Extended Range Electric Vehicles Are The Talk Of The Town – CleanTechnica

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It’s not a hybrid. It’s not a plug-in electric vehicle. An extended range electric vehicle (EREV) is effectively an all-electric vehicle, with all the motive power provided by an electric motor but with a small internal combustion engine (ICE) present to generate additional electric power. And the extended range EV has become all the rage — for a variety of reasons.

How Does an Extended Range Electric Vehicle Work?

In an extended range EV, the battery is discharged to a specified level. That triggers the ICE to switch on to run a generator. The generator supplies power to the electric motor and/or recharges the battery.

What’s the benefit of this dynamic? Well, the (perceived or not) range limitation with a battery EV is diminished. Most people drive under 100 miles a day anyway, so the extended range EVs can operate in full-electric mode, which makes them clean and energy efficient — just like a battery EV (at least in that mode). For those longer road trips, EREVs draw upon the ICE to keep the battery charged.

What’s the difference in fuel usage with an EREV? It’s important to note that an EREV in ICE mode still consumes “noticeably less fuel than conventional ICEVs,” according to Science Direct.

• The engine of an EREV is significantly smaller than that of a conventional ICEV. That means it only needs to meet average power demands because peak power is delivered by the battery pack.
• The engine of an ICEV, on the other hand, must also cover peak-power surges such as accelerations.
• The engine of an EREV operates at a constant, highly efficient, rotation speed.
• An ICEV often runs at low or high rotation speeds during which, in both situations, its efficiency is low.

Digging Deeper: Questions about EVs that Drive EREV Interest

What’s the issue with a battery-electric vehicle’s battery pack? A battery EV has a big ole battery. It’s essential to power the vehicle. In order to give it the oomph it needs, the battery pack — sometimes referred to as a skateboard — is generally heavy and on the expensive side. Right now, the materials that make it viable need to be globally sourced. Like many auto production parts, whenever the supply chain is vast, the harvesting and travel from afar leave a big carbon footprint.

There’s progress being made in batteries, however, as Canary Media reports. A type of lithium-ion battery called lithium iron phosphate, or LFP, is becoming increasingly prevalent in EVs around the world. Manufacturers like Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Rivian, Tesla, and others are now offering these packs as an alternative to, or an outright replacement for, the nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) and nickel cobalt aluminum oxide (NCA) chemistries that have dominated for years.

Doesn’t an EV with a small battery make sense? That’s what some manufacturers have thought. They installed smaller batteries into their battery EVs. But some owners — newbies, especially, who have little to no experience with habits of charging — experienced range anxiety, which inhibited other former ICE owners from taking the EV plunge. The Bigger is Better mantra held, and even today many drivers believed they deserve need the cushion of hundreds of miles of range.

What about a hybrid as an alternative? A hybrid vehicle has two powertrains, so you can utilize electric power for your decarbonization efforts and gasoline power for longer trips when you don’t want to or can’t charge. A hybrid electric vehicle cannot be plugged in to charge the battery. Instead, the battery is charged through regenerative braking and by the internal combustion engine. The Environmental Protection Agency says a front-wheel drive CR-V Hybrid gets 40 mpg in city and highway driving — 10 mpg better than the gasoline-powered version. An owner of a hybrid CR-V who drives 15,000 miles annually would save $450 a year on fuel over the gas model.

Hybrids aren’t all rosy, though. Their heavier build due to the battery makes them less fuel efficient when running solely on gas and accelerates tire wear, leading to increased tire particulate pollution. The initial environmental footprint of PHEVs is larger due to the extra materials required for their manufacture. They cost more to run when driving on gas alone.

Aren’t plug-in hybrids and extended range vehicles the same? Plug-in hybrids have engines that help create electricity and drive the wheels. The EREV has an engine that just pushes power to the generator to produce energy. Extended range EVs are sometimes referred to as “series hybrids,” which means they propel themselves solely with electric power, and, when that runs out, the generator kicks in to replenish it to extend the range. The transmission in an EREV is much simpler than in a hybrid, and it’s the familiar simple reduction gear mechanism found in most EVs.

What are some examples of extended range EVs available on the market? Right now there are relatively few extended range EV models on sale in the domestic market. Scout Motors, which is a reinvention of an original US SUV brand, has been announced by the Volkswagen Group for a 2027 launch. Scout Motors describes its new Scout Traveler SUV and Scout Terra pickup concepts as pure electric vehicles with up to 350 miles of range, or with an optional range extender consisting of a gas generator to bring the total range up to 500 miles. Their messaging stresses bedrock principles — a tough truck for tough people. Unfortunately — on many levels — Volkswagen is hemorrhaging money in China and talking about closing factories in Germany, for the first time in its history; the outlook for the company is looking bleak and getting bleaker by the day.

China is actually “ground zero” for the extended range electric vehicle movement. An EREV system is being developed for XPeng, which has not used any combustion engines to date because it was focused on selling battery-electric cars exclusively. The new EREV powertrain is called XPeng Kunpeng Super Electric System.

Stellantis’ 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger electric truck has a mediocre 141-mile charge supplemented by a V-6 engine that can power the battery to 690 miles. Mazda sells the MX-30 R-EV in Europe. Hyundai says it will start selling a model into North American and Chinese markets in 2027 that has a top range of 560 miles. The vehicle will “serve as a key bridge to full electrification.”

“The future is fully electric,” says Kathy Harris, who directs the clean vehicles policy program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group. “But many drivers are worried about going fully electric. While the country continues to build out a robust charging network, EREVs can be a good choice for some of them.”