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What Happens When You Add an Alternator To An Electric Car? Extended Range? Jeremy Fielding Explains


What Happens When You Add an Alternator To An Electric Car? Extended Range? Jeremy Fielding Explains

The number of everyday people, who do not have degrees in electrical engineering or physics, who claim to be able to change the way electrical items work is always entertaining to me. I have seen so many people tell someone online that they can make a simple garage fix and change the world. These claims always make me wrinkle my forehead because if most of these were true then every manufacturer on the planet would do them to make their products better, cheaper. These kinds of claims have become the norm when talking about Electric Vehicles, and have people asking interesting questions about how they work and how we can make them better. I’m as guilty as anyone, because I don’t understand why we aren’t using additional gearing in an EV, but I haven’t had the opportunity to talk to an engineer to ask why they do it the way they do. But what about adding range or power to an EV by adding the ability for it to make more of it’s own power? Would an alternator do this? Is it possible?

Watch, learn, and ask questions because we want to know what you think and if you understand.

Video Description:

A followup to my Nikola Tesla Video. Can you extend the range? What if you add gears and flywheels? These questions answered in the video! #tesla, #freeenergy, #generator


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22 thoughts on “What Happens When You Add an Alternator To An Electric Car? Extended Range? Jeremy Fielding Explains

  1. yourdudeness

    some ofi our washington design team needs too see this before they change more laws for flawed designs

  2. Phil Shipp

    Spinning the alternator will put a load on the drive motor thus draining the main battery pack. The alternator generated power will be less than that lost by the main batteries due primarily to friction loss in the alternator bearings and drive belt. If running the lower voltage electric and electric devices by the alternator is much more efficient than by battery pack power (which must be voltage reduced and converted) then it could be feasible. But I doubt it.

  3. Neil cadden

    Attepting to get perpetual motion.
    Never going to happen due to mechanical and electrical losses.
    Pie in sky .

  4. David Almeida

    I thought about this when I was a kid. My dad simply said you cannot get something for nothing.

  5. Stephen L Grimes

    The Ultimate Green EV is one which enables recharging during the operational mode. This would reduce the demand on any and all electric grids, as well as minimize the need for tens of thousands of charging stations everywhere. Not sure an alternator is necessary, when one already has two axles spinning turning 4 wheels. Why not dual use on axles – turn wheels to propel the vehicle while generating power for recharging? Hey – battery driven cars were once impossible, right!

    1. Marc McCarter

      Electric forklifts recharge there battery while braking. Use the motor to create energy by reversing polarity and converting it into a generator

    2. pierre lorio

      what if instead of one battery that needs to be charged when it runs out of charge, if they would make a 3 stage battery that runs of of 1 stage at a time and when that battery runs down it switches to a 2cd stage and the 1st stage is charged by a one cylinder engine running on gas to power a charging system to charge to first stage and so on?

  6. Brian W

    HAha free electricity for your vehicle not going to happen…. same reason gas engines have limited MPG…. Corporate Greed!

    1. Earl Farquar

      Gas engines are limited by Displacement, RPM, Aero Drag, & Total Weight. They are primarily a big air compressor that burns fuel. The highest air fuel ratio that they can tolerate is around 15:1 A/F & most make the highest HP at around 12:1 AF. The only “free” HP available is a turbo but not free becuase it will require more Fuel to compensate the added Air. There is NO magic carburater that the corporations bought up to hide technology & force you to buy more fuel. BTW, my buddy’s 2022 DuraMax 1 ton Crew Cab 4×4 gets 22mpg running around & 15 pulling a 10,000lb trailer & my 99 Ford gets 17 & 12. Pretty good, I think, but then I’ve been an ASE Cert mechanic, building hot rods & race cars, & driving for 55 years & experienced all the bs stories about “corporate greed”. If ya want to place blame where it’s due, blame the government for insane requirements.

    2. The real Donald Trump

      I think in NC there are a bunch of free electric chargers so technically incorrect . . .

  7. CMR2

    What if the “alternator” is changed , ie the rims , components added to get the alternator effect from not a alternator, the tire turn no matter what . Looking at it wrong adding them in a different form may be the ticket. Understand a standard alternator won’t work , but 4 tires turning for free does

    1. ROY

      Redesign the rotors to be generator hubs and utilize the motion to energize the system. 4 wheel regeneration system.

    1. Nick Jolly

      Check out Aptera. Most EVs are just electrified ice vehicles, meaning they are heavy and have poor aerodynamics requiring huge batteries to make them practical. The amount of solar panels it’s possible to get on a car produce too little power to make them practical. There are a few companies taking a different route, and Aptera is one of them, by proposing much lighter and more aerodynamic vehicles requiring smaller batteries that can get significant charge from on board solar panels.

  8. David

    Here’s something to think about, I’m not all EV not yet any how, but what about a hybrid and used the pulley system from the gas engine to also act as a generator to charge batteries so said vehicle can go another 400 miles after you run out of gas this way you don’t have to plug in to recharge, fill your tank and by time your at a half tank your batteries are fully charged then the cycle starts over again

  9. Nick Jolly

    Check out Aptera. Most EVs are just electrified ice vehicles, meaning they are heavy and have poor aerodynamics requiring huge batteries to make them practical. The amount of solar panels it’s possible to get on a car produce too little power to make them practical. There are a few companies taking a different route, and Aptera is one of them, by proposing much lighter and more aerodynamic vehicles requiring smaller batteries that can get significant charge from on board solar panels.

  10. Geoff C

    The concept of a flywheel used to brake then to restart or accelerate the vehicle is well established and used in buses. I suspect that the extra weight wouldn’t be worthwhile in a car, particularly one that spends any amount of time running on open roads rather than in heavy traffic.

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