Featured Aftermarket trailer-hitch-mounted gasoline range extenders for EVs: silly or brilliant?

I don’t see the point, just buy a phev if that’s what you want.
A few people might be interested, because they don’t plan well

 

I don't know. Sounds like a business plan to me. Startup a triple A for EVs to recharge those that ran out of juice or park one as a temporary EV filling station. I saw one from Colorado that doubled as a trailer. Might be more useful for campers who are overlanding away from everybody else.

 

You don't know whether to laugh or take the article seriously.

It immediately reminded me of this picture.

I drive a PHEV and like EV's and PHEV's - I can and do laugh at myself . I'm not poking fun at others - I'm in the same boat they are.

I don't know if the product would be a big seller because it reminds us of an inconvenient fact of where our electric for the most part comes from.

 

There was a a ranger extender generator trailer back in the EV1 era.

Rav Long Ranger
AC Propulsion Inc.

At least one person got the idea again, and I've seen proposals of extra batteries in a trailer.
Charge to go: The EP Tender portable EV range extender

Putting that on hitch cargo tray won't work because of the weight. Engine and generator powerful enough to maintain highway speeds, fuel tank, plus emission controls is going to quickly exceed the tongue rating for most cars. The Long Ranger trailer there is 300 pounds. Something that can support directly on a hitch can tow 3000 pounds.

There is merit to the idea. If 90 something percent of your miles can be done on EV, maintaining the engine on a PHEV might be a chore. Something that can easily stored or rented can work. I think most Americans will just opt for the PHEV.

 

This device could be shareable among many EV owners. Could also be rented for a long remote road trip

Mike

 

(duplicate)

 

Pray you don't get hit from the rear as I somehow doubt the fuel tank safety is as much as is required for for one buried under a car.

 

When my 115,000 mi, 4 year old Model 3 ran out of charge a mile away from the Supercharger in 95 F weather, I had thought there was a reserve. But the car reviews were of brand new, press cars. I subsequently learned the reviewers personally owned, high mileage, multi-year old Teslas that have no battery ‘reserve.’

I had thought about renting a portable generator to safely map the battery reserve. But three days of rental was the purchase price of a new one. I found an affordable one but took a different path:

• Added CCS-1 adapter to the Tesla filling any Supercharger gaps.
• Bought a better engineered CANbus monitor for more precise battery metrics.
• Confirmation that older Teslas have no battery reserve.
• Tuning my Tesla for more range.
• Bought a BMW i3-REx as my city car to give the Tesla rest from every little errand.

So I don’t need a portable generator to run the ‘forbidden experiment.

Bob Wilson

 

The fuel tank of that trailer is in the front of the it.

Plugging into the charge port won't be practical, so adding high voltage hardware to the car will be needed.

Ford filed a patent for a range extender that sits in a truck bed like a cargo box.
https://electrek.co/2020/10/03/ford-electric-pickup-range-extender-design-f150/

 

The J1772 interface into my Tesla requires a minimum of 6 A @110 VAC or 660 W. The 12 V aux is only rated 12 A @12 VDC or 144 W continuous.

Bob Wilson

 

1. Most people hate towing trailers, and even fewer of them are any good at it.

2. Everyone who ever wanted to tow a range-extending generator already built their own, because that was part of the point.

 

Silly or brilliant ?... hummmmm , how about Counterproductive or insecure !

 

My 2017 BMW i3-REx has a built-in, 25 kW, 647 cc, liquid cooled, motor-scooter engine-generator. Because of this, I avoided the worst of the CCS-1 disaster. It is an EV with motorcycle cross country privileges.

The modest 36-39 MPG economy and short wheel base, it is not a great cross-country car. But having a benchmarked 106 mi EV range, it is brilliant when you arrive:


Bob Wilson

 

The Long Ranger trailer made by AC Propulsion had a self steering system to make reversing easier. This would be more successful in places where trailering is more the norm though.

There are cargo hitch haulers that do have wheels to support more weight. Being rigidly attached to the car means there isn't issues of towing an actual trailer.

No more so than buying a PHEV
The issue with this as a commercial product is in getting the EV makers to go along with it, or have enough customers willing to risk warranties. Then such a device small and light enough will be as capable as the range extender in the aforementioned i3 REx, and BMW managed to pack that into the car with very little to no impact on the usable space of the car.

These will end up like the PHEV conversions of the old Prius. There will be a couple of little businesses until the car companies directly address the market with their own add on, like a drop in to a truck bed, or they offer a range extended version of their EV like the REx.

A rentable unit that works with many models sounds nice, but is very unlikely. It would require the manufacturers agreeing to some standard connection. Right now they aren't too keen on even letting outsiders see battery data.

 

it hasn't been a question of can it vs. can't it for a long time.

The question has long been whether it's really worth it.

Range extension usually involves expensive hardware that isn't or can't be financed with the original car loan and isn't subject to the same insurance coverage- if any at all.

It's an adverse market- the product is only of interest to those least equipped to pay for it. Everyone else already bought longer range.