"Small Company Sees Future in Range Extender Trailers for Electric Vehicles " Green Car Advisor

The idea's not new, but commercial execution would be: a follow-along generator that produces juice for battery-electric vehicles to keep 'em running long after their initial grid-derived charge is depleted - an EV range-extender.

Electric Motors and Vehicles Co., an Indiana startup with a background building specialty camping and hunting trailers sold through Jeep dealers, says it is developing a power regeneration unit - PRU - that will turn any EV into a long distance runner.

EV pioneer Alan Cocconi and Tom Gage developed a similar concept more than a decade ago for a prototype electric sports car their company, Southern California-based AC Propulsion, built to showcase the power of electric drive systems.

Their T-Zero, which posted a 0-60 time of 3.6 seconds, could become a cross-country traveler when Gage and Cocconi hitched up a small trailer called the Long Ranger that was fitted with a 20 kilowatt gasoline generator and the necessary connector cords. It was attached to the rear of the T-Zero via a so-called smart hitch, which lets the trailer act like it is part of the car, making it easier to back up and to maneuver in reverse and in tight quarters.

"Small Company Sees Future in Range Extender Trailers for Electric Vehicles " Green Car Advisor