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Re:New two-stroke engine design could help keep internal com... by extrapickles on Tuesday May 26, 2020 @01:09PM (#23313678)
You would need a 20-30kw generator+fast DC charger as the built it AC charger in most electric cars is not fast enough to maintain a charge at highway speeds (especially while towing something).

Like other commentators have mentioned, if a u-haul like network of these were made, if you ran out of charge somewhere, they could drop one of these off to get you going again, as a depleted battery pack will charge slowly, making the van full of batteries potentially more expensive (you would have to pay for an extra 15-30m of their time).

Re:New two-stroke engine design could help keep internal com... by wtallis on Tuesday May 26, 2020 @02:43PM (#23314892)
20-30kW might be a bit higher than needed unless the trailer is oversized to provide extra cargo capacity in addition to carrying the generator. You don't need a generator big enough to prevent the battery from draining at all; you just need to extend the range enough to cover a full day of driving while offsetting the extra drag from the trailer. 10-15kW is probably plenty for a trailer that only carries the generator: that would double the highway range of a Model S and would weigh about 700 lbs while being compact enough to have very little aerodynamic drag. A 30kW generator would be enough to double the range even if the trailer doubled the energy consumed per mile, and that's only going to happen with a pretty large trailer.
Re:New two-stroke engine design could help keep internal com... by extrapickles on Tuesday May 26, 2020 @07:03PM (#23317479)
The Model S is fairy efficient and aerodynamic compared to other EVs.

If anyone did this, they probably would offer 15kW and 30kW versions, so both passenger cars and light trucks would be covered.