EV trailer range extender

That capstone costs a mint for the teeny bit of use it'd get. That's Phil's Leaf btw ... pEEf on THIS board, and Engineer on the Leaf board. With the juice it makes, it can actually do CS - as well as stationary QC ... but not via the Chademo port. It'd be better suited for a rental applicaton, due to its high cost. It's mainly a proof of concept.

2012 Nissan Leaf Gets Unofficial Jet-Powered Range Extender, Quick Charger

In the above article you can see the (body language) folded arms of Nissan Leaf head enginner checking out the arrangement.

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The ICE A1 isn't available in the US, so I doubt Audi had us in mind for the E-tron. In the European market, which has less urban sprawl, 30 miles of EV should be plenty for daily use. The 155 miles of total range is plenty to get you to the next town. I actual wished the Prius had a smaller tank. Having to fill up once every two, three, or weeks just meant to me that I was hauling around extra weight in fuel that I didn't have to.

The A1 PHV very easily could of had a larger tank or battery. Of course a smaller battery keeps costs down, but what most articles on it forget to mention is that it has the same interior dimensions as the standard ICE A1. There is no lost trunk space. In short, it was designed for Europeans without making utility sacrifices over the standard model.

Mazda is still selling a RX with a rotary engine(it appears production has been cancelled). Earlier models had an engine seal that routinely failed. I think some owners just stopped replacing the seal and let the engine burn oil. The current model has low reliabilty ratings for the engine in the 2004 to 2006 MY, but improved ones after. Sounds mostly like problems in the ECM software.

Except for a small pick up in the '70s, the models Mazda put the the rotary into were all sports cars. So the engines were likely being pushed to the limits more than it would in a family sedan. As sports cars they had a smaller, love it or hate it, market. Without any problems, the unquiness of the engine would have meant higher sales and maintenance prices. It was also competing against models with V6s and even V8s. Racing organizations might double a rotary's displacement for regulation purposes, but to most potential buyers 1.3L doesn't sound as impressive as 3+L.

With the fewer moving parts, Wankels have the potential of being mechanically reliably. Their main advantage for a range extender is their power to weight ratio. In order for a piston engine to equal the power of the current 1.33L Mazda rotary, you need to add at least another liter of displacement. The Audi 15kW genset is roughly the size of a push mower's engine. This less sacrifices and more possiblities when used for a range extender. Onboard or off.

Improving fuel efficiency and emissions is more difficult with a rotary than a piston engine on the other hand. Audi hasn't released that data yet. It should be easier to handle with the fixed run settings used in a genset than as with a sole power plant of a car though.

The ICE cars with rotaries weren't fuel sippers, but the 40mpg of this Audi is nothing to sneeze at. Yes a Prius looks better with a 50mpg combined, and the 48mpg it gets on the highway, where the range extender will see use, is still better. But not everyone has, or even wants a Prius. The only other car that gets a 50mpg combined is a smaller Prius with a lower highway rating. All the other hybrids now available manage a low 40's combined at best. There are even ICE cars that can do 40mpg on the highway.

40mpg for a range extender is not bad. And here's a blasphemy, fuel economy is not the end all. Size and weight are big considerations for a range extender. For vehicles that will see most of their miles driven on external electric, an onboard extender that doesn't intrude on vehicle usability, or an add on, external one that doesn't require a full trailer, is worth trading highest possible efficiency for while still doing better than most other cars on the highway.

 

Thanks for all that info, Trollbait. I'll just note one thing: If you don't want to carry the weight of a full gas tank in the Prius, you can always put less than a full tank in it. Personally, I doubt that the weight of the fuel will make any difference in mpg between a full tank on every fill vs. a half tank. But the option is there, whereas with a smaller tank you do not have the option of putting more in.

 

That's what I did, but it was mostly because I seemed to get better fuel economy keeping the bladder partially empty.

I like the concept of the A1 PHV, but if I could get one, I wouldn't be able to drive the 600 miles to my parents with it without the trip taking longer than it already is.

But it isn't designed for North America where 100 miles is a short distance. There is also other design considerations that aren't apparent from reading about it. I already mentioned it doesn't lose interior space. Well, that's important because it isn't much bigger than a Mini Cooper.

 

Re: Range-Extending trailers for EV's

Buy a Volt or buy regular gas? How about a THIRD solution doesn't anyone remember a favorite of my youth ... "slot car tracks?



one slot on the freeway, and you're good to go