I’ve been wanting to get an Electric car but have held back as technology is just not there yet, for me.
I took a drive to Palmdale a few weeks back from San Jose, California, a distance of about 330 miles. I also came back the same day for a total of 660 miles. While driving thru Lebec, along Highway 5, just north of the Grapevine I came upon a large number of Tesla cars charging at the Tesla charging station there. It holds only a few cars, eight at the time, so a number were queued up waiting their turn. Waiting in a line for gasoline is bad enough, but waiting for multiple cars to each finish a 2-3 hour charge,
Ouch!!
Jeepers, why would I want a pure electric car for the next few years. They need to get better.
So, I started looking at getting a Plug In Hybrid in the future as a way to get the best of both worlds. Most of the Plug-In hybrids on the market are more gas oriented then electric. Of the cars on the market, the Chevy Volt comes the closest to what I want. It has a range of approximately 53 miles on Battery alone with the gas motor kicking in after the battery is down. A number of Plug-In Hybrids have ranges of 15 miles or so. Pretty useless unless you are just after a California Green Sticker for the Car Pool Lexus lane.
How would my perfect electric-emphasized hybrid work?
- Reverse and lower speeds in town would be handled by the Electric Motors. This means we really don’t need a transmission.
- Electric Only range would ideally be about 50 – 70 miles. This might be long enough to let me zip around town on my errands and not use the gas motor at all.
- A gas motor would be provided that really provides the following. a) Power enough to cruise the car at 70 MPH on a level road. b) at 70 MPH there would be power enough for some mild recharging of the main batteries if needed. Lower speeds, more recharging.
The gas motor would maybe only need to be 40-50 HP. That’s all that might be needed to cruise at 70 MPH. If I wanted more power for hills or passing, the Electric Motors could give an assist.
The gas motor could be connected to the driving wheels with a Locking Torque Converter with a neurtral. The motor could also drive a generator, for recharging batteries.
I know recharging the batteries with an onboard gas motor is not the most efficient, but what if I need, or want, the electrics at my destination?
With this setup I could drive around town on electric power, recharging at home. If I am on the freeway for a bit, I could switch in the small gas motor and re-charge the batteries. When I get home I then make a decision, to plug in and charge, or not.
Although no one builds my car yet the closest is a Chevy Volt. Probably headed that way.