FAW-Volkswagen New Bora<\/a> compact sedan, will utilize a pair of rear-mounted Protean hub motors. Each wheel\u2019s unit makes 100 horsepower, and all of the control electronics are packaged inside the motors. Of course, the motors\u2019 most important stat is weight\u2014the more poundage, the more unsprung weight vehicle engineers must contend with\u2014and Protean claims each one weighs 75 pounds. That\u2019s a lot of extra unsprung weight to wreak havoc on ride and handling, but Protean previously conducted tests with Lotus Engineering that proved regular folks wouldn\u2019t notice any difference. Moving the driveline to the wheels frees up real estate for passengers, cargo, safety cages, and so on, not to mention adding untold flexibility to vehicle architectures.<\/p>\nThe FAW-VW Bora already has a hood and an engine compartment where a regular electric motor would most likely fit nicely. What will become of that space? Protean doesn\u2019t say, but we wouldn\u2019t put batteries there\u2014especially in light of Tesla\u2019s compromised battery snafus (and that automaker\u2019s energy packs are mounted between the wheels!). Also, rear-wheel-bound motors raise questions, too; in regular form, the Bora, which is related to the previous-generation Jetta, is front-drive. One would think FAW-VW will need to redesign the rear suspension to handle drive torque, and it\u2019ll probably have to make similarly extensive changes to the front end, too.<\/p>\n
Although it is a little strange, such innovation is necessary because developing hub motors for more widespread use will require semi-experimental fitments such as FAW-VW\u2019s before the technology\u2019s true potential can be realized in applications with more to gain from it. Take, for example, a hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle; there\u2019s a significant amount of power train-related gear to locate in the car, including a bulky pressurized hydrogen tank, an electricity-generating fuel-cell stack, and, of course, the electric drive motor(s).<\/p>\n
Overall, the motor\u2019s introduction will have to be worth something in technological development even if it is not immediately present. After all, things happen for a reason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Throughout the past year, there were quite a few notable innovations in technology, including super plastics, fancy batteries and precipitation-dodging headlights. Grouped in with this category was a Protean Electric design that actually appeared as if it might see the light of day. The Michigan-based company has announced that it will begin producing hub motors …<\/p>\n
Protean Electric VW<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":2982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/DE95019LOGO.jpg",500,124,false],"thumbnail":["http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/DE95019LOGO-150x124.jpg",150,124,true],"medium":["http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/DE95019LOGO-300x74.jpg",300,74,true],"medium_large":["http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/DE95019LOGO.jpg",500,124,false],"large":["http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/DE95019LOGO.jpg",500,124,false],"1536x1536":["http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/DE95019LOGO.jpg",500,124,false],"2048x2048":["http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/DE95019LOGO.jpg",500,124,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"SellAnyCar.com Team","author_link":"http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/author\/saygin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Throughout the past year, there were quite a few notable innovations in technology, including super plastics, fancy batteries and precipitation-dodging headlights. Grouped in with this category was a Protean Electric design that actually appeared as if it might see the light of day. The Michigan-based company has announced that it will begin producing hub motors…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2981"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}