I am so glad other people with ADHD can see the insight into trains of thought. Which makes me wonder why we don't have more vehicles run on Diesel generated Electric power.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Which makes me wonder why we don’t have more vehicles run on Diesel generated Electric power.

I've wondered that too (especially as the owner of a diesel car). My best guess is that hybrid drivetrains come at a price premium compared to plain gasoline engines and Diesels also come at a price premium compared to plain gasoline engines, so trying to put both on the same car would incur a double price premium and not enough people would want to pay it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago

It's just a diesel range extender, they wouldn't have to use all that big of an engine. Just like on locomotives, the diesel is just is a generator to power electric motors. No integration into the drive line, the diesel has a generator on it that feeds the batteries.

One guy put a diesel engine in a Tesla as a range extender and it had a range of over 2,500 miles. It got like a 400mpg.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

A second engine costs more, weighs more, needs more support, and makes everything harder to repair.

Basically, internal combustion to the wheels is cheaper for the car builders and good enough.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Diesel electric, not diesel hybrid.

Diesel generates power that charges the batteries. It would be more expensive than a normal ice car, but it would have thousands of miles of range and get 8-10x the range per gallon.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Afaik the only difference at the general level is whether the IC engine connects directly to the wheels or not. A hybrid can run on either engine. A diesel electric uses an IC engine to create electricity for an electric engine. So you still need at least two engines, it's just wildly more efficient. And quite a bit more expensive to produce.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Wait why would you need two engines? Or are you counting the diesel generator as one and the electric motor as one?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Yup. A diesel generator is an engine. It's just hooked to an alternator instead of a transmission.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Yeah I wasn’t confused by the diesel generator, but typically electric motors are smaller and simple enough that they’re not considered an engine.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

Ah okay