[Cicero]

Sounds cool. But not very well explained. I suspect that it may be 50% more efficient than other electric motor driven cars which use their motors for breaking. What's not clear is what kind of costs are involved, what kind of acceleration and mileage are possible, and so forth.

I suspect that this is an improvement on experimental inner city transport rather than something to be used by most drivers on the highway.

[Gorzaloon]

Sounds cool. But not very well explained. I suspect that it may be 50% more efficient than other electric motor driven cars which use their motors for breaking.

It appears the biggest saving is the use of direct drive motors. This eliminates losses from friction, slippage, etc. in power trains. No transmission, no differential. One of the biggest plusses about front wheel drive cars is the elimination of the hypoid rear axle. The hypoid gear set, unlike spur gears, relies on sliding of the gear tooth surfaces. This is why they require 90W gearlube and run so hot. Commutatorless electric motors, using Hall sensors and electronics instead of graphite-on-copper brush systems have really come a long way recently and efficiencies better than 90% are not uncommon.