LMF5000
Mechanical
- Dec 31, 2013
- 88
We're all engineers here. What are some creative ways we can think of to temporarily increase the range of an EV to make it comparable to a regular car when needed? (Speaking for myself, we live on an island and only own nissan leafs, which are perfect for us in every way except with successive fast charging on super-long road trips when we rarely visit the mainland).
The most obvious solution is to add electricity by means of batteries or a generator. The issue with that is that all EVs have safeguards against it. No EV will let you charge while driving for instance. The leaf in particular is known to protectively shut down when it measures that the battery has output significantly more kWh than could conceivably be stored in the battery (which was discovered when someone paralleled an external pack with the leaf's own battery - the workaround for that is to inject the electricity in the external line between the battery and the inverter rather than injecting it within the battery - but any solution of this nature requires permanently modifying the car by splicing into the HV cabling, which isn't a convenient, off-the-shelf solution).
I've thought of having a jet engine or propeller on the roof rack to supply just enough thrust to overcome drag at highway speeds (so car gets 100x more range on a charge, and the computers won't complain because to the car it feels just like driving downhill or with a tailwind all the way) but obviously this is a safety hazard and the noise and appearance will be unacceptable.
I've thought of a trailer containing an engine and a gearbox or generator/motor combo (like on diesel locomotives). The trailer pushes the car along using its wheels. Again the car won't complain, and the trailer can be self-contained and very compact (20-30bhp will sustain highway speeds on a leaf). The problems are dynamic stability since it'll be pushing through the towbar, and managing the control of the engine so it stops thrusting during braking or coasting. (For braking it could have a simple optical recognition system to detect the car's brake lights, for the rest I'm not sure if it can sense the driver's intentions through the force in the towbar for instance. Maybe do it in a dumb way where it provides x horsepower of assistance at y road speed and have a remote on/off switch in the driver's hands for road conditions where the assistance is not wanted).
Anyway nothing too serious, just an interesting thought that crosses my mind from time to time when I contemplate a 900-mile holiday with my 40kWh 2022 Leaf.
The most obvious solution is to add electricity by means of batteries or a generator. The issue with that is that all EVs have safeguards against it. No EV will let you charge while driving for instance. The leaf in particular is known to protectively shut down when it measures that the battery has output significantly more kWh than could conceivably be stored in the battery (which was discovered when someone paralleled an external pack with the leaf's own battery - the workaround for that is to inject the electricity in the external line between the battery and the inverter rather than injecting it within the battery - but any solution of this nature requires permanently modifying the car by splicing into the HV cabling, which isn't a convenient, off-the-shelf solution).
I've thought of having a jet engine or propeller on the roof rack to supply just enough thrust to overcome drag at highway speeds (so car gets 100x more range on a charge, and the computers won't complain because to the car it feels just like driving downhill or with a tailwind all the way) but obviously this is a safety hazard and the noise and appearance will be unacceptable.
I've thought of a trailer containing an engine and a gearbox or generator/motor combo (like on diesel locomotives). The trailer pushes the car along using its wheels. Again the car won't complain, and the trailer can be self-contained and very compact (20-30bhp will sustain highway speeds on a leaf). The problems are dynamic stability since it'll be pushing through the towbar, and managing the control of the engine so it stops thrusting during braking or coasting. (For braking it could have a simple optical recognition system to detect the car's brake lights, for the rest I'm not sure if it can sense the driver's intentions through the force in the towbar for instance. Maybe do it in a dumb way where it provides x horsepower of assistance at y road speed and have a remote on/off switch in the driver's hands for road conditions where the assistance is not wanted).
Anyway nothing too serious, just an interesting thought that crosses my mind from time to time when I contemplate a 900-mile holiday with my 40kWh 2022 Leaf.
