Search Results

Present automobile development is keenly focused on measures to reduce the CO2 output of vehicles. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) enable grid electricity, which is clean in tail-pipe emissions terms, to be utilised whilst the on-board electrical storage has sufficient charge. MAHLE Powertrain and Protean have jointly developed a plug-in hybrid demonstrator vehicle based on a C-segment passenger car. The vehicle features Protean’s compact direct drive in-wheel motors with integrated inverters on the rear axle and retains the standard gasoline engine, and manual transmission, on the front axle. To support this one-off prototype, a flexible vehicle control unit has been developed, which is easily re-configurable and adaptable to any hybrid vehicle architecture.

Compact direct drive in-wheel motors with integrated inverters, control and brakes offer a number of distinct advantages compared to conventional electric drive systems. The most obvious being that the drivetrain is now packaged within the wheel freeing up space elsewhere, in addition many driveline components and their associated losses are eliminated and the vehicle efficiency, response and handling can be improved. In new vehicle applications this allows complete freedom for designers to optimize the vehicle layout, have more usable space inside the vehicle body and enables revolutionary vehicle concepts (which will become more important as road space becomes scarce and taxation measures migrate towards vehicle size). In retrofit applications the compact package allows an electric drive to be added to any existing vehicle without requiring any significant disruption to the vehicle platform to keep integration costs down.

Electric vehicle development is at a crossroads. Consumers want vehicles that offer the same size, performance, range, reliability and cost as their current vehicles. OEMs must make a profit, and the government requires compliance with emissions standards. The result - low volume, compromised vehicles that consumers don't want, with questionable longevity and minimal profitability. In-wheel motor technology offers a solution to these problems; providing power equivalent to ICE alternatives in a package that does not invade chassis, passenger and cargo space. At the same time in-wheel motors can reduce vehicle part count, complexity and cost, feature integrated power electronics, give complete design freedom and the potential for increased regenerative braking (reducing battery size and cost, or increasing range).