Portable petrol generator to make it into a plug in hybrid

[MG4London]

I think the new 2024 plug in Prius with solar roof will be kind of 50/50 EV ICE. Not sure if it will be available in the UK.

If you are doing short trips and park in the sun you never need to charge it or ever use ICE.

 

[Chequers]

I think the new 2024 plug in Prius with solar roof will be kind of 50/50 EV ICE. Not sure if it will be available in the UK.

If you are doing short trips and park in the sun you never need to charge it or ever use ICE.

New Honda Civic full hybrid uses the ICE engine to power the Electric motor and charge the battery.
It has a 521 mile range.

Overview

All-new Honda Civic e:HEV 2022 is here with all-new levels of design & hybrid performance. Contact your nearest dealer today.

www.honda.co.uk

 

[Alb]

You could make any EV into a plug in hybrid by carrying a portable genie in your boot

Do you use the genie to grant a wish for a fully charged battery?

 

[the briggie]

Do you use the genie to grant a wish for a fully charged battery?

I tend to avoid this as it takes ages for the mist to clear from inside the car when the genie emerges from the lamp...quicker plugging it in tbh.

 

[MG4London]

Volvo do some diesel plug in hybrids. There are not many diesel hybrids but I like the sound of it because a diesel geni is a big thing so better to have it built into the car by design.

Then have a little portable petrol geni as well so all bases are covered.

If things really break down as the war in the Middle East escalates then you may be glad of the ability to use any fuel you come across from abandoned vehicles or looting buildings

 

[the briggie]

Are we not now going beyond the realms of the possible on an MG4 and this forum and into completely different territory re generators...

 

[johnb80]

I remember the BMW I3 had a little tiny lawn mower engine to charge the battery.

Thats not quite right. It has a 2 cylinder 650cc engine from one of their scooters. It's a very nice compact unit.

I know it would be extremely slow just like a granny charger you would have to leave it on over night.

It isnt used to charge the battery, it's used to generate electricity to drive the car and there is no detriment to performance when running on REX.

It would be great to have that option something like this

It is a fantastic safety net for sure.

BMW dropped the concept at the first opportunity and no one has tried since.

They continued with the REX option all the way to the end of production.

With a range of over 200 miles the requirement has gone for ever.

It was great insurance especially with the flaky public charging network.

I wonder how the cost would compare to charge your MG4 with a portable generator compared to charging at home?

It would be very expensive, using petrol to generate electricity is not cost effective.

 

[MG4London]

It would be very expensive, using petrol to generate electricity is not cost effective.

So why are they still making hybrid cars?

 

[MGCamb]

They continued with the REX option all the way to the end of production.


It was great insurance especially with the flaky public charging network.

Cannot find dates of production for UK market but there appears to be 1 for sale amongst over 200 on Autotrader.

So why are they still making hybrid cars?

Tax dodge. Delivered one to a female who drove 40k miles a year. Why would she want to plug in a cable every night (either paying for this herself or another claim to be completed) when she needed to (or her company did) buy diesel anyway. Ironically her daughter was starting a job 15 miles away (car had 30 mile stand alone range) and she was looking for a car for her.
Ford transit hybrid - ok for going round town but motorway driving dropped to 25 on a motorway (40 mpg for diesel). The only vehicle I delivered that I zeroed the mpg (ironically was asked mpg and was honest).
Mini Hybrid - whack it down a motorway and my petrol 3L BMW was more efficient.
Most folk do not plug in company PHEVs

 

[johnb80]

So why are they still making hybrid cars?

I have absolutely no idea, they make no sense at all.

With a Hybrid car you get the worst of all worlds, poor electric range, additional weight of an IC engine, gearbox etc. Performance suffers as a result. Cruising down the motorway Hybrid does absolutely nothing for you, some energy is recovered during braking but thats quickly consumed carrying the IC engine around.

Tax incentives and BIK make them attractive to some company car drivers but there is no real benefit.

Plugin Hybrid makes a little more sense but full electric is the way to go.

Cannot find dates of production for UK market but there appears to be 1 for sale amongst over 200 on Autotrader.

They stopped the REX option in the UK market just after the 120 ah battery was available. They continued in the USA market with REX including it as an option with the 120 ah battery version. Mine is a 2017 94ah REX, its been absolutely brilliant and has been a great backup in case of charger issues etc.

 

[MG Fred]

For interest, a quick calculation of cost of using a petrol portable generator (machine mart 4.1kWh for 3L = 3x£1.60) so £1.17 per kWh = a huge cost compared to charging on electric overnight at say 9p/kWh.

 

[johnb80]

For interest, a quick calculation of cost of using a petrol portable generator (machine mart 4.1kWh for 3L = 3x£1.60) so £1.17 per kWh = a huge cost compared to charging on electric overnight at say 9p/kWh.

And above most public chargers too.

 

[Alansurfer]

Maybe 10 years ago with my first Ev with 80 miles range and very few rapid chargers a portable generator would have been handy. Just not worth it now with 200-300 mile range and 140kw plus rapid charging, you would be looking at 10amp charge speed or having to carry a huge 6-8kw generator plus fuel.

 

[MG Fred]

I think the new 2024 plug in Prius with solar roof will be kind of 50/50 EV ICE. Not sure if it will be available in the UK.

If you are doing short trips and park in the sun you never need to charge it or ever use ICE.

Solar on dull winter days is hopeless. My 16 panel 4kw system can still very occasionally generate 4kw but on dull rainy days it also can produce nothing at all, all day! So a car roof panel would be useless. And using petrol to charge the battery is not economical compared to full EV battery only. That is also why those “self charging hybrid” ads are a con as it’s just an old style hybrid that you can’t plug in, hence worse than PHEV or bat EVs.

 

[Speedy Baz]

I wonder how the cost would compare to charge your MG4 with a portable generator compared to charging at home?

A lot more

 

[johnb80]

I wonder how the cost would compare to charge your MG4 with a portable generator compared to charging at home?

Average petrol genny takes about 0.4L per kWh of electricity generated. Todays average price of petrol is £1.56 per litre so each kWh costs 62.4p. A 50 kWh charge would cost £31.20. This doesn't compare well with a charge on Octopus Intelligent which would cost £3.75.

The above scenario also applies to all of the so called 'self charging Hybrid cars', absolute male cow manure.

I rest my case m'lud

 

[johnb80]

New Honda Civic full hybrid uses the ICE engine to power the Electric motor and charge the battery.
It has a 521 mile range.

Overview

All-new Honda Civic e:HEV 2022 is here with all-new levels of design & hybrid performance. Contact your nearest dealer today.

www.honda.co.uk

and is absolutely pointless as per all non plug in Hybrids.

Petrol is one of the most expensive ways of generating electricity, hybrid cars such as this suffer carrying the extra weight of the batteries and electric motor. There are slight gains in performance and the potential to recoup some energy from braking but thats all, absolutely no point in them.