Land Rover EV conversion packs in-wheel motors, weighs same as original
Land Rover EV conversion packs in-wheel motors, weighs same as original
With a modest battery pack and Protean in-wheel units, this classic Land Rover Defender conversion likely weighs less than upcoming Land Rover EVs.
If they're in the wheels that means they're unsprung weight, which is worse than sprung weight. So even if they've achieved the exact same weight, moving that weight from sprung to unsprung makes the car worse.
The difference is small for normal driving. It matters in rally cars and such.
I’d like to see something like that but published and peer reviewed. That’s just an article, they could be trying to sell in wheel motors for all I know. It does says there’s an effect, and that it needs additional engineering work to iron out. Ride quality and grip were negatively affected. Check out figure 1, subjective ratings of ride quality take a hammering.
Unsprung mass sucks and I noticed a difference eliminating 20 lbs from my car. Adding in heavy electric motors would absolutely be a detriment.
So, where did they put the brake? Is it converted to electric regen braking?
Yeah, but it must have a backup brake for when the battery is fully charged. Otherwise it would need huge heat sinks to dissipate unused energy.
Or they could just lock the motors and hope for the best.