I really didn't know where to put this post. I may have gone to Other EV's section, but in this case, I want people to understand the design aspect of an EV. Faraday is making some big design strides and Munro posted this today. Again, let me preface this by saying that this comparison is not for all, and not for those who think that I am comparing the Faraday to the Aptera. These two EV's are on the opposite sides of the spectrum, but share basic philosophies. Some of you have brought up wanting to assemble your own EV motorcycle; you should get an idea of what goes into it.
I like the way that the batteries are cooled in an immersion non-conductive coolant this is not new. The motor and inverter share the same casing, thus the same cooling system. Very efficient. I also like to see that someone has finally come up with a planetary gearbox. Up to this point the basic design of the single speed transmission is a basic helical gear to cut down noise. This is one area that I am concerned with the hub motors. We have been using hub motors for the past decade in low cost motorcycles. It basically makes the wheel a direct drive motor spinning on a hub. More modern hub motors incorporate planetary gears to get some gear reduction and efficiency out of the motor. Most gear reduction is about 9:1. Electric motors like to be spun fast. But geared motors on motorcycles cannot regen brake because of the freewheel. Direct drive hub motors are the poorest design when it comes to hill climbing and often overheat. They spin slowly and build up a lot of heat. Most high end motorcycles use a centrally mounted motor and the transmission in the gear to gear ration connected by a chain. These have an marked advantage of better handling and suspension travel secondary to un-sprung weight, much like the initial Aptera had. So before I get odd comments, this is just to physically give you a tour of some EV components....nothing more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn8h2i1TqNo
Bill Nye, the Science Guy, just put out a video on the Taycan EV. For you EV beginners who want to understand some basic principles, it is a good tutorial. It goes over many of topics that we have discussed in this forum. My girlfriend is getting the Taycan this summer, so we have been active on those forums. Those forums are strong since the car is already being manufactured and is not based on a lot of speculation and marketing data. In most forums, the company usually interacts with the prospective buyers....I wonder why Aptera is not more active in answering some of our questions??? At least tell us why they revise some of their data.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBqJ4RtWMpc&list=PLKduzfEGbn-FFDj6LIp-xYyf6_MSlrgbF&index=5