Quote:
Originally Posted by GadgetmanKen
But I often wonder about the small gasoline engines that are used to recharge the batteries .... How they are solving our dependence on oil? Sure you're using less, but aren't small gasoline engines less efficient at burning all the hydrocarbons and potentially creating more smog?
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There's another really important part that you have ignored.
Typical gas car engines are relatively inefficient because they must operate over a wide range, from idle all the way up to red-line,
This inevtiably requires compromises to be made between efficiency, power and so on.
However if you can have a gas engine that is dedicated to ( and thus optimised for ) merely running a generator, that's a whole different ball game.
It can run at an ideal rev setting that works best for the gas engine and for the electric generator.
Efficiency and exhausts can be optimised.
Michael