Range-extender engines

Once derided as unappealing, poorly performing milk floats, pure-electric cars have come a long way in a short space of time.

But while vehicles such as the Tesla Roadster, the Mitsubishi i-Miev and the Nissan Leaf have all helped to nibble away at consumer scepticism, the perennial problem of range anxiety the fear that a vehicle simply won’t have enough juice to reach its destination remains a major cause for concern.

One increasingly popular solution to this problem is the range extender, a type of small internal combustion (IC) engine used as a generator to drive a car’s electric motor or to recharge its batteries.

As the engine is not mechanically linked to the drivetrain, its design can be kept fairly simple, which, according to its advocates, makes it particularly attractive to OEMs.

One company leading the development of this so-called series-hybrid technology is Norfolk’s Lotus Engineering, which is working with Spanish engineering group Fagor Ederlan on the development of a system that could enter series production within the next couple of years.