[WheelMotor]

Hi,

I have a factory in Cairo Egypt and want to produce affordable brush-less permanent magnet in wheel electric motors.

Because of low labor cost, we could custom made adaptor sets for different cars of our customers.

We are in the planning stage and want contact with people in the US that are introduced in to EV suppliers world for brainstorming, help in developing and subsequent distribution of Wheel-Motors in the US.

[todayican]

Will these motors be geared?
I would be interested in looking at a 10kw continuous motor for a 17" automotive rim.

[tirebiter]

Would you be able to supply only the wound stator ? Also I am not proficient at determining the exact number of turns, wire gauge or pole number. Are you available to help in these areas ?

[WheelMotor]

The purpose is to provide the complete motor . The motor is not geared. It is an inside out BLDC motor. The rotor contains the windings which is in this case fixed (to the brake clamp mounting) and the stator (or the outside of the motor) is connected to the rim and turning. They can not be delivered separately because they are made for each other (dimensions poles etc)

Since there is no gearing and no brushes or commutator the motor is very quite.

But the purpose of this thread is (at this stage) to get commercial contacts in order to set up a low volume serial production. At this moment we are developing the motor.

PS don't look to much at my avatar, it is rather "symbolic" and the real thing is totally different.

[major]

Originally Posted by WheelMotor

At this moment we are developing the motor.

Hi WM,

So what you are saying is that you do not have a product. Or prototype? Just an idea?

Good luck,

major

[WheelMotor]

Originally Posted by major

Hi WM,

So what you are saying is that you do not have a product. Or prototype? Just an idea?

Good luck,

major

Thanks Major,

Don't laugh me away ! We have beside the idea, the money, expertise (of normal industrial electric motors) and the tools, and most importantly we are in a country (the factory at least) where we can put a small production up at very competitive prices. I am confident that if I can make an agreement for a production of for example 2 wheels per week (to start) that we can be up and running within 6 months. Retail price should be about 1500$ / wheel (low volume starting price) .

[MylesJ]

What range of power will your motors take? Will you have braking included? Have you identified the controller to co-ordinate the motors and can it perform the function of providing a differential for turns?

My interest is in promoting electric conversion for older collector cars as the hard parts are no longer available and/or affordable. Most of these cars had engines rated under 100hp. Most of them are not used as everyday drivers. Rotors totaling from 6 to 15KW should work well for these vehicles. Maximum RPMs run about 1000 for 55mph ability. I have a different product that I sell to ato repair shops. I'm trying to get those shops interested in the electric conversion market. Lack of a usable hub motor is one of the major problems. Hardened transmission gears and differentials are very expensive for these cars so eliminating the transmission entirely is a major plus.

[GKnightBC]

Regarding your possible development, are we talking a similar product as the PML Hi-PA drive, when the motor and controller are all in-wheel, and only the battery is in the engine compartment? If so, what gearing-equivalent ratios are you intending to incorporate into the unit? What max speed are you enabling, and what is your expected specifications (weight, torque, regen, etc.)? At what point, based on your speculation of $1,500 per wheel, will you begin to see volume price reductions, ie: once your factory hits 100,000 units, price drops to $1,200 per unit. I am interested because I am in the process for starting a company for EV conversions, and wheelmotors have a great prospect for this. The PML Hi-PA offers 85% regen down to 0 impulse, based upon thier wheelmotors and supercaps to capture the energy, do you see your device having the same (or better!) ?

[WheelMotor]

Hi, Happy with the last 2 reactions !

GKnightBC,
Yes PML is definitively the big example! I am not intent to include the controller in the WM. I don't see an advantage in it and it doesn't really matter where the controller is located. Gearing ? No gearing ! The motor is producing tork directly on the wheel itself. The nature of the BLDC motor is that it will be great for Regenerative Braking. I don't think that 100.000 units/ ??? Month / year is a very realistic perspective.

The real problems that keeps me busy at this moment are:
We came to the conclusion that in order to place the motor in the wheel, the brake has to be removed. This is legally a big problem. Also because I target the conversion market, there is to much diversity of vehicles. In order to make it commercially feasible I need a commercial contact in the US market and a first big volume car that we could target for conversion. Collector Classics are a great target market. Let's assume we take these sort of cars. So we speak about rear driven / drum break cars. It could be possible that we let in that case the drum brake in place. This makes the project already more realistic.

MylesJ
Differential in left right speed is no problem at all because the wheels are totally independent. To limit the slip it is easily possible to read the wheel RPM from the Hall sensors and from there on to limit the current to the slipping wheel, if we want to simulate a limited slip differential.

But !!!
We have to be realistic and set (gradually) the order of priority of the problems. The wheel motor was already used by Ferdinand Porsche in 1896 !!! So technically there is not an insurmountable problem. No problem of enough Tork, efficiency etc etc. Till now the Battery was the problem.
And for our "Affordable Wheel Motor" project the BIG problem is Commercially and Legal in the first place. So before we start a discussion about how much % regenerative energy we can recuperate when braking we should deal with the issues: How must the WM be Legally so that we are allowed to commercialize it in the US. Who is placed to commercialise it ? What car are we targeting ? etc etc.

[Nielmo]

The makers Lightning GT are not planning to include conventional brakes. So they say at least.

Are they really getting away with that?