[quote=AllenF;161588]

If it takes 1/4 gallon to go 10 miles using the ICE ONLY and this is due to it's inherit inefficiency I think that those same KW's are better put to use in powering an electric motor which even being charged by the ICE will go farther due to it's HIGHER efficiency.

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Let's do the math. To avoid mixed units (watt-hours, horsepower, BTU,
joules, calories, whatever), let's make up a universal energy unit I'll call
"Noodle" which applies to both electric and ICE domains. Suppose the ICE is 25% efficient and the electric motor is 75% efficient at converting Noodles into motion, across their entire operating range. These are simplifications, obviously.

Let's say it takes 100 Noodles of energy at the wheels to accelerate our car to 30 MPH and travel 1 mile, accounting for air and tire friction.

For the pure electric case, at 75% efficiency, it will require 100N/.75 = 133 noodles of electricity to make that happen.

For the pure ICE case, at 25% efficiency, it will require 100N/.25 = 400 Noodles of gasoline.

For a series hybrid, where the ICE drives a generator which drives the electric motor, you have two levels of loss -- the ICE loses 75% and the motor loses 25%. To get the 100 noodles kinetic energy on the road :

You already need 133 Noodles of electricity to drive the 75% efficient electric motor, and to generate that much electricity from the ICE, you need 133/.25 = 533 Noodles of gasoline (vs. 400 Noodles in pure ICE drive). As someone noted, there is no free lunch. This requires more energy this way; the total efficiency is now only 100/533 = 19%.

There are proposed "Range extended electric vehicles", which are plugin EVs with
auxiliary ICE generators (the ICE doesn't drive the wheels, only the generator). The way I see it, the only potential advantage over hybrids is that the ICE doesn't need to be big enough to accelerate the car up a mountain road; instead of a 150 HP ICE, you can run a smaller and lighter one at a constant load to charge the battery and run the electric motor. I suppose you could run the generator in the parking lot while you were in the grocery store or meeting with your clients. Anyhow, the whole idea sounds too kludgy to me.