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A great deal of interest has been expressed recently in hybrid electric vehicles, both for their potential for reduced environmental impacts as well as their increased range over electric-only vehicles. Several organizations have initiated programs to design and evaluate a specific type of hybrid vehicle, the Range Extender Vehicle (REV). Based upon this industry activity, the U.S. Department of Energy's Electric and Hybrid Propulsion Division commissioned the two-phase study which serves as the basis of this paper. A range extender vehicle is a hybrid vehicle, where a small engine generator (a “genset”) is added to a basic electric vehicle design. This genset “sustains” vehicle operation beyond the range provided by the batteries. The additional weight of the genset and fuel is balanced by the removal of some of the vehicle's batteries.