I'm really curious about the selection of wheel motors. Nobody has been successful at creating one that was durable enough AND had any decent efficiency. I'd be curious about your selection and how much of an efficiency hit you have versus what you had in the previous design with the inboard motor and driveshafts.
The Aptera Forum
@palmer_md Hi welcome back to the forum after so many years! I believe Aptera will go with Elaphe in-wheel motors. Maybe they will go with an S400 on the rear wheel and 2 M700 on the front for 3 wheel drive. Or Aptera will spec a custom development motor. Elaphe claims High efficiency (> 90%) of the motors. I think testing by Aptera should be necessary to see if this product is up to the task.
Thanks for sharing the video for Elaphe. I saw a lot of good testing, but the one test that I did not see which is important is when the wheel hits a bump and there is a side load on the motor along the shaft axis. For example when rounding a cloverleaf exit and hitting bumps/potholes. This side loading is one of the things that I understand is difficult to handle. Most motors do not have forces along the axis of the rotor, usually just perpendicular to it. I'll have to look further into what they have developed. VERY interesting.
Lordstown Motors is also planning to use Elaphe wheel motors in their pickup, possibly produced under license in their own plant. Although it is a very different application, we will soon have more real world data on this application.
Thanks for this question and information shared. I live in a state where many roads are still primitive but typically graded... so wonder if a primitive road will be challenging for the planned Aptera wheel drive system/drivetrain?
(I personally have trek seven miles of primitive roads from our high mountain ranch Community to the paved roads. I presently have mid size AWD truck which is fine on the primitive roads. Also a second AWD vehicle with and adaptive suspension system which seems to help on those roads too. I have no need to do off road 4WD but for monsoon season...my present vehicles are great. Finger crossed that the AWD Aptera suspension will be primitive road friendly at least for a short trek like this on a regular basis. I realize choices will be based on main owner’s needs, while being weight conscious....)
Motors will not be water cooled like other EVs are?
I don't know - and the only EV I know of that has liquid cooling, is the Chevy Bolt EV; which uses automatic transmission fluid to both cool and lubricate the motor and the reduction gear and differential.
Chevy Volt, Leaf, Teslas and others have liquid cooled motors.
Motors will be liquid cooled if I can believe the website. See the continuous power output https://in-wheel.com/product-category/motors/.
Good spot!
It is official!
Thinking back to the old Aptera 2e....now have three in wheel motors mean a better center of gravity for the vehicle! But watch the potholes😞
Wow. I realize this is just an illustration for the in wheel motor but if the tire and wheel is representative of what will be used.... that is a nice wide track tire and fancy wheel (rim) ... all hidden under the wheel skirt
Aptera showed us their wheel design later that month...
Aptera appears (the ones on their shelves match the color of the motor on the website) to be using the M700 motor. Aptera also mentioned that the Paradigm model has "100 kW of power" and the M700 is a 50 kW motor. https://in-wheel.com/en/solutions-2/direct-drive-in-wheel-motors/
Just found an very interesting project called EVC1000 where they use an Audi E-tron to test out the Elaphe motors. More information can be found here: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/824250
I could download a very interesting .pdf file with a lot of information.
I think that for a car, this solution is meaningless.
For the Aptera instead, this is perfect. This allows more flexibility in the front design (no motor in it) and doesn't need transmission shafts on the front wheels.
My only concern is about durability, but is seems that the technology is good enough so far.
Not only does it give your car a very unkempt look but also tells a lot about you on how much you care for your possessions. Nobody would want to be seen as someone who is careless. But what is the solution to this problem? It is finding the best paint remover for paint remover for rims reviewed.
@Jim Smith To what are you responding? I don't understand the message you've posted...
@Kerbe #12705 J. Smith (A lot of thought must have gone into that name.) Appears to be a bot or the like, only posting comments that are linked to advertisements, not that I'd click on one for my computers safety's sake.
these strips of different sizes are moving part of the motor that moves wheels or gearbox like in tesla. idea is that the b/c larger diameter wheel is useful for putting down torque, the larger diameter magnet will be moved for low rpm high torque, and b/c smaller diameter wheel is good for high rpm but not for torque, small wheel moves accordingly. for high torque, all wheels can move for more magnetic power, but separation allows spinning for high rpm with less weight and more rpm per energy.
not sure how the magnetic field would be separated from the 3 parts(or whatever number of parts, and varying thickness ,shape etc) of motor or if they should be mechanically linked like with a clutch, etc.