of your driving for $25k, why spend another $25k on that last 15%?

Technically we already knew this from the other PHEVs on the market, these guys are just illustrating that it's possible to do even with an actual Tesla if you assume that there is a market for the batteries deleted in the conversion.

 

a model 3 without a drivetrain is just a body/chassis.

plenty of phev's are already in production showing real world results.

the point of a tesla is the ability to drive all electric. if you can build phev guts, you can put it in most anything, as toyota and others are starting to demonstrate.

cost is a dangerous thing to throw around when all you're doing is r&d. people love to talk about what it wil/might cost, but they never get to production to prove it.

i guess, in the end, i fell like most people buy tesla because it's a bev, not the other way around. if tesla were all phev's, idk if they'd even be in business today.

 

I've heard many Tesla fans claim that it isn't just the electric drive. The dealer-free experience, the OTA software changes, the safety ratings. Autopilot. Parking cameras. Keyless magic.

Here, finally is a way to divorce them from 100% electric drive at a significant rebate, if only for comparison's sake. If you could get all the other things that make a Tesla a Tesla plus a bunch of cash back, by just allowing it to sip a little gas sometimes, would you?

 

but you can't, since all those things come from tesla, not some company who mods them into a phev.

what are they gonna do, buy one for 50k, mod it for 25k, and sell it for 25k?

 

I think the article cites a $15k battery coming out and a $3500 engine/battery hybrid combo going up in its place. Now, I don't think they're actually offering to buy those batteries- that's why I think this is just a demonstration.

 

as Bob points out ... they did a re-do on the i3. But BMW killed off the i3, so one has to wonder about public interest ... especially with so many sedans & small cars being cast aside for bigger rides, that hold more people & more cargo.
Maybe these guys should have done that . . . put their science project into something roomier?

oh wait . . . . that's already been done, too.




Aftermarket hybrid warranty? (good luck)
minivan hybrid warranty? (10yr 150k miles)
.

 

Novel idea, but as @bwilson4web points out above, not everything that can be done, should be done.

For instance, The article in the OP uses costs for comparisons to the OEM version, specifically related to lithium. Does anyone reading this thread and article believe lithium would be at it's current price point without Teslas lithium R&D and (consequential / inconsequential ) use of it ( lithium )? Or even near the lithium price point projections for the near future?
Range angstrom, does anyone with a Tesla have any of it, anymore? What are the real world stats for Tesla emergencies including running out of range, stranded calls?

Gotta wonder what the FrankenTesie3-2 would look like as a conversion MustangE or Taycan. Perhaps even a Rav4-Prime or the Prius when talking about the current state of ECOnomics. Which is the leadin to the next question that drifts into my mind.
Anyone here at PC interested in finding out if and when the hyperhybrid is scheduled for release in their area and adding it to a possible purchase list?

What car would any of you like to see used as a conversion for the hyperhybrid conversion?

EV conversions for the electrical / mechanical engineer wannabes like me.
Welcome to Plasma Boy Racing, home of White Zombie, the world'squickest street legal electric door slammer in the 1/4 miledrag.
Zombie 222 Electric Muscle car by Bloodshed Motors

 

.... the article (also) quotes traction pack costs @ around $200/kWh. But the word got out that GM secured its supplier's price around 3/4 the quoted article price ..... $150/kWh ....
Then, when you also consider battery prices continue to tumble - & sub $100/kWh being below cost for ANY ICE being added to transportation costs, plus ICE continuing to use (in a practical world) non-renewable fuel ... soon, it will just be cheaper to run battery power (mostly - for more & more peeps).

 

This is how EVs should be done until batteries get good enough to do the job on their own. Well, except that the range extender should be a small hydrogen fuel cell (like the small engine) and the car should be designed for that approach from the beginning.

I've been advocating this approach since the late 90s.

 

maybe in just 10 (more) years ... (according to the industry ... wink wink)
.

 

We had all the needed technology by the early 2000s. Unfortunately companies like Toyota pushed for pure Hydrogen cars and companies like Tesla pushed for pure battery cars, both of which are equally stupid. So now we're stuck with crappy EVs or gasoline cars instead of an actual replacement for fossil-fuel powered cars for all uses.

Our only hope now is a battery breakthrough, and we've been hoping for that for 3 decades.