The conversion might not be as efficient but all cars having a 350km battery for the rare occasion when they leave the city 2-3 times a month seems like a bigger waste. They would normally use the 50km battery and the lesser efficiency would kick in only during long distance trips. Modern range extenders can be pretty lightweight... It could even be modular/take-out in your frunk.
marcinzm|3 years ago
Not sure how that'd work. To get over 50km range you need a gas engine that provides 100% of the power to the car at highway speeds. A small engine won't pull that off.
Schroedingersat|3 years ago
There are motorbike engines which produce 30kW (double or triple what a tesla needs to cruise) and can be lifted with one hand. Detune it for longevity, efficiency and noise, add a 10-15kW stator and a 10L tank and you can have a range extender which would take up less than half the boot of a sedan.
If we find our collective sanity and allow travelling long distance at 80km/h that halves.
Hell if we could get our act together and design sane sized vehicles with universal standards you could just stop and swap out a pair of 30kg batteries every hour or two.
aurelianito|3 years ago