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Sondors Electric Car

Rob Croson

Rob Croson

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Hub motors are unsprung weight. i.e. it is not supported by the cars suspension system. This is usually considered to have a negative effect on handling, as the wheels are harder to keep in contact with the road. I don't think any major manufacturers use hub motors on production vehicles. They are used almost exclusively for retrofits, where people replace a regular wheel, usually on a motorcycle, with a hub motor to get better performance. But they then have to account for the difference in handling. I'm no expert, but I have read a little bit on this back when Sondors announced they were using hub motors. The high-performance motorcycle people claim that unsprung weight like hub motors can cause handling and traction issues. Some claim that this only matters to the people that routinely push the limits, like racers and such.

There have been some white papers released claiming that you can overcome the unsprung weight issue by making adjustments to your suspension or somehow "designing for it", etc. I believe it was Lotus that released one several years ago. They are, of course, highly publicized by the people that make hub motors.
 
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Rickb

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Rob Croson said:
Hub motors are unsprung weight. i.e. it is not supported by the cars suspension system. This is usually considered to have a negative effect on handling, as the wheels are harder to keep in contact with the road. I don't think any major manufacturers use hub motors on production vehicles. They are used almost exclusively for retrofits, where people replace a regular wheel, usually on a motorcycle, with a hub motor to get better performance. But they then have to account for the difference in handling. I'm no expert, but I have read a little bit on this back when Sondors announced they were using hub motors. The high-performance motorcycle people claim that unsprung weight like hub motors can cause handling and traction issues. Some claim that this only matters to the people that routinely push the limits, like racers and such.

There have been some white papers released claiming that you can overcome the unsprung weight issue by making adjustments to your suspension or somehow "designing for it", etc. I believe it was Lotus that released one several years ago. They are, of course, highly publicized by the people that make hub motors.
Click to expand...
Sondor's design and engineering team stated up front that they were designing and engineering the vehicle's platform and suspension to compensate for unsprung weight of the Protean in Hub Motor. Excited to see the first test track videos.
 
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acentre

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Rickb said:
Sondor's design and engineering team stated up front that they were designing and engineering the vehicle's platform and suspension to compensate for unsprung weight of the Protean in Hub Motor. Excited to see the first test track videos.
Click to expand...
There are many opinions regarding the rear hub motor, but it seem that proper engineering could make it useful for the sondors. Using an existing design, and not producing an original motor, is the time and cost efficient route, unlike Elio.
 
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