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Volatile oil prices and increased environmental sensitivity together with political concerns have moved the attention of governments, automobile manufacturers and customers to alternative power trains. From the actual point of view the most promising concepts for future passenger cars are based on the conversion of electrical into mechanical energy. In-wheel motors are an interesting concept towards vehicle electrification that provides also high potentials to improve vehicle dynamics and handling. Nevertheless in-wheel motors increase the unsprung mass worsening vehicle comfort and safety. The paper analyses potentials and limitations of innovative passive concepts as well as of new mechatronic suspension systems in order to assure appropriate levels of vehicle comfort and safety when using in-wheel motors with different torque requirements. To reach the mentioned objective, the weight of synchronous and asynchronous electric motors is computed for different torque requirements.

As the age of crude oil gradually finishes and political arrangements all over the world force a continuous reduction of global carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, energy efficiency and energy sustainability become worldwide a major challenge for automotive industry. The ambitious European goal of a fleet average emission for all new cars of 130 g/km CO₂ by 2012 afford an overall energy efficiency increase of the entire powertrain topologies. One way to come up to this challenge is surely the electrification of powertrain systems. Nowadays, hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) represent one of the most promising technologies that combine the advantages of high performance, high fuel efficiency and low emissions in combination with a long operating range. In literature exists lots of investigations concerning the requirements of different powertrain topologies along with the corresponding individual requirements of electric motor types.

Nearly all OEMs worldwide try to electrify their powertrain systems. This is certainly a necessity in order to fulfill the gradually changing and challenging political requirements concerning environmental restrictions. Electric motors offer potential characteristics to overcome these challenging tasks. Today, induction and synchronous motors represent reasonable alternatives to conventional combustion engines, even due to their established assembling and their relatively low cost production. This article compares the energy consumption of induction motors (IM), synchronous motors with surface mounted magnets (SPM) and synchronous motors with interior mounted magnets (IPM) at different driving cycles. The paper intends to identify a suitable electric motor type for wheel hub applications.