Charging While Driving w/ Gas Generator in Bed (Range Extender for F-150 Lightning) - Testing

[Traconesu]

30 to 50 extra miles could make all the difference sometimes. I love thr idea of having a range extender. I'd probably use a large LFP battery pack in the bed or trailer I'm pulling and a pure-sine-inverter to make the 240V connection.

It seems like an awfully big expense, large generator, cabling and everything else require to be able to charge while driving, to get 30-50 extra mileage per charge. I'm so thankful I only need to use my lightning locally without ever worrying about running out of energy. I do sympathize with those that could use that extra 30-50 miles.

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[ZSC100]

It seems like an awfully big expense, large generator, cabling and everything else require to be able to charge while driving, to get 30-50 extra mileage per charge. I'm so thankful I only need to use my lightning locally without ever worrying about running out of energy. I do sympathize with those that could use that extra 30-50 miles.

It's over double the range if you can generate at 19kW. It takes 30kW to drive at moderate highway speed, it you generate 19kW, say 2kW is lost, that means you are only using 13kW on the highway. With an ER you can drive for 10hr non-stop with that, 700mi.

 

[PJnc284]

It's over double the range if you can generate at 19kW. It takes 30kW to drive at moderate highway speed, it you generate 19kW, say 2kW is lost, that means you are only using 13kW on the highway. With an ER you can drive for 10hr non-stop with that, 700mi.

10 hours might be a stretch and you'd probably get run over at the speeds required. Chatgpt says the Westinghouse 28kW (20kW) I listed earlier running near the max would be about 3gal/hr so maybe 5-6hrs if lucky on the 17 gallon tank. Problem with the larger generators is the weight. That ends up being almost 650lbs with a full tank so 1/3 of your payload and you'd probably want a larger one so you're not running near 100% capacity for a long duration.

Check my math but I took a 135 mile drive this morning and stuck to 70mph on I40 from Raleigh to Wilmington, NC. Reasonably flat terrain with minimal wind but the temp was only about 45F here in eastern NC this morning. Dash showed 1.8mi/kWh. Got home and charged from 18%-80% on my FCSP today and averaged about 15.8kW to the battery (according to the difference in energy remaining in Car Scanner) over the 5 hrs it took. So at that rate, it would be a net used of 70/1.8=~39kW-15.8kW=23.2kW. Assuming no degradation, 131/23.2 = 5.6 hrs or ~400 miles at 70. That's roughly 10mi/gal. That is a substantial increase over the 235 miles or 3.5hrs I'd get on just battery though. 2.1mi/kWh would give you a theoretical 7.5hrs and over 500 miles at 70mph assuming a sufficient fuel tank. I'd need a couple breaks before the truck would.

And gotta love chatgpt. Asked it for alternatives to the westinghouse and got this. Guess I should've mentioned it needed to fit in the bed first.

It really likes Winco Vehicle Mounted Generator - EC22000VE-17, 19 kW, 35 HP Briggs & Stratton, 3-Phase, 240 Volts for some reason.

 

[ZSC100]

10 hours might be a stretch and you'd probably get run over at the speeds required. Chatgpt says the Westinghouse 28kW (20kW) I listed earlier running near the max would be about 3gal/hr so maybe 5-6hrs if lucky on the 17 gallon tank. Problem with the larger generators is the weight. That ends up being almost 650lbs with a full tank so 1/3 of your payload and you'd probably want a larger one so you're not running near 100% capacity for a long duration.

Check my math but I took a 135 mile drive this morning and stuck to 70mph on I40 from Raleigh to Wilmington, NC. Reasonably flat terrain with minimal wind but the temp was only about 45F here in eastern NC this morning. Dash showed 1.8mi/kWh. Got home and charged from 18%-80% on my FCSP today and averaged about 15.8kW to the battery (according to the difference in energy remaining in Car Scanner) over the 5 hrs it took. So at that rate, it would be a net used of 70/1.8=~39kW-15.8kW=23.2kW. Assuming no degradation, 131/23.2 = 5.6 hrs or ~400 miles at 70. That's roughly 10mi/gal. That is a substantial increase over the 235 miles or 3.5hrs I'd get on just battery though. 2.1mi/kWh would give you a theoretical 7.5hrs and over 500 miles at 70mph assuming a sufficient fuel tank. I'd need a couple breaks before the truck would.

And gotta love chatgpt. Asked it for alternatives to the westinghouse and got this. Guess I should've mentioned it needed to fit in the bed first.

It really likes Winco Vehicle Mounted Generator - EC22000VE-17, 19 kW, 35 HP Briggs & Stratton, 3-Phase, 240 Volts for some reason.

