Electric vehicles with small batteries and high‐efficiency on‐board electricity production

Abstract

Data of plug‐in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), that includes both traditional hybrids electric vehicles (HEV) with the additional opportunity to recharge the battery by plugging into an electric outlet such as the Toyota Prius Prime, and battery electric vehicles (BEV) with range extender such as the BMW i3 REx, demonstrate the need of a less constrained research and development to optimize the design of electric vehicles with range extender for better energy economy and range. BEV with smaller, rather than larger, batteries, and onboard high‐efficiency electricity production, are superior economically and environmentally, until the times the electricity production will be overwhelming renewable, there will be a widespread recharging infrastructure, materials to produce the batteries will be abundant and ethically sourced, and the disposal of the batteries will be properly addressed. A hypothetical BMW i3 with a 30 Ah battery pack, and a high‐efficiency ICE, may have an MPGe (miles‐per‐gallon equivalent) working electric of 127 miles, a MPGe between 62 and 127 while sharing the energy supply, and a MPGe of 62 only using the gasoline energy supply.

Analysis of the energy storage battery and fuel tank of a commercial electric vehicle with range extender during charge sustaining operation

“…As shown in Reference , much better performances can be obtained by replacing the relatively low tech ICEs used as the range extender to one latest high‐tech ICEs that have demonstrated the opportunity to pass the 50% fuel conversion efficiency chemical‐to‐mechanical during operation over significant ranges of engine speed and loads . Finally, improved performances are also the result of not limiting the use of the ICE just to reach the nearest recharging station starting operation when the SOC of the battery is very low, with continuous start/off of the engine, and also change of speed.…”

“…The range‐extender engine and the fuel tank were acting as a spare battery , activated when the state‐of‐charge (SOC) of the battery pack was dropping below a prescribed threshold only to permit reaching the closest recharging point . As discussed in Reference , this prescribed operation of the range extender was dramatically limiting the opportunities offered by a series of hybrid configurations. These opportunities were further limited by the selection of a down powered motorcycle gasoline engine modified to achieve euro 6 emissions standards plus some other specific operation changes, as the ICE driving the electric generator to recharge the battery.…”

“…Thus, here we report an experimental and numerical analysis performed on this BEV aimed at assessing the efficiencies of storing and discharging energy in the Li‐ion battery pack, the efficiency of the electric motor/generator and the driveline, the efficiency of the range extender engine and generator. Figure presents a scheme of a range extender battery electric vehicles from Reference . The objective of this article is to analyze the chemical, electrical, and mechanical power flow of one BEV with range extender covering the UDDS, Hwy and US06 cycles in Charge Sustaining Operation when the ICE operates.…”

Energy storage needs for an Australian national electricity market grid without combustion fuels

“…While battery technologies have certainly evolved, and are further improving, the sought technological breakthroughs in battery technologies are still missing. Considering the environmental and economic costs to build and dispose of the present technology lithium‐ion batteries, the shortage of the raw materials needed, additional to their unethical mining, and relevant to the transport application, also the low volumetric, and mass, energy density, the battery issues need to be solved the sooner the better, because, otherwise, there would be, not environmentally, nor economically friendly, renewable energy grids, electric mobility, and other primary energy uses of wind and solar.…”

Control algorithms for a Range Extender vehicle with an combustion engine

“…The analysis of the economic viability of the BMW i3 drive with an internal combustion engine system was conducted by Boretti [3]. Putting together several generations of the vehicle, the BMW i3 decided that the REX solution makes sense only when covering distances longer than the electric range.…”