Four years after Ford bravely electrified its best-selling vehicle, the F-150 Lightning pickup, it seemed ready to drop the model owing to slowing demand. Now, it turns out the company's got other plans. It's reengineering the flagship truck for 2026 as an extended range EV (EREV), with a gas…
I feel this article is more informative than the last article I posted. Credit to noride@lemmy.zip for the link.
Range extender: you are carrying a generator to charge up the EV truck. Similar to the Chevy Volt, discontinued, or BMW i3.
Hybrid: truck is powered by both gas and electric motors. Recently, electric motors built seamlessly into the transmission. This is basically the Prius design from the late 90s.
The major F150 EV flaw was poor range while loaded or towing or cold weather.
My understanding is the range extender is essentially a generator that charges the battery while you drive, however I may be wrong. I doubt it’s like a Prius that has a complicated transmission that allows the engine to directly power the wheels and/or charge the battery.
whats the difference between this and a hybrid? I’ve never heard of a range extender but i can assume it… extends range.
The difference is in a hybrid the combustion engine directly drives the wheels mechanically at least some of the time.
EREV is an EV with a generator. The combustion engine can only generate electricity, which can be used to drive the wheels.
Chevy volt = hybrid BMW I3 = EREV (when configured with extender) Fiskar karma = EREV Toyota Prius = hybrid
the Chevy Volt is an EREV also, the generator doesn’t drive the wheels
The generator definitely can drive the wheels directly. It only happens in very specific situations, but the functionality is there.
The Chevy Volt is definitely a hybrid and not an EREV.
oh that makes sense! cool!
Range extender: you are carrying a generator to charge up the EV truck. Similar to the Chevy Volt, discontinued, or BMW i3.
Hybrid: truck is powered by both gas and electric motors. Recently, electric motors built seamlessly into the transmission. This is basically the Prius design from the late 90s.
The major F150 EV flaw was poor range while loaded or towing or cold weather.
My understanding is the range extender is essentially a generator that charges the battery while you drive, however I may be wrong. I doubt it’s like a Prius that has a complicated transmission that allows the engine to directly power the wheels and/or charge the battery.