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 next year in China, and that it is building an electric driveline for an EV to be sold by Volkswagen’s Chinese partner, FAW-Volkswagen.
The new EV, to be based on the FAW-Volkswagen New Bora compact sedan, will utilize a pair of rear-mounted Protean hub motors. Each wheel’s unit makes 100 horsepower, and all of the control electronics are packaged inside the motors. Of course, the motors’ most important stat is weight—the more poundage, the more unsprung weight vehicle engineers must contend with—and Protean claims each one weighs 75 pounds. That’s 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’t 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.
The 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’t say, but we wouldn’t put batteries there—especially in light of Tesla’s compromised battery snafus (and that automaker’s 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’ll probably have to make similarly extensive changes to the front end, too.
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’s before the technology’s true potential can be realized in applications with more to gain from it. Take, for example, a hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle; there’s 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).
Overall, the motor’s introduction will have to be worth something in technological development even if it is not immediately present. After all, things happen for a reason.
