Cool battery mini cooper

[gg222]

Not that I'm going to give up my # for this, but it had good numbers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0Sy7XnJBPE

[Aptera #1159]

Not that I'm going to give up my # for this, but it had good numbers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0Sy7XnJBPE
Wow. Who needs 900 mile range? Petrol generator. Yuck! I bet Aptera still saves more money.:D

[Matthijs]

Well maybe the PML electric in wheel motor would be perfect for the Aptera! No more drive belt and diskbrake @ the rear. Hope the technology will be ready and cheap enough to succeed.
http://www.pmlflightlink.com/motors/hipa_drive.html

They also made a Volvo with the same technology. PML is also working with Volvo.

http://www.pmlflightlink.com/news_volvo.html

[futura]

All that unsprung weight might make it handle like an elephant on a teeter-totter. Copper ain't magnesium. Many, many years ago, my Dad and a partner designed a car that had 4 independent drive wheels using hydraulic motors. All the engine did was keep the pressure up and valves controlled the wheel rotation. It was before my time (never saw it) and he said the outboard weight was one problem but the real issue was it was a control system nightmare--he was a guidance control guy too. I suppose what he needed was 50 yrs of computer advances like PML can draw on.
Cheers.

[butter]

Ooohhhh.. an electric Mini. Oh boy. That's got me real excited. I've always been in love with the Mini, but was always rather disappointed it wasn't more efficient, with its relatively tiny size and all. So cute! And soon, potentially green to my liking!

Hmmm... I may just wait around for it.

[Matthijs]

All that unsprung weight might make it handle like an elephant on a teeter-totter. Copper ain't magnesium. Many, many years ago, my Dad and a partner designed a car that had 4 independent drive wheels using hydraulic motors. All the engine did was keep the pressure up and valves controlled the wheel rotation. It was before my time (never saw it) and he said the outboard weight was one problem but the real issue was it was a control system nightmare--he was a guidance control guy too. I suppose what he needed was 50 yrs of computer advances like PML can draw on.
Cheers.
Wow that really impressive!! Did your dad made any pictures of it? Would really like to see that car. Well I think with the Aptera the unsprung weight will not be that much higher then of that from the disk brake and caliper. With the Mini the the unsprung weight has increased by less than 2 kg over the original standard Mini. And that is with four wheels and the heaviest engine type. You can read their FAQ (http://www.pmlflightlink.com/motors/hipa_faq.html) for some more information.

[futura]

No pics of the "hydraulic nightmare". Would be a nice memento to have though. Thanks for the link on the PML system. I'm even more impressed and really looking forward to seeing it brought to market. They will have fun dealing with the regulations/safety issue of "non-hydraulic" brakes on a passenger car. Good that safety-minded Volvo is working with them too.

[KarenRei]

(Can't watch the vid): Is this the same electric mini-cooper made by Hybrid Technologies that costs $60k?

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/03/22/how-much-demand-is-there-for-a-60k-electric-mini-not-much/

[Matthijs]

(Can't watch the vid): Is this the same electric mini-cooper made by Hybrid Technologies that costs $60k?

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/03/22/how-much-demand-is-there-for-a-60k-electric-mini-not-much/
No it's not the same car. The Mini from PML is a testplatform for their Hi-Pa Drive motor technology.

The Hi Pa drive system used in the Mini gives each wheel 120kW of power and therefore a total vehicle power of 480kW. The greatest technology breakthrough is with the invertor drive which is housed inside the motor and has a mass less the 2kg. NOTE: A full 120kW invertor drive with a mass of less than 2kg. This represents at least 10 times the power to mass ratio of any currently existing 120kW invertor in the world today.

http://www.tuningmag.net/images/news/pml_mini_qed_031006/qed_mini_text_1.jpghttp://www.evworld.com/press/minicooper_hybrid.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0niFw9X3wg
Volvo Recharge

Also the Lightning EV will use PML Technology.
http://www.pmlflightlink.com/archive/news_lightning.html
http://www.lightningcarcompany.com/

[KarenRei]

Youch... just found this comment -- anyone have any more recent pricing info?

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/08/pmls_inwheel_mo.html

The comment is from last summer:

I sent a price quote to PML some months ago.. 7500£ each for the smallest of their in-wheel engines (350Nm,40kW), And 4000£ for the control system.

That's 34000£ ($53,000) just for the motors and control system on a typical 4-wheel car! If their stats are to believed, PML has some incredible technology (especially that inverter -- 120kW in only 2kg?!), but I seriously hope they have plans to get the price lower than that. Even one of their smallest in-wheel motors plus the control system would cost 2/3rds the price of the Aptera.

[mmalc]

Also the Lightning EV will use PML Technology

Venture did investigate the Hi-Pa for their vehicle, but backed off (http://flytheroad.com/blog/forums/topic.php?id=524&page=3), as did Zap...

But it may be that Lightning will be the last company other than Volvo to use the technology (in a car at least) since seems as if PML now has an exclusive agreement with Volvo (http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/01/22/volvo-pml-flightlink-is-working-exclusively-with-us-zap-x-de/).

[drivin98]

Youch... just found this comment -- anyone have any more recent pricing info?

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/08/pmls_inwheel_mo.html

The comment is from last summer:



That's 34000£ ($53,000) just for the motors and control system on a typical 4-wheel car! If their stats are to believed, PML has some incredible technology (especially that inverter -- 120kW in only 2kg?!), but I seriously hope they have plans to get the price lower than that. Even one of their smallest in-wheel motors plus the control system would cost 2/3rds the price of the Aptera.

Thanks Karen, I've been looking for those numbers. Actually, it's cheaper than I thought. I think any amount of quantity or other arrangement could seriously lower that price but it would still be expensive.

[Matthijs]

I have found a nice illustration off the system:

http://wiwo.circ-it.de/infografiken/elektroauto/elektroauto_770.jpg