Electric vehicles (seasonal rambling) Featured

I think they would be better with one engine per wheel controlled electronically, 4 wheel drive and no drive train at all.

"Manual" implies gears, most EV don't have gears, you don't need gears...

I believe that trams changed speed by tapping into the motor

So they had a "hand throttle", no gears, the steps were small. Modern EVs use inverters to control power...

Dave

I don't have a clutch on my hybrid!

Many EVs have a fixed-ratio reduction gearbox, because the motor spins faster than the wheels. You could make that take multiple ratios if you want. That's what happens with EV conversions of ICE cars - often the original gearbox stays in place and the motor replaces the engine. You never need to shift gears (the motor has enough torque without changing down), but you can if you want to.

There are a few quad-motor cars that do that (largely performance cars) but it's hard because wheel-mounted motors are unsprung mass and for ride comfort you want as little of that as possible (if you meant combustion engines, that would be even worse!).

You can put each motor inboard behind a CV joint with the suspension on just the wheel and knuckle assembly, but fitting in motors for each wheel gets a bit annoying.

Theo

It might be 'interesting' if one motor suffered abrupt failure whilst driving at speed.

It's a concept car at the moment, but there is one being built with four special motors.

A recent relatively cheap BEV car, has a two speed gearbox. (It's announced but not in production yet.)

Top speed is 130 mph (210 km/h), aided by a two-speed transmission for the rear drive unit.

(No, it won't tow your yacht.)

This is another BEV that has a two speed gearbox.

One car with a two speed transmission was canceled because it wasn't reliable. A conventional transmission, can't handle the torque. And one or two companies in the transmission business, have designed their own two speed (BEV) transmissions. They are trying their hand in the space.

And every number of motors has been tried: 1,2,3,4.

Which means schemes to get power from those, to the wheels, have to be implemented.

And some BEV, may have come with this.

Paul

Isn't minimising unsprung mass aimed at better handling (it's easier to keep the tyre in contact with the road) rather than comfort?

One follows from the other.

Does it **really**? One could conceive of a very comfortable, softly sprung vehicle without minimal unsprung mass couldn't one?

One of the issues with the extremely low profile tyres which are used to minimise unsprung weight is that they don't have so much 'give' as normal profile tyres and thus don't absorb bumps so well. (They also tend to be noisier which does affect comfort in a way)

Would that be any worse than a drive shaft joint failing at speed on a car that uses them?

GH

engines, that would be even worse!).

They would just free wheel

Completely throw out the tech, so what is presented to the user is what they are used to? Like the Doro phone, there has to be a market for them that want to do the right thing but are needlessly bedazzled by sales features added for a different customer.

No fancy mode buttons, smart displays, regen brakes, driver assist etc....

An artificially limited acceleration would lengthen the life of the motor and suspension, reduce the need for a large battery, and avoid accidental surprises and collisions. There could be cost savings.

It would also work in situations like rental or emergencies where someone has to step into someone else's strange car with minimal retraining.

I'm just buying an electric car, and I thought I'd look through the manual. 360 pages!!

Sounds like the Dacia Spring...

(I hear the 65hp version is the one to go for over the 45hp version)

Theo

so remove all the things that extend battery mileage (you can usually turn off lane assist)

most EVs already have an ECO mode that limits acceleration, to extend battery life. You want to turn off regen braking which can, in traffic give up to 20% more mileage. Driver Assist is great in traffic... .. really the car is much better at conserving power than most drivers...

This is an issue. I rent many cars and its always good to get one in the VW family...

So simpler than my pure petrol car its manual has 394 pages...

Dave

off? why?

Manual? Luxury! All I got was a quick-start guide and a URL!

(Renault)

nib

But how many of those pages are relevant to your specific model & variant?

The biggest section in my manual covered the "Infotainment" system. I don't think any of it described the system in my car.

This ought to be a selling factor for downloadable PDF manuals. They could have on file separate sections for each variant & sub-variant. When the customer quoted the VIN number[1] of their car, they would then only download the material which was specific to their vehicle.