Auxiliary battery pack to add a little EV range

[Fjpod]

I've Googled this topic already and haven't found much, but has anyone heard of a somewhat small, self contained battery pack that could be charged from house current, then used to add some range to our Outlander PHEVs while on the road? In a manner such as with small rechargeable battery packs for cell phones? Obviously it is going to be bigger, probably weigh at least 40-50 lbs?

I wouldn't carry it around all the time, but on longer trips, if it could add, say, 10 miles of range,???

 

[mellobob]

You would be much better off with a 1 gallon can of gasoline

 

[michael8554]

My early PHEV has about 9KWh capacity for an approx 25 mile range.

So you need about 3.6KWh capacity for 10 miles.

Ideally 400V output so you can feed into the CHAdeMo socket.

Custom interface and cabling.

Maybe £3000 ?

A gallon of petrol works for me too.

 

[Fjpod]

Lol. I guess you guys are right. But someday.....

 

[greendwarf]

Possibly - when I first got my PHEV 6 years ago I found a similar pack for the Prius being marketed in California - so keep looking and you might find something. But loss of boot space would be annoying, as well as cost.

 

[jaapv]

Probably better to trade it in for a Tesla.

 

[Fjpod]

Before my Outlander, I had an imiev... great little run-around car, BTW... but I often thought I would love to carry around a small auxiliary battery pack to give me an extra 10 or 15 miles.

I don't know about in other places, but here in NYC and surrounding areas, there are not a lot of convenient charging stations. And the cost of public charging to me seems so high, that I will only charge at home.

Anyway... traded it in for a phev.

 

[michael8554]

Tempted to get a i-miev for the wife.

They were sold in EU as Mitsu, and Citroen C1 and Peugeot ion as well.

50 miles a charge would be twice as much as she needs.

 

[ThudnBlundr]

We've still got our early ZOE, which has a 60-mile range in winter from its 22kWh battery. We've done 30k miles in it in 3 years and never charged away from home

 

[twosout]

A nice idea
BUT
I don't think you can drive at the same time as you're charging.
The assumption being, among other things, that the cable would be attached to a stationary fixture.

 

[Fjpod]

I was thinking of a suitcase side battery pack that you could charge at home, then maybe at the halfway point in a long trip you plug the pack into the charging port On the car during a stop, and let the power flow into the car's battery. ... Just like with an auxiliary battery pack for a mobile phone.

 

[greendwarf]

That's not how the Prius add on was claimed to work. It effectively was added to the existing battery from startup. Alternativel, if you are prepared to sacrifice boot space for capacity, why not carry around a portable generator - I can sell you one if you want

 

[greendwarf]

And another thing - I know nothing about battery technology but all of the powerbanks for mobiles I have seen are bigger nd heavier than the battery in the 'phone - so be careful what you wish for. :lol:

 

[ThudnBlundr]

I was thinking of a suitcase side battery pack that you could charge at home, then maybe at the halfway point in a long trip you plug the pack into the charging port On the car during a stop, and let the power flow into the car's battery. ... Just like with an auxiliary battery pack for a mobile phone.

Maybe there's a business opportunity to have a series of chargers at car parks and such like, so that you could charge up from them when you stop Then you wouldn't have to carry round an extremely expensive, heavy suitcase at all

 

[Fjpod]

I was thinking of a suitcase side battery pack that you could charge at home, then maybe at the halfway point in a long trip you plug the pack into the charging port On the car during a stop, and let the power flow into the car's battery. ... Just like with an auxiliary battery pack for a mobile phone.

Maybe there's a business opportunity to have a series of chargers at car parks and such like, so that you could charge up from them when you stop Then you wouldn't have to carry round an extremely expensive, heavy suitcase at all

In my area, NYC and surrounds, it would be cheaper to burn gasoline than pay the fees demanded for public charging. Typically a charging company would charge, "$6.99 to $9.99 per charge, depending on membership" (not necessarily kwh or time. So, let's say $8 for 22 miles...??? I can buy one gallon of gasoline for $2.29 and get 22 miles. So, there is hope for an auxiliary battery pack. Why not? They got really cheap (like $5) for cell phones. Why not one for your car for ...maybe $500 ? It won't be long. You'll be able to buy one for $250.