this post was submitted on 17 Dec 2025
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Electric Vehicles
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whats the difference between this and a hybrid? I've never heard of a range extender but i can assume it... extends range.
This is mostly adding on to another reply, but there's two types of hybrid drivetrains:
Parallel: Both the internal combustion engine and the electric motors are coupled to the drivetrain and "share the load" or operate independently depending on demand. (electric only, engine only, both simultaneously). This is the most common type and is seen in the Toyota hybrids (Prius, Camry Hybrid, etc) and in Ford's previous hybrids (Ford and Toyota cross-license a lot of their hybrid drivetrain tech, so this makes sense).
Series: The drivetrain is fully electric and there is an internal combustion engine that only drives a generator to provide power to charge the battery and send power to the traction motor. The Chevy Volt is (well, was) the only true series hybrid I can think of right now (not to be confused with the Chevy Bolt which is an EV).
For all intents and purposes, these gas-powered range extended trucks are just series hybrids. I think the main differentiator is that the traction battery and generator portion are a bit larger.
Those series vehicles like the Volt were extremely reliable. But they were killed because of high costs.
Then there is the idiot factor. Series vehicles are supposed to be charged on grid overnight, but many owners just ran them like gas cars.
Yeah, I wanted to buy one but by the time I was in a position to, they were gone. Ended up getting a Fusion Hybrid instead. Love it, but wish I'd have bought the plugin version.