Some auto manufacturers are starting to make fully electric vans like e-nv200.
And I was wondering, if it is possible to use car’s battery to run electronic appliances inside the van(share the battery to run the car and also run some electronics).
If this is possible, wouldn’t it be much more convenient and cost efficient compared to solar panels and etc? And you can simply visit charging stations to top up your battery.
However, I don’t see that many people doing this/have this kind of set up. What is that?
It is technically possible but who would want an RV that has a range of 150 miles or so? Besides every meal you cook takes away 20 miles of range, so…
Battery technology is not there yet. Electric van will work nicely as a delivery van or people carrier in city, short trips, charger is always close and (in my opinion most important) no exhaust fumes in the streets.
Purely electric is not practical at this time, the ranges are too short, the charging times are too long, and charging station infrastructure is extremely poor in most areas.
High MPG gas/electric hybrids might be a viable solution, but they would need to get the MPG ratings MUCH higher before I would be interested, and the cost of ownership would need to be lower than conventional vehicles.
Personally, I think we’re missing the boat, or being misled by big money. I think hydrogen retrofits for existing gas vehicles would be the better route to go. Fill your tank with water and convert it to hydrogen as needed by the engine. If such a retrofit was cheap enough, which it should be if what I read about existing gas engines being able to run on hydrogen with a simple adapter, we could cut pollution world wide dramatically while reducing our dependence on fossil fuels.
Hydrogen on demand could be the next BIG THING, changing the world for the better, and keeping more money in our pockets for everybody. I like that idea much better than solar, which still costs a fortune, requires sunshine, and needs batteries for it to be practical, which of course are consumables.
Now if we could get electric vehicles that are combined with generators like the fuel efficient ones that run for 8+ hours on a gallon of gas, that could give us up to 300-400 miles on a gallon of gas. I’d seriously consider something like that, and I believe that technology exists today but is being withheld from the public by big money interests.
Cheers!
"Opportunities are everywhere, but only action makes it happen." ~ Van_Dweller
Chevy Volt and BMW i3 both have their gasoline engines work as generators that charge batteries. I’m not sure about Volt, but I know that BMW uses 2-cylinder engine from C650GT maxi scooter.
There are probably others too but those two I know for sure. For i3 the gas engine was/is actually an optional extra.
So yea, technically that is possible. System needs to be just a tad more powerful to supply van sized vehicle.
