I've often mentioned my desire to someday own a plug-in car, the day they would match the performance we've come to expect from fuel-burning, CO2-vomiting cars. Last was in this thread.
Well it looks like I won't have to wait much longer : electric motor company PML now makes the perfect motor for in-wheel drive, and what more, they've already built a test car with some awesome specs : the Mini QED.
It's got a total power of 640 bhp, which we'll all agree is overkill in a Mini, and uses a little "cheat" to get a range of 1500 km.
My own plans for a plug-in involve a kit-car chassis such as Caterham's CSR, in which a lot of batteries would be very easy to integrate, and electronics very easy to cool. With the car's body entirely filled with batteries you're bound to get a good range, and if you use in-wheel motors you'll also get to keep a usable trunk.
PML has suitable motors which can develop 40 to 120 kW (that's 53 to 160 bhp). So you can choose to make two-wheel drive 100 bhp car which will have great range or a monstrous 640 bhp sports car, though the Caterham CSR is designed for engines from 200 to 300 bhp. It might be a bad idea to exceed that.
Probably the most interesting thing is that it looks like it doesn't take much to convert a regular car using this type of motor.
My days of using public transportation will eventually end in style, yeepee !!!
Nefastor
