this post was submitted on 17 Dec 2025
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Electric Vehicles
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whats the difference between this and a hybrid? I've never heard of a range extender but i can assume it... extends range.
Its a fully electric drivetrain with a gas generator. When the battery runs low you can recharge it (even while driving) using the generator.
So you don't have the complexity of a combined hybrid drivetrain, but instead a normal BEV one plus a power generator, both of which are very well understood problems.
Another benefit is that the generator can always run at its most efficient rpm/power point and is decoupled from the speed of the wheels.
Interestingly Wankel engines have been making a bit of a comeback for this purpose since they can be built more compactly for the same output power.
A drawback compared to hybrid drivetrains is that both components need to be built for "full" load, whilst a hybrid drivetrain can combine powers to reach maximum performance, meaning each of the motors only has to carry half (or part) of the total load.
Thanks for the explanation, thats pretty cool! I drive a hybrid and love it, I can get between 4.6-6.0 L/100km depending on the season. It flip flops between EV and engine modes, I can go well over 800 km on a tank. That system is fascinating.
This is mostly adding on to another reply, but there's two types of hybrid drivetrains:
Parallel: Both the internal combustion engine and the electric motors are coupled to the drivetrain and "share the load" or operate independently depending on demand. (electric only, engine only, both simultaneously). This is the most common type and is seen in the Toyota hybrids (Prius, Camry Hybrid, etc) and in Ford's previous hybrids (Ford and Toyota cross-license a lot of their hybrid drivetrain tech, so this makes sense).
Series: The drivetrain is fully electric and there is an internal combustion engine that only drives a generator to provide power to charge the battery and send power to the traction motor. The Chevy Volt is (well, was) the only true series hybrid I can think of right now (not to be confused with the Chevy Bolt which is an EV).
For all intents and purposes, these gas-powered range extended trucks are just series hybrids. I think the main differentiator is that the traction battery and generator portion are a bit larger.
Those series vehicles like the Volt were extremely reliable. But they were killed because of high costs.
Then there is the idiot factor. Series vehicles are supposed to be charged on grid overnight, but many owners just ran them like gas cars.
Yeah, I wanted to buy one but by the time I was in a position to, they were gone. Ended up getting a Fusion Hybrid instead. Love it, but wish I'd have bought the plugin version.
The only correct answer: EREV is marketing bs, as the Chinese NEV (New Energy Vehicles). Hybrids are the solution to no problems, just a rule appeasing patch for the reactionary car industry.
The difference is in a hybrid the combustion engine directly drives the wheels mechanically at least some of the time.
EREV is an EV with a generator. The combustion engine can only generate electricity, which can be used to drive the wheels.
Chevy volt = hybrid BMW I3 = EREV (when configured with extender) Fiskar karma = EREV Toyota Prius = hybrid
oh that makes sense! cool!
the Chevy Volt is an EREV also, the generator doesn’t drive the wheels
The generator definitely can drive the wheels directly. It only happens in very specific situations, but the functionality is there.
The Chevy Volt is definitely a hybrid and not an EREV.
Range extender: you are carrying a generator to charge up the EV truck. Similar to the Chevy Volt, discontinued, or BMW i3.
Hybrid: truck is powered by both gas and electric motors. Recently, electric motors built seamlessly into the transmission. This is basically the Prius design from the late 90s.
The major F150 EV flaw was poor range while loaded or towing or cold weather.
My understanding is the range extender is essentially a generator that charges the battery while you drive, however I may be wrong. I doubt it's like a Prius that has a complicated transmission that allows the engine to directly power the wheels and/or charge the battery.