Range extender !

[Gencis]

Thank you for the information. Now I get better idea about batteries. I saw some videos in youtube, like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlZ6BOzn41g&t=1s

so thought this idea could work. But with your, JoeS, calculation I can see that carrying additional 130 kg plus it would cost around 1.500 EUR. And finally max range I get 20 km. So it is too expensive and too little use. I think this is the step each new EV owner has to pass:)

[mistert]

Why not use ultra capacitors to extend the range a little bit:

https://newatlas.com/nawa-technologies- ... tor/54972/

These are for over a few years, but supercapacitors you can already buy :

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/ ... 7291Jqa7po

I am not a HV elektronics engineer but normal low voltage battery always have large capacitors to cope with high peak currents.
Strange there are no huge capacitors in an EV battery.
This will extend the live of the battery pack for sure, and maybe if you make them large enough extend the battery with a few extra Kwh.
If you put them in parallel with the battery pack it will automaticly being charged when the battery is charged.
You have to limit the current of course or you will blowup the charger..
The brake gereneration will work 70% better because all the current can be absorbed by the capacitors.
And the current to the motor can almost be unlimited, so the Imiev will fly

Although there is the problem that if you make a capacitor pack for 400V only a small portion of the capacitor will be used. Because the voltage will never go lower then 300V, only 1/4 of the capacitors will be used. So maybe a DCDC converter is needed and use a 46V capacitor pack.

[acensor]

Don wrote, in part, as a reply...
".....The car is very well engineered for what it was designed to do - A mostly urban commuter car with a 60 to 80 mile range. If that suits your needs, then buying an iMiEV is an excellent choice, IMO

If you need to go farther or faster, you should look into buying a car which has those capabilities, rather than trying to redesign something that was never intended for such use - A Chevy Volt sounds like the perfect car for what you want to do . . . . or maybe a plug in Prius..."

FWIW I completely agree with him.
I will add you might be very pleasantly surprised at how cheaply you can buy a used Volt that has come off lease.
https://www.truecar.com/used-cars-for-s ... =price_asc

And most of them will have very little age/wear on the internal combustion engine.
For example, one of my friends locally owns one and since she gets about 40 miles range on the plug-in batteries and 85% of her driving is within 40mile round trip with 30,000 miles and 3 years on the Volt there's probably not 8000 miles on the engine. If you find one with, say 80,000 miles on it keep in mind that there's likely way less than 80,000 on the engine.

The Volt is a well engineered plug-in hybrid with high performance and some clever features (such as the fact that, unlike our battery packs, IIRR if one cell in the main battery goes bad it can be replaced without replacing the whole battery pack. Ironic that the company that tried to kill the electric car did such a good job on the Volt.
And now, sadly, GM is going to discontinue making the Volt. IIRR the 2019 will be its last model year.

Alex

[Phximiev]

Another range extender idea:

https://www.greencarreports.com/news/11 ... ck-horizon

[Don]

Don wrote, in part, as a reply...FWIW I completely agree with him.
"If you need to go farther or faster, you should look into buying a car which has those capabilities, rather than trying to redesign something that was never intended for such use - A Chevy Volt sounds like the perfect car for what you want to do . . . . or maybe a plug in Prius..."

I will add you might be very pleasantly surprised at how cheaply you can buy a used Volt that has come off lease.
https://www.truecar.com/used-cars-for-s ... =price_asc

. . . . and the technology in the 2016 and newer Volts is simply amazing. It's a luxurious 3,500 pound car which can go 70 miles on battery power and another 350 miles on an 8 gallon fuel tank, averaging nearly 45 mpg at reasonable freeway speeds. The blending of battery and Gas power is what makes it all possible. In the later models (2016 and newer) the Voltec drivetrain is very different from earlier models. The gas engine can be directly coupled to the wheels with an electronic clutch via a planetary gear system and the gas engine can run at it's most economical, constant speed, while the speed of the car can vary using the electric drive train coupled to the wheels by a second planetary gear system. Speed up or slow down the Electric drive while the gasoline drive maintains it's optimum engine RPM. In addition to directly powering the car, the gasoline engine is also providing generator power to the electric drive system. Come to a hill and the electric drive can dip into the battery for the extra power needed to get up the hill, rather than asking more from the gasoline drive and then put that power back into the battery on the downside of the hill

It's amazing that you can buy a low mileage, well equipped $40K Volt for ~$15K. Get a 2017 or newer Premier version and you can have Adaptive Cruise Control and Lane Keep Assist and the car almost drives itself - Some owners have added a bit of kit with an extra camera and the car will drive itself. We have a 2017 Premier with all the options as our 'out of town car' and we love it, though we're not putting that many miles on it - We bought it used 3 years ago and I think it has about 27,500 on it now

Don

[Phximiev]

Ditto for the 2014 Volt, which we have and have driven over 50k miles mostly on electric.

But a separate range extender may be suitable for some. I remember the pusher trailer developed by one of our members (the forum link seems to have eluded me!) that seemed very successful.

[jray3]

I don't believe I've mentioned my newest pusher project on here yet, so here it is after a summertime debut at the Greenwood Car Show in Seattle!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lpr27LqX0iM

[TobyGadd]

I don't believe I've mentioned my newest pusher project on here yet, so here it is after a summertime debut at the Greenwood Car Show in Seattle!

This is awesome! I wish that something like this was commercially available. Reminds me a little of the BMW i3's range extender--which I thought was a great idea. Thanks for sharing.

[JoeS]

Met up with Jay this last weekend at the 10th annual National Drive Electric Steilacoom festival, where he showed off his i-MiEV with pusher trailer, his Kia Soul EV, and his Ford Ranger EV which he enjoys pointing out was Ford's original 'modern' all-electric pickup truck.

That pusher trailer is a work of art.