RAM 1500 EV Will Offer a Range Extender Gas Engine, CEO Confirms
caranddriver.com
caranddriver.com
This is exactly the same sort of nonsense 99% of software patent go by. Re-patenting the same idea but in a new context, again and again. It's unbelievably soulless & fallen, completely beyond comprehension that we'd give these uncountable falsities even a passing nod.
I really look forward to smaller, more efficient electricity generating power-plants. Comboing good electric systems with range extenders is a wonderful first order project & the higher order outcomes of good small power plants is an interesting & useful complement. But as usual we seem intent on making the good incredibly fraught & difficult, as much as the law can.
I came across this page last week about EV charging using a generator:
> A typical EV such as the Volkswagen ID.4 has a 75 kWh battery that allows it to drive about 275 miles on a single charge. That works out to around 3.5 miles of range per 1 kWh of charge. Now let’s assume you have a 2.2kW generator that can output 1,800 watts continuously. If you ran the generator for 4 hours, it would produce around 7 kWh of energy. Now, that’s assuming 100% transfer efficiency, etc. So, in 4 hours of driving, it could possibly add maybe 24 miles of range. But things being not 100% efficient, it would be lucky to add perhaps 15 to 20 miles of range to a 250-mile trip.
https://www.rvtravel.com/rv-electricity-generator-in-back-of...
There's an interesting challenge here to design high-density efficient-ish basically-continuous output powerpacks. Your example might befit the shit-ass terrible world of low grade crappy construction site & on-demand generators, but you are way out of line for what a EV range extender will provide.
The BMW i3 is old tech by now, but it's 0.6 liter 2 cylinder outputs 34 HP/25kW, for some baseline here.