The worlds first Hybrid Leaf

[rainnw]

we camp out in the middle of nowhere, and taking the SUV is a bit annoying.

Take a couple of solar panels?. they dont take that much room.

I don't think that would be too practical. :lol:

 

[walterbays]

I think it would have really been quite attractive if GM had designed the Volt the way they originally talked about it, prior to unveiling it as a PHEV. What if instead of having a heavy 80 hp gas engine powering a 55 kW generator they had a light 5-10 hp gas engine powering a 3.3 kW generator? What if instead of a complex drive train allowing the gas engine to assist they had simple electric-only drive? What if instead of 40 miles electric range they used the space and weight savings to add more batteries to get 60 miles electric range?

It would be like your own personal portable L2 charging station. Normally you'd commute and charge at home overnight. When your destination had an L2 station you'd plug in. If your destination was out of range, you'd plan charging stop(s) along the way. But if there were no good charging stops, or if all the charging stations were ICEd, then you'd stop wherever you liked and turn on your own charging station. You could even run your L2 charger while driving, though it wouldn't put out enough power to maintain your battery charge.

To me a car like that would be an attractive second car to a Leaf, rather than a gasoline car or PHEV.

 

[Volusiano]

I think it would have really been quite attractive if GM had designed the Volt the way they originally talked about it, prior to unveiling it as a PHEV. What if instead of having a heavy 80 hp gas engine powering a 55 kW generator they had a light 5-10 hp gas engine powering a 3.3 kW generator? ... You could even run your L2 charger while driving, though it wouldn't put out enough power to maintain your battery charge.

I think you just answered your own question there on why GM can't make a smaller ICE to power a smaller generator. They need to make it big enough to provide sufficient power to replenish 100% of what's drawn out of the battery in real time so the car can be driven without having to stop and wait for the charger to catch up with the battery drain.

Having said that, it's still not a bad idea to have a small ICE as an option to assist in providing continuous charge while driving for a longer range, even if it's not large enough to replenish 100% of the energy consumption in real time. The heat from the ICE can also be utilized to warm up the battery pack and car cabin in cold weather to reduce the energy needed to heat up the battery and the cabin in the cold.

Users can be given a choice to enable the ICE or not based on the range they need. Or users can just specify the range they need to go, and the computer can compute how long the ICE engine has to be on during the drive to achieve this extended range.

What if instead of 40 miles electric range they used the space and weight savings to add more batteries to get 60 miles electric range?

I suspect their choice of the 40 mile electric range has to do more with cost saving than space or weight saving. If a 60 mile range battery costs the same as a 40 mile range battery, I'm sure GM could have figured out a way to fit it into the Volt just fine to increase its marketability.