“You would need to add the weight and gasoline capacity of this powerful motor and generator set in order to become simply adequate.”
Flat out no.
Your grasp of physics is not strong. First off the average load of a LDV sized truck of Dodge 1500 size when towing is under 100kw. The Tesla Semi at 82,000lb gross mass averages 1.7 kilowatt hours per mile at 65 mph. That’s 110 kilowatts over an hour period. You are confusing peak rate or draw vs average continuous rate. The hybrid pack is for those peaks and even in the Tesla Semi they are under 500hp torque moves mass horsepower is torque over time and rpm.
Dodge is already making a plug in hybrid truck that can tow 14,000lbs
[2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger (Plug-in Hybrid)
This range-extended electric truck uses a V6 gasoline engine as a generator to charge its battery and can be plugged in to charge.
Horsepower: 663 hp.
Torque: 615 lb-ft.
Maximum Towing Capacity: 14,000 lbs.
Powertrain: Dual electric motors are powered by a 92-kWh battery, which is recharged by a 3.6L Pentastar V6 engine and a 130-kW onboard generator.]
That 3.6L is still overpowered you could power the Tesla Semi with that 130kw again the fully loaded Semi only needs 110kw to move it up and down hills no less. PepsiCo tested it in the hills and mountains of California over a 500 mile run. The test data is out there ask the AI for it pages and pages of data.
You are thinking of 60hz light duty generators or 60hz diesel trailer mounted generators. Those are large not from the engines it’s the archaic 60hz generators that are huge.
Have you ever seen a 777 jet engine turbo generator it’s 400hz and 170 kilowatts, with the constant speed gear box attached the whole unit is about the size of a 5 gallon bucket and you can pick it up with two hands. The actual electrical part is the size of a one gallon paint can at 170kw of output why? Multiple poles at 400hz it’s the frequency of the generator that determines the size of the magnetic core size.
Inverters and battery management systems don’t care about Hz they all need DC current so forget 60hz that was a 19th century compromise. 400volt, 400hz fed into a silicon carbide high voltage rectifier comes out 400v DC which is what the BMS and traction inverters need.
For a LDV truck you should put in a Ecoboost type 3 cyl at 1.5L those can exceed 200kw per liter of displacement with 50psi of boost and direct injection. The peak loads are always handled by that 92kw pack at 5C discharge that’s 460kw and 650+ horsepower...that is why that pack is sized at 92kw 5C is what a pack can do again and again and again without damage. Again the Tesla Semi can pull 40 tonnes up hill and only uses 110kw over an hour span you let the pack follow the peaks and valleys and run the small high speed, high frequency high voltage generator at it’s peak BSFC point which for a turbo DI engine is 75% of its maximum BMEP point at 1.5L would be at peak from 75kw and 1bar boost all the way up to 150kw and 2bar with flat out max at 3bar and 200+ kw the generator size for 200kw at 400hz is 5L Heineken minikeg sized.
Running a small displacement engine at it’s peak BSFC point is 40% tank to electrons efficiency proven data on that the Chinese have a sedan that does 45% tank to BMS independently verified. For comparison the average ICE driving a hydraulic mechanical transmission is 12.5% tank to wheels Google Scholar will give you at least 6 sources for that. This is why a 2024 Camry hybrid gets 51mpg city and the ICE version of the identical car gets 28mpg.
That’s how real world physics works not archaic feelings from the last century. Electric drive is not only more efficient it’s also cheaper to mass produce EDU in a hybrid than a 10 speed hydro mechanical transmission. The EDU also doesn’t care where it gets is 400-800 volt DC from, it can come from a small generator, a small pack, a large pack, a turbine generator, a fuel cell or a combo of those. This is why Toyota moved their flagship product the Camry to EDY drive only they don’t even offer a mechanical drive anymore the profits are higher for them to use the cheaper EDU and a tiny pack under 2kWh to smooth out peaks and valleys in the inverters and capture regen braking doubling the mpg. Welcome to the 21st century.
It doesn’t take a “firm grasp of physics” to understand the problem, just a little bit of common sense. When your only source of energy to move a vehicle is gas (or diesel fuel), it takes less fuel to directly drive the vehicle with a single combustion engine than it does to carry along another engine and generator to charge the batteries in a BEV.