i wonder how on earth such geniuses could have ever come up with such an original idea like that?
Posted on 09/08/2026 4:59:11 AM PDT by Skwor
The auto industry has a new solution to Americans’ fear that electric vehicles will run out of juice: a gasoline engine.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
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The idea now is specially a gas generator as opposed to car engine it seems.
~~~
I actually wondered about that when the hybrids came out and when I rented one and marveled at the idea that you could turn your electric motors into instant alternators and recover energy from stopping rather than wasting it as friction with brakes. Why even have the gas motor on the powertrain at all? Why not just use it to for extra juice to the batteries when it’s needed?
Then the powertrain would be less complex and you can dedicate more of the overall architecture to the electric motors and their support accessories
I would be happy to see all EVs off the road.
Engineers stumped on how to make EV car self charging when driving add a gas engine.
I’m looking at potential price points that make it clear these aren’t for the masses.
Plus, we drive our cars til they drop.
Northeast winters.
The cost of replacing a hybrid battery means we won’t even give them a look.
Then there are the insurance and liability issues.
We’ll stick with our ICE vehicles.
For folks who want these, fine.
But the people touting these things for environmental reasons are full of it.
but it’s NOT a hybrid ... NOT! ... NOT A HYBRID I TELL YOU ... NOT!!!!!!!!!
I just asked AI about Wankel engines, and this was what I got. Unfamiliar with the source, so a big FWIW...
“Hybrid range-extenders: Modern engineering uses rotary engines as compact generators in electric hybrid setups, running them at a steady, optimized speed to reduce emissions and improve fuel use.”
Somewhere in Heaven a certain family member is either shaking his fist or laughing his butt off...
I recommend it be a 455 cubic inch engine.
“It’s the direction the industry is headed. You get the immediate torque of the electric motors, great efficiency, but without the range anxiety.”
EXACTLY what a hybrid already gives you ... EXACTLY ...
Hybrids have always made sense to me; I just get tired of EV purists who refuse to accept the reality of the physics.
i wonder how on earth such geniuses could have ever come up with such an original idea like that?
I wonder if they call it a generator and only connect it to the battery not like a traditional hybrid where it’s part of the transmission they get around epa and cafe bs for the car.
Like a cybertruck with a generator in the box
DUH!
There. We don’t need to read the article. We don’t even need Captain Obvious.
They’ve solved an optics problem.
Snort.
Meanwhile, per AI and another unfamiliar source, so FWIW again...
“The traction battery pack is by far the heaviest single component in an extended-range electric vehicle (EREV), typically weighing anywhere from several hundred to over a thousand pounds.
Even though an EREV adds a secondary internal combustion engine or a gas-powered generator to charge the battery on the fly, its high-capacity lithium-ion battery remains much heavier than any other part of the vehicle, including the backup engine, fuel tank, and electric motors.”
Pray you never get in a major accident.
Holy thermal runaway, Batman!
I agree with you on the left's global warming doomsday cult stuff being hogwash. And I'm glad the OBB got rid of subsidies for EV's. But I respectfully disagree with you that EV's are niche. IMHO, EV's already fit a significant portion of the public, though not all. My wife and I are part of that, thus our EV works well for us. See if this sounds like a lot of people you know:
1) Married and need two cars anyway. Thus the EV vs gas car argument isn't a mutually exclusive argument to us (it's not you must choose either one or the other, not both). We chose to have one of each.
2) Can set up charging at home. (Don't get an EV if you live in a place that you can't set up home charging.)
3) Don't make a lot of long trips in the north during the winter when it's cold. (The few times we do, we take our gas pickup. But the EV being our newer and more comfortable car to drive on trips, it wouldn't suit our trip habits if most of our trips were up north in the winter. In the 4 years we've had the EV we took only one trip up north in the winter and thus took the gas pickup. All other long trips in the 96K miles we've owned it, the EV was fine.)
4) Most of the trips you make have good fast chargers. (Again, assuming the EV is the most comfortable car to take on trips. If your gas car is the most comfortable car anyway and the EV is just for local driving, this isn't an issue.)
5) You do a lot of local driving each year. Local driving = home charged miles and home charged miles is where the real gas savings is. When I take the EV on a long trip it usually costs less to charge per 100 miles than gas per 100 miles, but not by much. So don't get an EV to save money on long trips. The real gas savings is in home charged miles. Of which we drive 18K per year: 1,500 miles per month.
6) You're not in your 20's or 30's and still driving 400 miles between restroom breaks. LOL
Example: The last trip I drove without my wife was two years ago in the late summer of 2024. It was 1,740 miles from Canada to Alabama in the EV by myself (my wife wasn't with me to demand a lot of stops LOL and making each stop take longer LOL regardless of gas car vs EV). It took me 43 hours, including a 10 hour hotel stop and 30 minutes of me on my laptop doing work during a charging stop even after the EV was charged. Take away those 10.5 hours and we're talking 32.5 hours of driving,charging,restroom,eating time to drive 1,740 miles. That's about what I'd do in a gas car. This is a trip we've driven plenty of times and I researched ahead of time before getting the EV to know that trip had plenty of fast chargers.
Admittedly, the younger version of me could have done the trip faster in a gas car because I wouldn't have needed as many restroom breaks. The current age of me has to stop for a restroom break about as often as I stop to charge the EV. The EV charges while I'm in the restroom and maybe buying a too expensive soda. In 15 minutes it's charged and I'm on the road. With my gas pickup it takes about 5-7 minutes to fill up (25 gallon tank), but I don't go to the restroom while I'm filling up (because I'm uncomfortable with setting the gas nozzle clip and walking away from my pickup). The restroom time is in addition to the gas fill up time. So I wind up spending about 15 minutes with either a gas fill up or EV charge.
I fully agree that propane has an indefinite shelf life.
However it takes quite a while for gasoline to go bad. I have vehicles that have been parked for a couple years and they start up OK. I’ve learned gas has issues after about 3 years where the engine runs rough and needs ether to start it.
Diesel has a much longer shelf life than gas, assuming it does not get contaminated in storage.
With all that said, keep in mind I do not favor EV’s at all.
Here's one from Australia of all places:
I’ve got a hybrid.
60 mpg
(Although I often drive pretty slow if no one is behind me!)
Reasonable usage case and still sounds niche to me
niche /nĭch, nēsh/
noun
1. A recess in a wall, as for holding a statue or urn.
2. A cranny, hollow, or crevice, as in rock.
3. A situation or activity specially suited to a person’s interests, abilities, or nature.
Not everyone is willing to spend twice as much for half the car.
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