Calculating Your Ideal EV

[Titanium48]

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My conclusion is that manufacturers really need to reinvent the PHEV in the form of an SUV with a decent towing capacity.

That's the only realistic short-term PEV solution. Unfortunately, we continue to see PHEVs only being offered in 2WD - the new Escape Hybrid will be offered in both 2 or 4WD, but not the PHEV. We can only hope that a PHEV RAV4 will be offered both ways. Of course, keeping the weight down for towing requires a fairly small pack and AER, so you have to wonder if it's even worth going beyond an HEV.

The Mitsubishi Outlander uses a rear electric motor for AWD, but a 1500 lb towing capacity is less than half of the ICE version and insufficient for anything bigger than a PWC.

Excess weight certainly hurts performance and energy efficiency, but it is not all bad when towing as the heavier the tow vehicle the easier it is to keep the trailer under control.

There are potential advantages of a PHEV over a standard hybrid beyond the ability to make short trips without burning any gasoline. With 20-30 kWh of batteries and sufficiently powerful electric motors for a decently performing EV mode, you could shrink the ICE substantially and draw on the batteries for acceleration and hill climbing. The ICE could then be operated at or near maximum efficiency all of the time instead of throttling to match demand.

 

[GRA]

<snip>

My conclusion is that manufacturers really need to reinvent the PHEV in the form of an SUV with a decent towing capacity.

That's the only realistic short-term PEV solution. Unfortunately, we continue to see PHEVs only being offered in 2WD - the new Escape Hybrid will be offered in both 2 or 4WD, but not the PHEV. We can only hope that a PHEV RAV4 will be offered both ways. Of course, keeping the weight down for towing requires a fairly small pack and AER, so you have to wonder if it's even worth going beyond an HEV.

The Mitsubishi Outlander uses a rear electric motor for AWD, but a 1500 lb towing capacity is less than half of the ICE version and insufficient for anything bigger than a PWC.

Uh huh, that and the Crosstrek are the only current semi-affordable AWD PHEVs, and both have major issues.

Excess weight certainly hurts performance and energy efficiency, but it is not all bad when towing as the heavier the tow vehicle the easier it is to keep the trailer under control.

Weight-wise for towing, I was thinking more about the GVWR and towing weight limits, although performance/efficiency are obviously factors. The latter are some of the biggest negatives of the Outlander - 25 mpg combined is lousy. Compare to the RAV4 Hybrid, which has better performance, is rated 41/38/40 and has a 1,750 lb. towing capacity while being a smaller vehicle (and its base MSRP's also $6,745 lower). Obviously that's still not enough for serious towing, but it's an example of some of the trade-offs.

There are potential advantages of a PHEV over a standard hybrid beyond the ability to make short trips without burning any gasoline. With 20-30 kWh of batteries and sufficiently powerful electric motors for a decently performing EV mode, you could shrink the ICE substantially and draw on the batteries for acceleration and hill climbing. The ICE could then be operated at or near maximum efficiency all of the time instead of throttling to match demand.

Oh, I agree, using an ICE as a range-extender makes a lot of sense, especially as it makes it possible (assuming prices cooperate) to replace the ICE with a fuel-cell with essentially no operational difference from the customer perspective. I've always said that with current tech, for those who can take advantage of it (i.e. have reliable charging at home and/or work for local use), a PHFCEV is the way to go when it comes to a universal ZEV, as it maximizes the advantages and minimizes the disadvantages of both batteries and fuel cells. The only way to make BEVs competitive for longer trips is to employ swapping, and lacking standardized packs that's problematic.