Battery Vehicle Society

This may be asking a "silly" question, but what the heck!!

Designing a human electric hybrid, and ignoring the legal aspects (for the moment) what enginnering issues are connected with having a small petrol generator in a trailer which could be towed behind an EV when the planned journeys are close to the extreme range limit.

Ideally this generator could be turned on whilst mobile to preserve battery charge before it became critically low.

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Cessna

Hi Cessna,

Perhaps you could tell us a bit more about your proposed vehicle. Is a "human electric hybrid" an electric bicycle or something larger? If you want to use the generator to power your vehicle while driving, then it will probably need to provide at least the power required to maintain your max vehicle speed on level ground, or even a bit more. I would try and avoid the generator if possible, that money could be used for a larger battery pack, for example.

Hi Greg

Thanks for the reply, the Human Hybrid I'm designing is more akin to a bicycle than a car, the sketchs are currently a tadpole trike ( two wheels in the front) enclosed with the running gear typically cycle based. Motor size will be around 500-1000 Watts. As human power is a significant element, weight and drag are very important, the thought was I could reduce weight by reducing battery size and towing a small generator to help (stretch) the battery life, when operating over longer distances than the planned 30 mile range.

Kind regards
Cessna

I know you dont want to look at the legal issues of towing a small genny or having one in the proposed vehicle BUT I have to say I do think you'll find you may well attract unwanted attention from Mr Policeman
Not to mention the fact you will have to be lugging the genny about when you may not need it.
I really notice a difference having the genny in the back of the blingo.

I understand the reasoning behind it but personally I'd look at buying a bigger and better battery pack that will give you a better range and do away with all the complications of luggin a genny about.

ChrisB

Hi Chris

Thanks for the e-mail, I,ve decided to stop the "free child thinking" and accept I will need a larger battery.

Kind regards
Cessna

Nothing wrong with a bit of "free thinking"

And in my book its ALWAYS worth throwing a few ideas about how ever mad or odd they may seem

ChrisB