Make no mistake, a miniature, portable power plant is nowhere near as efficient as a utility version. An industrial power plant burns less than a tenth of a gallon of natural gas to generate a kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity. Once the battery goes dry on the nascent Ramcharger, the burly truck will slurp 27 gallons of gas to travel an additional 545 miles, which works out to a relatively anemic 20 miles of range per gallon of gas.
It’s really pathetic that the journalist didn’t put these into directly comparable terms.
I’m just wondering if it is truly less efficient than a traditional plug-in hybrid system. The example they use is a huge truck which will be inefficient no matter what.
Also, does it really matter for someone who commutes short distances daily and will maybe need to use gas for long range once a year?
It should be comparable in efficiency to Honda’s hybrids, which operate on a similar principle where the gas motor mostly just acts as a generator. They’re more efficient than a pure gas vehicle, but are the least efficient hybrids on the market by a pretty wide margin
It’s really pathetic that the journalist didn’t put these into directly comparable terms.
I’m just wondering if it is truly less efficient than a traditional plug-in hybrid system. The example they use is a huge truck which will be inefficient no matter what.
Also, does it really matter for someone who commutes short distances daily and will maybe need to use gas for long range once a year?
It should be comparable in efficiency to Honda’s hybrids, which operate on a similar principle where the gas motor mostly just acts as a generator. They’re more efficient than a pure gas vehicle, but are the least efficient hybrids on the market by a pretty wide margin