Electric Cars with wheel motors

[treez]

Hello,

Is it true that electric cars with wheel-motors (ie motor in each wheel) are destined to failure because they will break when the car goes over bumps?

 

[Skogsgurra]

Yes - and no. But wheel motors are generally not a good idea if you want to run fast. OK for slow vehicles, though.

Gunnar Englund

http://www.gke.org

--------------------------------------
100 % recycled posting: Electrons, ideas, finger-tips have been used over and over again...

 

[PHovnanian]

Its an issue of unsprung mass. For better handling (like Skogsgurra says: when you want to go fast) its best to keep the weight off of the wheels and on the vehicle's frame where the suspension will damp out vertical movements.

You can still use a motor per wheel if you can mount each motor on the vehicle's frame and couple the shaft to the wheel through an axle with universal or CSV joints.