Jerr.e is the contemporary brother of the jerry can (portable EV charger / range exte

So are they basically just repackaging a generator? A generator of that size could only put out about 2kW, which would charge a car as big as the Model S at an extremely slow rate.

jaguar36 said:

So are they basically just repackaging a generator? A generator of that size could only put out about 2kW, which would charge a car as big as the Model S at an extremely slow rate.

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Their claim is that their technology has unusually high power density (not energy density, as we are more often concerned with when talking about batteries). In particular, they claim 702 W/kg, and quote the BMW i3's REX as 208 W/kg as comparison.

So if this 'jerry can' weighed 20kg (excluding fuel), that would mean by their claim that it would be a 14kW unit. More likely they are targeting EVs other than Tesla, so a smaller unit at say 6kW would weigh 8.5kg.

If they can actually deliver, it comes out much better for this application than any standard generator. Presumably the compromise that lets them achieve this will be poor efficiency (fuel consumption) - they mention Wankel engines in their write-up.

Interesting that this appears to offer only the EU-standard plug. Perhaps they will develop one with a J1772; should be a trivial change.

The webpage suggests that people would use this as a range-extender in trip planning, which I find unlikely. I could see a sales niche for people whose planning has gone amiss (detour, snow, etc.). I could also imagine tow trucks and other car rescue vehicles having one or two on board, though it's probably easier just to trailer a no-juice EV to the nearest chargepoint.

Made by a European company apparently for European EVs. Far as I know, they all/almost all? use 3 phase AC for they basic charging. I therefore make the uneducated guess that this generates 3 phase AC and so can't be used in the US. Rather, they would have to make a 2 phase AC specific device, which wouldn't be hard ... but its a fundamental re-design, not a trivial change.

Anyone know better?

Robert.Boston said:

Interesting that this appears to offer only the EU-standard plug. Perhaps they will develop one with a J1772; should be a trivial change.

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It has the type2 _socket_, like a fixed charging post. There are cars over here with J1772 (aka Type1) on them, but you simply use a Type1->type2 cable in place of the Type2->Type2 cable that you would need to use with a Tesla etc.

So you could export one of these to the US if you brought the right cable with it (though there might possibly be some kind of regulatory limitation on doing this commercially).

The webpage suggests that people would use this as a range-extender in trip planning, which I find unlikely. I could see a sales niche for people whose planning has gone amiss (detour, snow, etc.). I could also imagine tow trucks and other car rescue vehicles having one or two on board, though it's probably easier just to trailer a no-juice EV to the nearest chargepoint.

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Other parts of their website show that they want to sell their lightweight generator technology as better REX units for permanent installation in EVs like the BMW i3. So this can is maybe as much a demonstrator for that idea as a product in its own right.

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CSFTN said:

Made by a European company apparently for European EVs. Far as I know, they all/almost all? use 3 phase AC for they basic charging. I therefore make the uneducated guess that this generates 3 phase AC and so can't be used in the US. Rather, they would have to make a 2 phase AC specific device, which wouldn't be hard ... but its a fundamental re-design, not a trivial change.

Anyone know better?

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Varies from place to place: the same connector is used for single phase (up to 70A in theory) and three phase (up to 63A per phase). The UK makes quite a lot of use of single phase - 7kW charging (32A single phase) is common here, though anything above that is three phase; elsewhere, 3-phase will be more commonly used above 16A.

Note that the Nissan Leaf (among others) is limited to single-phase at the car end.

Benz said:

The Jerr.e will use a maximum of 5 litres of petrol, and it will charge an EV with maximum of 10 kWh in a maximum time of 1 hour.

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A 10kW Honda generator is quite massive, and it burns gas at twice that rate (ohh and costs $5500). I'm highly skeptical that they've managed to make a generator that is that much better than a Honda. And if they did, this seems like quite a silly use for it.

Benz said:

Jerr.e is the contemporary brother of the jerry can (portable EV charger / range extender).

It allows you to charge anywhere.

It's a Dutch invention.

It will come to market in Q4 2015 or in Q1 2016.

No price as of yet.

More info will be released on their website during the next months.

Link website: http://www.star-engines.com/

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FAB idea - but promo pix with i8 wrong on several levels .. I mean i8 already got an ICE to recharge battery after tiny 20 miles of EV range is used up ..
eg Jerrycan shaped Range Extender Could End Range Anxiety

New portable charger jerr.E

This is a portable charger for of you run on empty. Could be very handy I think

Electric mobility to the next level | Star-Engines

Gotta wonder how long it'll take for that thing to cool off enough that I'd feel comfortable putting it back into my trunk. Also, I'd expect it to smell quite heavily of exhaust fumes and oil after it's been used, if my like virtually every other ICE-powered device I've encountered...

If neither of those turn out to be a big concern, though, this is an excellent idea.