Major breakthrough could extend EV range to over 3,000 miles on a single charge

bobcat said:
Care to share where you got that information?
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Thank you for raising this question.

I dug into it and found a lot of articles and videos, but over half of them treed up to the same charging site and probably the same "reporting source."

Most of the rest were about remote locations on routes within Australia, South America, and a few stretches in North Africa. A few in the US were off-grid locations using solar power backed up by diesel. Others were "under repair" (?) and "needed diesel generators temporarily."

E.g. Using diesel to charge EVs in the outback is greener than you think

But in general the press was so bad that fast charging stations do this less and less now. Instead they opt for ratcheting down charging rates during peak load when the public power grid can't source the demand. During commuting hours you don't charge with diesel power, you just sit there longer and the waiting lines grow.

 

Aunt Bea said:
I don’t understand why EVs can’t be equipped with a generator to charge the vehicle when it’s moving.

It might not be sufficient to totally charge the vehicle but it seems like it would be significant.

Maybe eventually it could become a perpetual motion machine.
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They do charge the battery when they coast. When you take your foot off the accelerator the motors act like generators to pump electricity back into the battery. It results in a significant braking action and also saves on brakes.
 
HermitHogan said:
An internal combustion engine (ICE) powertrain contains hundreds of moving parts while an EV powertrain only has 20-30 moving parts. EVs are going to put a lot of mechanics out of work!
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True a few decades into the future, but many ICE mechanics during our current lifetimes will still be needed because there are still vast numbers of ICE engines that won't be retired until they have outlived their part lifetimes. Accordingly, young people won't consider becoming an ICE mechanic a long term career field. Thus numbers of skilled ICE mechanics will dwindle away from mere retirements without much new replacement. That will have minor offsets in maintaining charging station infrastructure.
 
Aunt Bea said:
I don’t understand why EVs can’t be equipped with a generator to charge the vehicle when it’s moving.

It might not be sufficient to totally charge the vehicle but it seems like it would be significant.

Maybe eventually it could become a perpetual motion machine.
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We have these, they are called hybrid vehicles because they combine a gasoline engine with a battery and electric motors. HEVs require far less battery than an EV and have basically none of the limitations of an EV. These also have regenerative braking to recapture energy.

HEVs are probably the hottest automotive segment today, far outstripping EV sales and rapidly overtaking conventionally propelled vehicles.

The snag is that like all propulsion types the benefits radically diminish when a vehicle is large, heavy, and un-aerodynamic due to a high profile and jacked up above the ground.
 
HermitHogan said:
3,000 miles on a single charge will solve all the (most of) the problems associated with EVs. Naturally, the time it takes to charge the battery is a factor, but considering the average internal combustion engine automobile can go 600-700 miles on a single tank of gas, 3,000 miles on a single charge would be a major breakthrough! We'll be seeing more electric planes with that kind of technology.

Of course, there's the I'll believe it when I see it factor. We've seen this film before and it hasn't panned out thus far.

That said, EVs are great! We used Ubers several times while on our vacation and every one was an EV.

I didn't ask any of the drivers how they liked them and how often they had to recharge. Or if they made enough as an Uber driver to pay make the loan payments on the EVs, but I assume they did.
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People would forget to charge them properly. 500 miles makes sense. Under 200 is not good.
 
dilettante said:
Thank you for raising this question.

I dug into it and found a lot of articles and videos, but over half of them treed up to the same charging site and probably the same "reporting source."

Most of the rest were about remote locations on routes within Australia, South America, and a few stretches in North Africa. A few in the US were off-grid locations using solar power backed up by diesel. Others were "under repair" (?) and "needed diesel generators temporarily."

E.g. Using diesel to charge EVs in the outback is greener than you think

But in general the press was so bad that fast charging stations do this less and less now. Instead they opt for ratcheting down charging rates during peak load when the public power grid can't source the demand. During commuting hours you don't charge with diesel power, you just sit there longer and the waiting lines grow.

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Thanks, I had checked also, and all the ones I found went back to a misrepresented article that appeared back in 2015 where a diesel generator was used during the 3 month retrofit until they could get the charging station site finished and hooked up to the grid.

However that same misinformation has been rabidly spread across every site from hell to breakfast, and it just refuses to die. Anyway, thanks for being honest in your re-check. Every little bit helps.
 
HermitHogan said:
"but considering the average internal combustion engine automobile can go 600-700 miles on a single tank of gas"
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I believe 600 to 700 miles is a bit optimistic. Most cars have a fuel tank of 16 to 18 gallons. with 18 gallons you would need to get 33 miles per gallon to go 600 miles and that does not leave any reserve. I drove several Toyota Camry Hybrids and they were good for about 500 miles. Even that is only 16% of 3,000 miles. You are correct that 3,000 miles would be a huge game changer.
 
The Civic Hybrid I bought in 2002 had a range of 630 miles per 13.2 gallon tank. Ran that car for 16 years until one night hitting a deer totaled it.

The new 2025 models are disappointingly close to the same, but they are also larger now and far more powerful: 0 to 60 in 6.2 seconds, 200 hp, 232 lb-ft of torque.
 
dilettante said:
The Civic Hybrid I bought in 2002 had a range of 630 miles per 13.2 gallon tank. Ran that car for 16 years until one night hitting a deer totaled it.

