A Review of Range Extenders in Battery Electric Vehicles: Current Progress and Future Perspectives

Emissions from the transportation sector are significant contributors to climate change and health problems because of the common use of gasoline vehicles. Countries in the world are attempting to transition away from gasoline vehicles and to electric vehicles (EVs), in order to reduce emissions. However, there are several practical limitations with EVs, one of which is the “range anxiety” issue, due to the lack of charging infrastructure, the high cost of long-ranged EVs, and the limited range of affordable EVs. One potential solution to the range anxiety problem is the use of range extenders, to extend the driving range of EVs while optimizing the costs and performance of the vehicles. This paper provides a comprehensive review of different types of EV range extending technologies, including internal combustion engines, free-piston linear generators, fuel cells, micro gas turbines, and zinc-air batteries, outlining their definitions, working mechanisms, and some recent developments of each range extending technology. A comparison between the different technologies, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of each, is also presented to help address future research needs. Since EVs will be a significant part of the automotive industry future, range extenders will be an important concept to be explored to provide a cost-effective, reliable, efficient, and dynamic solution to combat the range anxiety issue that consumers currently have.