DIY Range Extender + Charging Solution

[tripzero]

That appears to only have 120V 15A charging, so that's only 2 mph.

It has a TT-30 plug for 30A charging. The last image shows the truck pulling 3KW.

I don't think I will ever need be more than an hour's drive to a charger, and as crazy as this might sound to some, if required, I am willing to drive out every few days to top up.

I will have a portable battery, but I will use the CT to charge that. No need for solar blankets either.

In exceptional circumstance sure, i.e. for north AU, solar panels are the go.. an excellent option, but mostly there is more than one way to skin a cat, and I wonder why we bother. Each to their own, just saying.

In this situation the truck will be sitting 4 days while we hike and is 1.5hrs from the nearest charger. I may not need it as the estimator says I'll have between 64-72% at the destination (not sure why it varies every time I check it, weather maybe?) But if I get phantom drain at 4%/day I'm cutting it too close for comfort.

Sponsored

 

[REM]

Just straps.

Better than nothing, but I would look into hardpoint mounting.

 

[Tinker71]

That's cool you have experience trying this. I agree 6KWh doesn't do much. On 6KWh I could do 4%. Now I can add 6% per day on 9KWh, but no more. That's about 20 miles.

When you say 10 full sun hours, do you mean you were charging it with solar? If so, how much power were the panels rated for?

This solution won't ever be as good as the official battery extender, but I estimate it'll save 40 miles (either by adding or preventing loss) over 4 days. That's almost half of the range extender at a fraction of the price and I can remove it.

This would be cool during a non EMP apocalypse. If you drove 40 MPH you could get around a bit. Of course you would need weapons to keep from getting carjacked. etc. etc.

 

[JBee]

This would be cool during a non EMP apocalypse. If you drove 40 MPH you could get around a bit. Of course you would need weapons to keep from getting carjacked. etc. etc.

Probably one of the most important uses of lead worldwide is to protect your gold and silver. The ways of the west.

Honestly I doubt there will be many places to go in such a situation, and do so willingly, unless you happen to be stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time. Better off trying to be in the right place most of the time.

Seeing the CT's Power Module is bidirectional using a full H-bridge, technically, within reason of peripheral components being compatible, it should technically be possible to reprogram it to take 120-240V DC instead from a Solar PV panel, instead of AC from the mains. Then it's just a question of making up the appropriate connector/adapter with a few safety elements to avoid misuse.

I was actually hoping that they would employ some form of high power 48V bus for this, or even have a dedicated power module unit to drive a trolling motor or high powered winch as well, like a ePTO. The beauty of this would be that you could setup workplace and home undercover car parking that connects directly to the panels, with only some simple safety switches. The EV/CT brings all the complicated and expensive hardware it needs with it, and just plugs into the solar. Another idea is to use the air suspension for tracking, and even a version of Solar FSD, that drives in an arc, for CT roof mounted foldout panels in places where there's enough space to drive a few meters.

 

[Woodrick]

It has a TT-30 plug for 30A charging. The last image shows the truck pulling 3KW.


In this situation the truck will be sitting 4 days while we hike and is 1.5hrs from the nearest charger. I may not need it as the estimator says I'll have between 64-72% at the destination (not sure why it varies every time I check it, weather maybe?) But if I get phantom drain at 4%/day I'm cutting it too close for comfort.

Okay, yes 30A charging, but that's 30A @120V charging, so a little better, not much.

Just make sure that everything is turned off in the truck, Sentry, Cabin Overheat, 3rd party monitoring apps. Letting the vehicle go into a deep sleep is the key to reducing drain.

The nav system takes all sorts of things into consideration, traffic, weather, elevation changes, etc, so yes, it is expected to change each time.

 

[Frank_Castle]

Def. respect your effort in figuring out how to be remote and keep the truck alive. This is something those of who will be using the truck in remote areas need to figure out without the range extender being available yet.........even then, what will the true total range be.

 

[TexasRaider]

I hope them well.

But I doubt they make it into production.

It’s expensive for what it can provide, unfortunately. I have an early reservation so they said that mine would be $3500. At that rate, I could supercharge for years before I spent that amount of money.
But, that is NOT the audience they can target for this product.
But if I live out in BFE and didn’t have access to supercharging, more than likely I won’t have the $3500 for this solution.
I could be wrong.

 

[resellpanda88]

Tesla should have really just went through with their range extender.

Sponsored