efficiency of charging electric car with gas generator?

I drive a hybrid. That's the first car I've owned where there is pretty much nothing I can fix or maintain. I've rebuilt gas engines from cracking the crank case on up, and now what I can do is add washer fluid! Even with gas cars one needs the manufacturer's diagnostic equipment these days.

On the other hand, in my generation I had a car because I could buy a barely living car and extend its life. They taught "auto shop" in high school (though I knew that stuff already).

In highschool I had an old '56 Chevy with bench seats and shifter on the column. I even got the overdrive to work. I loved that car until someone t-boned me at an intersection.

Today, I don't know of any kid who has a clue about doing more than calling for a tow. And, they don't want to know.

 

I haven’t done the math or read the previous posts so hopefully I don’t repeat what is already said.


The Chevy Volt has two electric motors and a gas motor. When you run out of electricity or if you choose the hold function the gas motor will kick in and start charging the battery. The car always holds back a reserve, so even when it is empty there is still energy to draw on. It’s also constantly regenerating energy through the braking system or if you are coasting.


When you depress the accelerator when the electric motors are on hold it still uses the electric motors to provide any surges in power. So if you were to need to pass someone and jammed on the accelerator the electric motors would draw on battery reserve to provide that surge. The electric motor on the other hand will continue to idle along powering the battery. So even though you might be accelerating very quickly the gasoline is still being consumed at a steady rate. You can hear the gas motor rev up a bit higher when you increase the power demand buts it’s a gradual increase, not the sharp increase you would have in a normal ICE vehicle.

Fuel consumption efficiency in typical ICE cars can vary quite a bit based in the driving habits of the driver. Any efficiency you might gain by charging the batteries with gasoline would probably be based on that since as you point out, you could never get 100% of the energy from the generator into the battery since you are losing energy to heat, noise etc.

 

I think these cities could start with creating charging infrastructure.

Any other additional assistance is excessive and unneeded.

 

And I bet you had fun doing it too!

The gas station where I work is also a full-service mechanic's garage. Part of my benefits of working in the store is I get all parts for the price that my boss pays for them and if I do need mechanic work I can pay half the rate so instead of $100 an hour for me it's 50.... Or I can just go up there on my time off and do what I can myself.

Now I'm more of a custom bicycle fabricator and welder and bicycle mechanic but I'm not too shabby with a car but I won't tell you I'm a Master Auto mechanic by any means.

My boss man has recently been buying cars either to scrap or cars that need minor repair to turn around and sell at a profit.

So if we employees want to buy one of the cars that he has he sells them to us at the price that he paid for them. I'm buying an 08 Pontiac Grand Prix that has the 3.8 6 cylinder motor in it. It's a pretty fast car.

Plus I only have to pay $700 for the only thing that was wrong with it was that it needed a new compressor and I got the compressor for $145 shipped. Now I am going to pay a mechanic to put that in because I don't want that headache.

But the good news is, the car will be all mine and paid off I won't owe a cent on it.

I thought about buying a new Kia soul but then I asked myself did I really want to put down what amounted to a large chunk of my life savings and be in debt for 5 years?

And the answer is hell no.

When I first test drove it the transmission was jerking a bit. But the fluid was low and dirty so I figured before I went any further with the compressor I would change the fluid and filter and see what happened. Took it for a test drive today and it shifted fine

 

Charging infrastructure is growing rapidly. And, charging technology is improving pretty rapidly, too.

https://avt.inl.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/arra/PluggedInSummaryReport.pdf

This report shows that more than 80% of ev owners charge at home. Of the rest, it appears most charge at work.

I think charging does have to be a factor in whether to go ev. Besides that, not all body types have ev market presence.

 

You have to wonder if a large percent of these people who want to push electric cars on everyone either have a huge salary themselves, or somehow in the back of their mind expect the government will pay for it for them.

Because I can't imagine that most people, if offered $500 so long as they signed a legal contract stating that they had to commit themselves to this baloney, however much it ends up costing them, would take up that offer.

 

New tech always starts out being expensive.

Look back at the price history of computers, for example.

I expect prices will go down as technical investments that have been made will be paid off, as more vendors increase competition, as used vehicles become available, etc.

I posted that to you since noon today - why did you not remember this?

I have NO IDEA what this $500/commitment thing is about.

Please explain. And show evidence.

 

That is a ridiculous and absurd argument for forcing people to buy it until it starts becoming cheaper.

 

Let's say someone gives you $500. But then you have to follow through with your ideas. You have to sell the car you have and get an electric car, you have to get solar panels, and you have to somehow make sure those solar panels will supply nearly all the power for your needs and the power to charge the electric car. These are all things you advocated for. You would then be under a legal obligation to do all this. So you would have to buy it all, no matter how much money it all ends up costing you.

