The automotive equivalent to this abomination.
Posted on 11/10/2023 9:53:17 AM PST by old-ager
Sez Uncle Tony: "When we heard that the new for 2025 Ram Ramcharger EV was going to be equipped with a gasoline powered generator to be used as a "range extender", it seemed like a practical and novel answer to the issue of range anxiety. " The reality is they've created an over stuffed, over complicated, oversized Frankenstein that has no accurate classification within the current world of vehicles. It's not an EV, It's not a Hybrid and it's not anything that could ever be considered sustainable."
I am no electrical engineer, that is for sure...:)
But they are saying they will be using the V-6 to power the electrics which will connect to the drive train, right? (not just to charge the batteries?)
I was a jet engine mechanic in another life, and jet engines seemed like the most complex things there were...I thought they had to be prone to all kinds of terrible things, but...in reality, they are far, far more reliable than reciprocating engines in planes, never mind the speed advantages.
I always felt that electric motive power in cars would be more reliable too in the same way, fewer moving parts, etc., but...they have to be driven by batteries, and that is where all the weaknesses come to the surface, IMO.
Like SaxxonWoods said, it sounds like a Rube Goldbergian perpetual motion device!
> batteries
plus all of the things that have to be maintained, and go wrong, with a powerful gasoline V6
It uses a transaxle and cv axles to spin the wheels...which couples to the gas engine.
> diesel pickup, and that will hopefully last another decade
Hope so. Thanks for discussing. I’m not willing to find anything positive about something so stupid.
“you don’t have the batteries and can’t recover anything from braking.”
I am not an engineer, but could you have fewer batteries and use them just to recover the braking energy or would that be not worth the effort on a likely largely highway driven vehicle?
Remember the K car?”
Don’t forget the Aspen and Volare.
I just don’t know. I read that the newer Prius cars do have a charging port. But it seems that the earlier ones only charged the battery from the engine and deceleration. I am not sure what the advantage could be in taking energy off of the engine to charge the battery, while at steady speed or deceleration. The engine runs inefficiently over much of its RPM range, but it’s hard to think that the conversion losses (chemical -> mechanical -> electric -> chemical -> electric -> mechanical) overcome that problem, especially with the CV transmission.
> while at steady speed or deceleration
mean acceleration there. capturing energy in deceleration is a gain, maybe _the_ gain.
Yeah ... like nobody ever tried a drive train like that in Diesel-Electric submarines. Or Diesel-Electric locomotives.
Oh no ...
It’s totally untried and crazy.
Submarines, OTOH ...
The automotive equivalent to this abomination.
I like it too.
Can you charge other EVs with that generator? Might make a few bucks being a mobile charge station.
I think most of us here already knew about diesel-electric train engines and subs, but thanks.
I haven’t researched why trains went that way many decades ago, but I’m thinking part of it was the need to deliver torque to a fairly large number of driving wheels and not wanting to grapple with a mechanical way of doing that. This could apply in lesser measure to four-wheel drive cars and trucks.
I’m wondering if a hydraulic drive could have been almost as simple and have afforded higher efficiency than the two way mechanical electrical conversion (add two more ways if you use a battery). But I don’t know.
With a V6 gasoline engine, you don’t need the batteries.
And along with the nutty size of these trucks, it’s about checking off arbitrary government requirements, so, pi$$ on it.
Sure, just show me the 500 amp connector.
I love it.
Add a side charging bolt and a lever to a semiauto and you are getting closer!
i really dint think i needed the /S sarcasm tag... 8^)
I will say that if you have to use a traditional stock, the thumbhole or anything like it is helpful.
You're on the right track. (hahahaha) The problem they faced was getting power from a massive diesel engine to the relatively small rotating wheel trucks without a hideously complicated hydraulic/mechanical transmission. Drive shafts are notoriously inflexible, unlike even very thick electrical wires. Electric motors have enormous startup torque. And so the D/E Locomotive was born.
With a V6 gasoline engine, you don’t need the batteries.
Need? No, but a battery of some size can be useful for regenerative braking.
Nevertheless, it has a lot in common with that abominable thumbhole AK.
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