Part 10 - How about adding a generator ?

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This would make it a series hybrid electric. Yes it will work, but there are some issues.

One possibility is a small generator that provides a portion of the power required to drive the EV. For example, if it provided half of the power required, it would double the range of the vehicle.
A larger generator, capable of providing 100% of the power needed would make the vehicle only limited by the fuel in the fuel tank.

The main problem with both of these concepts is the engines used in small generators. These engines are not subject to the same EPA regulations as automobile engines, so in general they tend to produce several times as much pollution per horsepower-hour as an automobile engine. They also tend to be far less fuel efficient. As a result, most attempts to extend the range of an electric vehicle this way creates something that actually causes more air pollution than a conventional car and gets poorer fuel economy.

Basically, the advances that have been added to the modern gasoline car, such as electronic fuel injection, closed loop emission controls, and catalytic converters all have made the modern gas car a pretty hard act to follow. If one were able to apply that same technology to a small engine driving a generator then one could almost certainly build a range extending generator for an EV that would be cleaner and more fuel efficient than a gas car. The challenge would be in doing that.

A number of folks have put together range extending trailers using small car engines to drive large generators. In most cases these seem to work quite well, but the fuel economy is not dramatically better than a conventional gas car.

Several universities have built hybrid cars. You can check them out on the MAEAA Links page, just look for High School and University EVs, and then go to the Hybrid section.

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