Yeah prime power generators are enormous. It just speaks to the different longevity and duty of a generator meant to run 100% duty, versus a little portable generator meant to be used every once in a while. I figure these portable generators when ran hard are probably good for less than 1000 hours of operation before they are trash.

The math for sustained power usage in the truck is really easy It's just your speed divided by your efficiency. So, if you are going 70 mph at 1.8 efficiency That means your truck was using a sustained 38kW to drive at 70mph. Dropping just 5mph would make a huge difference; you can see the non-linearity because you've got two factors, both helping as you slow down.

Still, if you were able to generate half of your sustained driving load you would double your range. Yeah, no way you're generating 19kW for 10 hours straight without stopping for fuel. But that's the beauty of a generator for interstate travel, you can stop at any gas station and in 5minutes you're back on the highway. I'm working on getting a water cooled diesel generator right now that is small form factor and can fit in the back and I'm planning to try and harvest the heat from it this winter and do more testing. Small generators are like 30% efficient so if I could use the waste heat that would really be nice.

 

[Traconesu]

It's over double the range if you can generate at 19kW. It takes 30kW to drive at moderate highway speed, it you generate 19kW, say 2kW is lost, that means you are only using 13kW on the highway. With an ER you can drive for 10hr non-stop with that, 700mi.

That would require a very large generator to produce 19kw per hour. You're probably looking at a 28 kw generator. Westinghouse makes one that has a run capability of 20 kw per hour with a 17 gallon fuel tank that would run at full load for just over 4 hours.
Generating that kind of power eats a lot of gasoline. To drive those 10 hours with the generator at full load would use approximately 37.5 gallons of gasoline. Add that expense to the roughly $4000 generator and the unknown cost of the DIY conversion.

 

[Traconesu]

That would require a very large generator to produce 19kw per hour. You're probably looking at a 28 kw generator. Westinghouse makes one that has a run capability of 20 kw per hour with a 17 gallon fuel tank that would run at full load for just over 4 hours.
Generating that kind of power eats a lot of gasoline. To drive those 10 hours with the generator at full load would use approximately 37.5 gallons of gasoline. Add that expense to the roughly $4000 generator and the unknown cost of the DIY conversion.

Maybe closer to 43 gallons of gasoline.

 

[Traconesu]

10 hours might be a stretch and you'd probably get run over at the speeds required. Chatgpt says the Westinghouse 28kW (20kW) I listed earlier running near the max would be about 3gal/hr so maybe 5-6hrs if lucky on the 17 gallon tank. Problem with the larger generators is the weight. That ends up being almost 650lbs with a full tank so 1/3 of your payload and you'd probably want a larger one so you're not running near 100% capacity for a long duration.

Check my math but I took a 135 mile drive this morning and stuck to 70mph on I40 from Raleigh to Wilmington, NC. Reasonably flat terrain with minimal wind but the temp was only about 45F here in eastern NC this morning. Dash showed 1.8mi/kWh. Got home and charged from 18%-80% on my FCSP today and averaged about 15.8kW to the battery (according to the difference in energy remaining in Car Scanner) over the 5 hrs it took. So at that rate, it would be a net used of 70/1.8=~39kW-15.8kW=23.2kW. Assuming no degradation, 131/23.2 = 5.6 hrs or ~400 miles at 70. That's roughly 10mi/gal. That is a substantial increase over the 235 miles or 3.5hrs I'd get on just battery though. 2.1mi/kWh would give you a theoretical 7.5hrs and over 500 miles at 70mph assuming a sufficient fuel tank. I'd need a couple breaks before the truck would.

And gotta love chatgpt. Asked it for alternatives to the westinghouse and got this. Guess I should've mentioned it needed to fit in the bed first.

It really likes Winco Vehicle Mounted Generator - EC22000VE-17, 19 kW, 35 HP Briggs & Stratton, 3-Phase, 240 Volts for some reason.

Most of those larger 30 kw > generators run on propane or natural gas.

 

[PJnc284]

Dropping just 5mph would make a huge difference; you can see the non-linearity because you've got two factors, both helping as you slow down.

heck I felt like i was about to get run over just running the speed limit. Have a comma 3x and it estimates the speed of the car in front of you and most of those that passed me were showing 85-90 and this was from about 6:30-8:30am. Can probably count on one hand the number of cars I had to pass but I lost count of how many thought it was the Daytona 500.

My normal non-interstate route to the coast and back is mostly 55mph highway. Running 60, I average about 2.2mi/kWh which is pretty close to Motortrend's numbers.

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