First Unsprung weight! The 120kW inwheel motors and magnesium alloy wheels, with the tyres, has a total mass of 24kg. The original assembly mass was 22.5kg! Not much added I think! The ride feels the same. Remember the car has full regen braking so the brake hubs and disc's have been removed.
The wheel overhaning the wells! This is deliberate! The pictures shown above were taken the day the car was sent to the British Motor Show. These wheels were used to deliberately create overhang to draw show visitors attention to the wheels. If you look close at the wheels you will see the motors sit a good 2 inches back from the alloy spokes. The normal wheels are perfectly normal and legal.
No torque increase!
Why would you need it? Each motor individually deliveres 750Nm of torque, (3000Nm total), in a microsecond regardless of speed. so at 0, 20, 60, 80, 120mph just floor it and instantly feel all 640 horses give you a whiplash scar!
Freewheel. Yes you can! The motor is direct drive with no gearing whatsoever. The only wearing/friction part between the power cell and the tyres is the wheel bearings.
Oh and one other thing worth mentioning. The car actually accelerates 0-60mph in 3.7 seconds YES I SAID IT 3.7 SECONDS! Thats faster than most super cars! Plus we can do it in reverse!
Background. PML has been producing high performance electric motors for all industries for over 40 years. The secret to our car is the wheel motor. It produces 120kW (160bhp) of power and also contains the entire invertor electronics inside the motor.
Hope that clears a few issue up.
Chris Newman
PML Flightlink