Drivers of all-electric vehicles may suffer from the worry that their car may run out of charge before they get to their destination (range anxiety). The EP Tender takes care of this solution by letting an all-electric vehicle owner attach a small gas generator on wheels to their car for long trips.
Even if electric vehicle (EV) drivers can get to a charging station, there is often a long wait for the battery to get topped off with some cars (though many newer electric vehicles have fast charge capability to get them to 80% or so charge in a short time). The Chevy Volt, as well as plug-in hybrids, solve the problem by giving drivers a gas engine in the car that kicks in after the all-electric range has been used up. BMW has offered owners of its EV the ability to rent an SUV for long trips to solve that problem.
But many EV owners don’t want to carry around a gas engine they might rarely ever use in the case they need the range. Nor do they want to rent a vehicle. They’re happy that most of their driving needs are met with all-electric. Since charging technology isn’t quite there, the EP Tender allows them to extend their range. By attaching this generator on wheels to their car, they can get 360 miles before needing to fill it up. That means the occasional road trip out of town can still be gas-powered for just that one trip, but the rest of the time the driving is all-electric.
It’s not the perfect solution, but it’s a clever that hack that fills a space until charging stations become even faster and more frequent. Autoblog notes that most EVs aren’t designed to get charged up while in motion, so this might require a hack or modifications to use as it stands. It’s available in Europe right now, but seeing the need to occasionally extend range, don’t be too surprised to see one of these in the future as EVs become more popular.