A neutral mediator would check to make sure you were abiding by the terms of the agreement.

 

This Kia is non electric. Gets 32 miles a gallon
Everyone I know that has one loves it. They start at 20 grand brand new

 

Those types of cars are hard to find now.

We do not have a Kia dealer but we have a Hyundai dealer and the Accent looks like a good affordable high mileage car.

I owned a Ford fiesta for 5 years and loved it. Zero repairs and great mileage. They do not make them. Only car ford makes now is the Mustang.

 

I had thought the world might embrace hydrogen as a power source for transportation vehicles, but, it seems that electricity is 'all the rage'. And yet it's so seldom that any of the electricity enthusiasts remember that it takes a very robust energy plant running on coal, natural gas, or nuclear power to provide all that electricity in the first place.

The Germans have decided to do entirely away with both coal and nuclear plants by the end of this year (great timing... right?). And, what we've seen Germans put so much hope in is solar and wind.

Uh-huh... sounds good in theory until Germans are asked how they feel about having these gigantic wind turbines 'in their backyards' -- plus, the maintenance costs of the wind plants is staggering. Oh, and solar? Well, as any German can tell you, uh, the sky is often filled with clouds, whether it actually rains or not....

 

There is plenty of kias on the road here in Southwest Florida. big dealership in fort Myers I believe it is.

The Kia soul is a boxy looking little car but for a small car it's got a lot of room inside you could even lay the seats down and lay down in it if you wanted to.

But you have to be religious on oil changes every 3,000 miles and use the manufacturer's recommended filter.

I believe the same manufacturer makes Hyundai.

 

Hyundai and Kia are different companies but both from South Korea.

The reason I bought the Fiesta was I had heard what a popular car they were in Europe and how they were going to sell(Made in Mexico) them here. Then in 2013 I saw a US news ranking of the best small cars and the Fiesta was #1.

I was working 50 miles away and 90% of my time driving the car was alone so I wanted good mileage. Too bad they stopped making them in 2019.

 

I'm not sure what kind of mileage is Pontiac Grand Prix I'm getting has especially since it's a 2008 but it's got the 3.8 6 cylinder in it. When you hit the gas that thing will move.

Be nice not to take forever to get from zero to 45 mph like my old beater minivan. Guy over on the next block has a small Chevy S10 that's been sitting with a flat for a while evidently he does not want to sell it it needs a new motor, which I could get cheap at work and he'll probably never do.

Fortunately in this small town most everything you need is no more than 5 mi from home.

 

You know what else is expensive?? Putting a **** ton of features in cars that a person doesn't want or use yet still has to pay for all of them...

What ever happened to basic plain jane cars without all of the latest gizmos and gadgets??

 

it doesnt make much sense, because 99% of the energy from generator would be wasted.

New electric outboard engines (180 hp) can be charges from the plug for $6.00 and its good for 50miles. To fill the gas tank for 180 hp outboard to go 50 miles costs over $200.

 

Or just small pickup trucks. Now everybody's got to have a damn full size one.

I'd like to have a little tiny four-cylinder pickup

 

Is some branch of government somewhere insisting that you buy an ev vehicle?

 

I haven't seen any suggestion like that.

The closest I've seen is in CA where there is a direction for new cars to be EV in 10 years, or whatever - at least in parts of the state.

Plus, I think there are places where new homes have to have solar. However, solar on a new house is not likely to be a cost imposition, as it will be part of the long term financing of a mortgage and pay back immediately by lowering electricity bills.

 

First of all, any requirement for immediate change is going to be seriously expensive. And, that is happening in Germany for more than one reason. I think we have the luxury of time for any transition we see as important or inevitable.

For example, we're cutting coal rather dramatically, and that is being replaced by gas. That change is being made in a way that is economical.

Clean energy is growing at the same rate as our growth in electricity consumption. That's pretty good news.

We aren't going to use Germany's climate data to guide how we use solar.

 

We just need cheap bench seats with another airbag in the middle next to the driver just in case.

 

I agree with you.

This is a matter of how free market economics works. There are lots of sectors where it's clear that I'm not part of the audience being catered to.

Recently I've been noticing how complex cell phone cameras are getting. It's cool that a cell phone can take an award winning major motion picture, but I just want a few quick pics of the grandkids. And, nobody wants a selfie of me!

 

Frankly, I thought ev would make simplicity more likely!

You plug it in like everything else we own today. Then you drive to work, or whatever. No transmission. No oil or water or gauges. No gas station. No exhaust or oil drips in the garage. I liked my bench seat car.

But, I guess that's not what the big boys think most people want.

 

Here's a 1972 Datsun with an electric motor.

It does 0-60 in 1.8 seconds.



If you want acceleration, you have to go electric. No shifting. A torque "curve" that can't be beat.