The new 2025 models are disappointingly close to the same, but they are also larger now and far more powerful: 0 to 60 in 6.2 seconds, 200 hp, 232 lb-ft of torque.
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I don't doubt that, however, the comment was referring to "the average internal combustion engine automobile." I think right now the hybrid is the perfect compromise. The plug in hybrids are quite interesting as well, they will run battery only for up to about 40 miles and then switch to the ICE. This will allow anyone with a very short commute or only traveling locally to use very little gasoline.
 
The downside of a plug-in is that they have most of the same woes as an EV.

You need a way to charge them since they aren't designed to run on only gasoline. Bigger battery more expensive to replace, prone to terrible fires so insurance rates and garaging restrictions increase, underslung for space so prone to easy damage and in need of more active heating and cooling, heavier so more tire and road wear and diminishing returns on efficiency.

And BTW: many HEVs now operate in EV mode as long as the battery charge is good and high speed and acceleration aren't demanded. That 2025 Civic HEV can go 47 miles in EV mode on a full battery charge at up to 63 mph.
 
In reality, EV vehicles for home use are fairly new tech. Tech will improve, batteries will be improved, and the march of EV's is inevitable. One other area that needs addressing though: repairs. A new battery costs half as much as the total vehicle. People are finding now that any serious repairs on an EV simply aren't worth doing. But again, that will change with time.
 
VaughanJB said:
In reality, EV vehicles for home use are fairly new tech. Tech will improve, batteries will be improved, and the march of EV's is inevitable. One other area that needs addressing though: repairs. A new battery costs half as much as the total vehicle. People are finding now that any serious repairs on an EV simply aren't worth doing. But again, that will change with time.
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I just came across an article addressing this subject, and if it's true, then the batteries will probably last about as long as most internal combustion engines. It sounds encouraging anyway. Here's the link:

MSN.
 
VaughanJB said:
In reality, EV vehicles for home use are fairly new tech. Tech will improve, batteries will be improved, and the march of EV's is inevitable. One other area that needs addressing though: repairs. A new battery costs half as much as the total vehicle. People are finding now that any serious repairs on an EV simply aren't worth doing. But again, that will change with time.
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EV batteries are generally guaranteed for 10 years and with the latest configurations, you don't need to replace the entire battery if some of the cells go dead; you just replace those cells.

As far as "serious" repairs, other than the suspension and the electrical system, there's not much to go wrong with them. Electric motors are extremely reliable. There's no transmission or drivetrain.
 
Many 18 wheelers have Aux units to run when they are at rest / TruckStop's.
RV's have units, it would be easy to put a gas generator in the Frunk to emg.
charge if it would be acceptable to the Charging module. Is a funky thing there.
The voltage thingy would get complicated. Most likely a Step-up transformer could
be added. A running time bomb to speak. It would probably take several days to
charge it with a frunk generator. But you could most likely push it with a minor
charge for 20 miles or so.

But it all might catch fire!
 
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Thats a lot of electrical energy in one car. I don’t want to be anywhere near it when it short circuits. Don’t park in front of my house.
 
HermitHogan said:
EV batteries are generally guaranteed for 10 years and with the latest configurations, you don't need to replace the entire battery if some of the cells go dead; you just replace those cells.

As far as "serious" repairs, other than the suspension and the electrical system, there's not much to go wrong with them. Electric motors are extremely reliable. There's no transmission or drivetrain.
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Guarantee's depend entirely on why a battery might fail. Let alone secondary markets. If you look at, say, a Tesla battery, the entire battery is enclosed in a thermal compound that tougher than epoxy, and the cells are either glued or welded together. Just for the curiosity, I looked up the price of as new battery on a low end Tesla - it's $20,000.
 
VaughanJB said:
Guarantee's depend entirely on why a battery might fail. Let alone secondary markets. If you look at, say, a Tesla battery, the entire battery is enclosed in a thermal compound that tougher than epoxy, and the cells are either glued or welded together. Just for the curiosity, I looked up the price of as new battery on a low end Tesla - it's $20,000.
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F*ck Tesla.

Batteries for SUV EVs (other than Tesla) are 10-15 thousand dollars.
 
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VaughanJB said:
In reality, EV vehicles for home use are fairly new tech. Tech will improve, batteries will be improved, and the march of EV's is inevitable. One other area that needs addressing though: repairs. A new battery costs half as much as the total vehicle. People are finding now that any serious repairs on an EV simply aren't worth doing. But again, that will change with time.
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This is also why depreciation is so steep. Which begs the question: If nobody wants to buy the used EV at 5 years, why would you want to keep it more than 5 years? Could it be that this 10 year battery stuff is industry marketing not borne out in real world experience?

The other wrinkle is that if EVs will be so much better mañana so that more people buy them... can we really expect charging infrastructure buildout before there is any significant demand?

adverb: mañana

in the indefinite future (used to indicate procrastination).​
"the exhibition will be ready mañana"​
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HermitHogan said:
EV batteries are generally guaranteed for 10 years and with the latest configurations, you don't need to replace the entire battery if some of the cells go dead; you just replace those cells.
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Honda offers a 10 year warranty but I believe it's prorated, I'm not certain of this but before I would buy a EV I'd want to know for certain how long the full warranty of the battery will be in effect. Even paying for 50% of a battery plus labor would cancel most, if not all, of any savings on gasoline.
 
Just speaking from memory here, but as I recall, a battery's longevity is often tied to the number of recharge cycles. If that holds true, then the fewer times you need to recharge, that should extend the battery life, and consequently the vehicle.
 

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