I've ridden in one and this was basically a case of "you get the worst of both worlds". The engine was small and running at a constant RPM, leading to an annoying noise in the cabin. The range extension was not particularly huge. Worse, when we did eventually run out of battery on one trip, the range extender was unable to recharge the battery after refueling the car, forcing us to scramble to find an available charging station with the car on the tow truck...

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Tagbert a day ago | parent | next [-]

Yes, the Volt was a better balanced version of that. It had a longer EV range and the range extender was larger. It was much less likely to need the range extender and when it did, the larger (1.4l) engine was no more noisy than any gas engine.

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thijson 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I've been driving one for a while. On the trips I've driven, even on the highway, the engine was able to keep up with the energy draw. I think it's around 60HP. If I'm on a long trip, I'll start the engine once I reach 75% of my battery capacity. That gives a significant buffer for the engine. It's a serial hybrid.

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supportengineer 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

>> the range extender was unable to recharge the battery

Could you expand on this? What was the actual problem? For example, did the range extender start and run? Did it put any energy into the battery at all?

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thmsths a day ago | parent | next [-]

We ran out of battery and fuel (I was on the backseat so I don't remember the exact sequence, I just remember the car basically losing power without much warning on the autobahn). The car was towed to a gas station were we proceeded to refill the tank, but the range extender would not start and the car computer was adamant we had to recharge. Which led to a quest to find a public charger in the middle of the night, after 2 failed attempts, we gave up and asked to be towed to our destination instead since it was close enough.

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fragmede 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

The original BMW i3 had/has a lockout that prevented the range extender from charging the battery until it reached 6% in order to meet California's ZEV BEVx regulation.

	▲	supportengineer 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		facepalm I don't know what to call this. "Legislated fragility"