Range extenders: an innovative approach to range anxiety in electric vehicles

Abstract

Electric vehicles have been a source of major innovation but the problem of vehicle range persists. Range extenders, auxiliary power units that can be attached to vehicles as a trailer, seek to solve the problem by providing additional range during longer journeys. This study uses patent data, Social Network Analysis and qualitative data to examine the development of this technology. It finds that small firms have made significant progress in technological terms and have also designed credible business models. They have met resistance from larger vehicle manufacturers, however, whose preference is to wait for developments in battery density despite great uncertainty as to when these will come.