EP Tender B00 is a range extender for Electric Vehicles

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Electric cars and their batteries still haven’t matured to the point where their range exceeds that of regular petrol/diesel vehicles.

Take the Nissan Leaf or Renault Zoe as example, Owners most likely bought them for the short trips to work and back. For most commuters this is perfect however, what do you do on the days you need to get out further, where 135km for the Leaf or 200km range on the Zoe just won’t suffice?

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Well, the engineers over at EP Tender have a novel solution to the problem. Making its debut at the Geneva Motor Show, the company shows off their range extender system, the B00.

The B00 is essentially a generator housed in a small two-wheel trailer. The unit weighs 181kg and is just over 1.2m long. There’s no internal storage on the B00 however, there is a storage rack on top of the unit which can carry extra vacation luggage.

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EP Tender plan to rent these trailers to customers looking to go the extra mile. Perhaps you want to take the family on a day trip somewhere, travel interstate for work; whatever the situation the B00 aims to get you there.

So far the B00 only runs on petrol however, EP Tender have already mentioned a fuel-cell version will be on the way.

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The B00 may actually be a practical solution in the short-term however, the biggest downside we see is the inevitable loss of business due to either electric vehicles eventually having a  charging network established or battery technology maturing to a point where range is no longer an issue. So what would the point of EP Tender and the B00 be in for instance 10-years. Unless EP Tender can further innovate, chances are they might go the way of Blockbuster.

Again the B00 is a good solution in the short-term and EP Tender have proved the concept works by attaching the trailer to their Renault Zoe. They managed to travel 570km to Geneva, so that proves the concept and its practical capacity.