Technology

The voltage/hp comparison there doesn't really fit.

Power is in watts or horsepower. You multiply the torque with the RPM and a scaling factor to get power.

A higher voltage system could probably be expected to produce more torque and power from the same size motor, but a lot depends on the design of the motor.

Then to answer "how much torque though," I haven't looked into it but electric motors have a very nice torque curve across the RPM range. If a motor made all that power with low torque, then it must spin at super high RPM and need to be geared down.

I'll give them some credence based on the cars their motors are already used in and the fact that their parent company is Mercedes-Benz. Doesn't look like they're a bunch of grifters seeking investment.

Did they update the page since you commented? I see kw and kg on there... 🤷

Now latest testing of an even lighter 12.7kg version on a more powerful dynamometer has shattered this record, with a staggering 750kW (>1000bhp) short-term peak rating, resulting in a new unofficial power density record of 59kW/kg

But, how much is that in baby elephants?

If it's a Corgi, I would estimate the power output at .1 horsepower max. But if it's a small dog the size of a large dog, then that's something entirely different.

I think he was trying to admit he doesn't know shit about electric motors.

What could he have possibly been trying to say?

I mean, the general appeal of ICE engines is the fuel, not the engine. Gasoline is generally more energy dense than lithium.

My parents had an original Prius and it was a weedy little car that made those two hippies really happy. If that was his only experience with electric cars I can see why he’d think that.

But the new ones are fucking rockets. I just don’t understand why they need all that. Can they make a cheaper one that’s got 300 horsepower?

That's how EVs started! Sorta.

This is from a Porsche in 1900:

And some 2000s EVs tried it. But it's impractical.

• It increases unsprung weight, e.g. weight not cushioned by suspension. Bad for ride/handling/steering feel.

• All that vibration is HARD on the motor. Read: unreliable.

• Motor is more exposed to temperature/dust. Again, reliability.

In reality, a decent suspension needs a lot of room under the body anyway. An axle to get the motor in the body is dirt cheap on the rear, and still pretty cheap on the front, and you could just mount this thing sideways to make it flat...

That would be a lot of unsprung weight.

Handling and ride quality are dramatically and negatively impacted by every bit of weight that is not held up by the suspension. That's why higher performance cars will have lightweight wheels. Rather than steel wheels you see on lower performance cars.

It's better to just put all the heavy drive components inboard on the chassis and run drive shafts to the wheels.

You see motors in the hubs of bicycles, because they really don't go that fast. So even if the bike has a suspension, it's not that big of a deal. Motorcycles on the other hand would need to keep any heavy parts inboard.

PS

One issue I hadn’t thought of is putting traditional brakes (which generate a ton of heat) right next to the motors. Again, we're just asking for mechanical issues here, and we’re ballooning unsprung mass to mitigate it, especially in heavier cars that take a lot to stop.

The entire floor pan could just be one thin battery, and everything above it could be passenger and storage space.

This seems like a minor thing, but the control electronics for the motors takes up a nontrivial amount of space. So do “traditional” subsystems like hydraulics, climate control, or an old fashioned car battery (which often exists in parallel to the EV drivetrain).

Theres also safety to consider. A traditional sedan “hood,” even a small one, is easier on standing pedestrians, so it hits their legs and they flop on top, instead of slamming them like a wall (as a bus-like front would).

Ebike would probably fold in half from the torque lol

I mean an ICE output more heat than power. So a 150kW ice engine requires like, 200kW heat dissipation ?