TMS External combustion engine

[Mave]

 

[Stybar]

So, I reasoned that this is still less bad than driving with a regular gas powered car, but I wasn't sure, since those generators are probably a lot more wasteful than a proper engine.

That lead me to do some searching, and make some calculations...
A portable generator like that, uses about 0.75 liters of fuel, to generate 1kWh.
A Tesla Model X requires 98kWh to fully charge its battery.

Unless I made some very stupid mistake, and ignoring effiency and waste, that means to fully charge a Tesla Model X with a portable generator, you'd need 79.5 liters of fuel. For a range of 400 km. That gives it a efficiency of 19.875l/100km, or 11.83 miles per gallon.

My own car, which has Renault's 1.3 TCe engine, uses about 8l/100km, or 29.4 miles per gallon (official numbers state even better efficiency, but I've got kind of a heavy foot).

Obviously, using a generator is therefor a lot less efficient than a regular gas powered car.

BUT, this is also likely an emergency. I can see someone hooking it up to a generator for a few hours to charge it to a bare minimum, so they can reach a proper recharge station later on. In which case, yeah, it's less efficient, but it still used less gas than my car.

 

[Mave]

So, I reasoned that this is still less bad than driving with a regular gas powered car, but I wasn't sure, since those generators are probably a lot more wasteful than a proper engine.

That lead me to do some searching, and make some calculations...
A portable generator like that, uses about 0.75 liters of fuel, to generate 1kWh.
A Tesla Model X requires 98kWh to fully charge its battery.

Unless I made some very stupid mistake, and ignoring effiency and waste, that means to fully charge a Tesla Model X with a portable generator, you'd need 79.5 liters of fuel. For a range of 400 km. That gives it a efficiency of 19.875l/100km, or 11.83 miles per gallon.

My own car, which has Renault's 1.3 TCe engine, uses about 8l/100km, or 29.4 miles per gallon (official numbers state even better efficiency, but I've got kind of a heavy foot).

Obviously, using a generator is therefor a lot less efficient than a regular gas powered car.

BUT, this is also likely an emergency. I can see someone hooking it up to a generator for a few hours to charge it to a bare minimum, so they can reach a proper recharge station later on. In which case, yeah, it's less efficient, but it still used less gas than my car.

theydidthemath

Thanks for the write-up, interesting info!
And agree with your final reasoning, in an emergency: why the hell not?