Transportation is the leading source of logistics, and people contribute the significant primary emissions for increasing global warming, so we should avoid such a situation and concentrate on zero emissions. The range of the vehicle is the major problem (range-anxiety) in electric vehicles. Nowadays, researchers focus on range extender optimization since range extenders significantly improve the range of the vehicle with an auxiliary power unit (APU), which can prove consumer satisfaction. However, range extenders can recover energy by proposing the various configurations and systems of extended-range electric vehicles (EREV). Many industries and researchers summarize these efforts to optimize and find the solution for range-extenders. This paper reviewed the most suitable technologies for energy recovery and state-of-the-art topological constructions. The analysis of the study primarily concentrated on optimizing the cost of the systems, fewer emissions, and more fuel economy. The research is based on the range-extenders evaluation and summary for electric vehicles to guide automakers and researchers to invent other state-of-the-art configurations and topologies to obtain optimized EV ranges, namely, enhanced functionality and fewer emissions. A survey on specific extend-range electric vehicles and classification of EREV technologies, the performance of APUs, different control strategies of energy management in EREVs, and various existing difficulties are discussed and further enhanced for the future researcher EREV forecast offered by advanced technologies.