Electric Vehicle Range Extender Generator

Firn · 2025-05-03T10:25:39-0700

Rthol21 said:
3kw would give you about 6 miles of range at 2.1 mi/kw. But I said 3kwh, meaning it would charge up to 3kwh throughout the day, which would give you between 45-65 miles of range if you capture 10-12hrs of sunlight with the anticipation you don’t always get a full 3kwh charge from them.

Some funky math there, but if you get 3kwh per hour, that IS 3kw of charging. If it's 3kwh throughout the day, like you said, then that is at best SIX miles throughout the day.
More fun, out of that is that if towing something with 3kw of panels on it you likely are getting around 1mi/kwh, if it is as you said, 3kwh throughout the day, then that's only 3 miles. If you in fact ment 3kwh per hour, which fits your math, then that IS a 3kw array. But again, 3kw over 10 hours is about 30 miles of towing range.

Regardless, that isn't a range extender in any manner, that's just stationary solar charging. A range extender is by definition something that happens while driving.

Chillguy · 2025-05-04T06:42:25-0700

Athrun88 said:
Inductive charging infastructure would be, imo, the only way to give EVs any range extension. Super expensive since the hardware would have to be built into the roads, be able to connect with a variety of makes/models (so some sort of standard) and all the levels of government would have to be on board too. As many of the previous posters have said, solar on the vehicle doesn't give enough juice to be meaningful and carrying additional payload or trailer doesn't make sense since you're carrying more mass.

General idea would be to embed inductive coils in the road (major highways or interstates) where the biggest disadvantage of an EV is present, long range. As you drive on supported roads, the inductive charging would be sufficient to 'zero' out the energy consumed in movement; basically charge as you drive. This kind of infastructure wouldn't be needed in the city/urban areas since traditional charging infastructure would be strong there, but on long stretches of road between cities or in rural areas, this would be the only reasonable way I see a mass way of extending BEV range.

This is NEVER going to happen. Cost prohibitive.. BTW, I honestly don't have a problem stopping every 3 hours of highway driving to charge up, stretch my legs, go to the bathroom, grab a cup of coffee, etc.... Why some ppl are so fixated on long distance driving without stopping?... I find it very pleasant to be able to charge up at Tesla Superchargers (often at Buc-ee's) usually in about 30-40 minutes max. I made a Dallas-NYC round trip and I actually enjoyed it!... I must assume that there will be trucks with double the range in less than 10 years since the long range battery technology technically is already here so I am not worried at all. I often talk to other ICE drivers because they complement me on the truck and I know first hand majority of people still have no clue about EVs at all. For now I still love my Lightning more than a year after I bought it and I'm looking forward to the next generation with possibly longer range in 5-10 years time.

BSEE SPARKY · 2025-05-04T07:35:59-0700

Try this:
https://www.electricgeneratorsdirect.com/Generac-MMG45IF4-STD3/p93078.html

Then you need way to do major rewire plus software to charge while driving. $100k if you don't charge your own labor and your pretty good with VHDL, and probably C (software like stuff).

chl · 2025-05-04T10:22:22-0700

For solar cell range extension while driving you'd need a different more energy efficient and aerodynamically designed vehicle like an Aptera:

"Harness the power of the sun with Aptera. Equipped with 700 watts of integrated solar cells, you can drive up to 40 miles per day completely off the grid and enjoy 400 miles of range per full charge. "

https://aptera.us/

Not in production yet, but getting closer every day? I hope.

Athrun88 · 2025-05-04T19:14:46-0700

Chillguy said:
This is NEVER going to happen. Cost prohibitive.. BTW, I honestly don't have a problem stopping every 3 hours of highway driving to charge up, stretch my legs, go to the bathroom, grab a cup of coffee, etc.... Why some ppl are so fixated on long distance driving without stopping?... I find it very pleasant to be able to charge up at Tesla Superchargers (often at Buc-ee's) usually in about 30-40 minutes max. I made a Dallas-NYC round trip and I actually enjoyed it!... I must assume that there will be trucks with double the range in less than 10 years since the long range battery technology technically is already here so I am not worried at all. I often talk to other ICE drivers because they complement me on the truck and I know first hand majority of people still have no clue about EVs at all. For now I still love my Lightning more than a year after I bought it and I'm looking forward to the next generation with possibly longer range in 5-10 years time.

Just for the record, never said that it would be in any way cost effective. It would be, imo, the ideal way to give EVs the range people seem to want without relying on putting gas generators in EVs, effectively making them hybrids. I also do not have any issues with stopping, however, there is a subset of people out there who are still ingrained in the ICE mentality of being able to drive hundreds of miles/km without having to stop. I also do enjoy stopping because it forces me to take a break, stretch my legs, catch up on work emails, etc.. I got into BEVs because I personally believe that it is the future and people like us need to push both industry and governments to follow.