This looks like a company who could easily adapt their production to introduce a range-extending APU. I found this while doing some general surfing.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/34ucvf"Idling" is a huge issue with the OTR trucking industry. Drivers have new, more restrictive rules about consecutive hours behind the wheel, etc. So they spend a lot of time sitting in places like truck stops. In order to maintain their comfort in the cab, they often run the engine, which is extremely costly in terms of diesel fuel and CO
2 emissions. There are several emerging technologies aimed at this issue.
I'm going to try to get a price idea on this and other units made by PowerTech (
http://www.powertech-gen.com/). They have complete diesel gensets for various end uses in sizes from 3kW on up:
The 3kW unit is just 260 pounds.
The 5kW APU is 425 pounds but that's with all the HVAC stuff that wouldn't be needed on the range extender.
The 8kW unit is 425 pounds and they quoted me about $7,000 - sold as an RV APU.
The 12kW unit is 620 pounds.
I'm wondering if we can find a wrecked RV and scavenge the APU or possibly talk to a local RV dealer and get a used unit and rebuild it. I know a guy at Hometown RV in Carol Stream. Maybe we can start there...