Posted on 02/03/2024 11:04:12 AM PST by cba123
Not sure however, that this is a real good idea. Shock absorbers, where?
But interesting.
Drum brakes?? That’s backwards tech.
“Shock absorbers, where?”
Similar placement but increased unstrung weight is a concern.
It’s actually not a new idea. In wheel motors have been done before, the problem is the weight - specifically, the massively increased unsprung weight and all the ills that brings.
There are already several vehicles with hub-centric/in-wheel motors.
“Drum brakes?? That’s backwards tech.”
Don’t quit your day job ...
The article might have been more impactful if it hadn’t been penned by a grammar-school dropout.
Also, shock absorbers would be as they are now - struts, for example, mounted to a shock tower on top and in the middle of the lower control arm. Or just plain old MacPherson struts.
Most of the braking power is actually provided by switching the motor to generator mode and using that to put charge back into the battery, actually.
oh, like in a Tesla.
Exactly. The article is actually a breathless press release.
Lot of ev buses had hub motors.
Trains with electric powered wheels are insanely powerful.
I wouldn’t buy an EV until very state in the US has as many nuclear power plants as France.
I’ll take the ...”(or not)”...
Didn’t need them disc brakes anyway.
I'll bet there's a large capacitor in the design, too.
I see LOTS of unsprung weight causing suspension and ride problems.
Aptera
“Shock absorbers, where?”
My first thought was, that is going to be a lot of unsprung weight. If anyone but BMW were doing this, I’d be more skeptical.
They’d be where they normally are. The motor is in the wheel so the shock absorber would be outside of the wheel just like today.
For me the question is you’d need to make sure they are perfectly in sync with the other wheels or you’ll get serious torque steer just driving normally.
Ever since it became likely that EVs would go this route, there has been various revisionist studies suggesting, hey, unsprung weight isn’t so bad after all.
https://www.proteanelectric.com/f/2018/04/protean-Services3.pdf
Turns out Woke unspring weight has completely different physical effects from bad old IC unsprung weight / s
In a fundamental way, the Deconstructionists and Post-Modernists are correct when they claim there is no real truth content in any of this “Science” and it is just Narratives of Power... etc.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.