HybridVolvo Recharge

Volvo Electric Car ReCharge Concept hybrid In-Wheel Motor EV

Only about 15% of the energy from the fuel you put in your tank
gets used to move your car down the road or run useful
accessories, such as air conditioning. The rest of the energy is
lost to engine and drive line inefficiencies and idling. Therefore,
the potential to improve fuel efficiency with advanced
technologies is enormous. With an Electric Car it costs just
$2.00 per 100kms with MUCH more performance than with
petrol at $20.00 per 100kms.

Volvo ReCharge Concept hybrid EV with 4 wheel motors Electric
Car vehicle. Electric motors are rated for 100,000 hours or 6
MILLION Kms before they need servicing.

Volvo's ReCharge Concept, a plug-in hybrid with individual
electric wheel motors, can drive an estimated 100 kilometers
before the vehicle's four-cylinder Flexifuel engine is needed to
power the car and recharge the battery. When driving beyond the
car's battery life, fuel consumption may vary from 0 to 5.5 liters
per 100 km depending on the distance driven. Volvo researchers
say the ReCharge Concept can lower carbon dioxide emissions
by an estimated 66 percent compared to other hybrids. In
addition to operating on battery energy, the ReCharge Concept
can also accelerate from zero to 100 km/h in 9 seconds and
reach top speeds of 160 km/h. The vehicle, which will debut in a
specially-designed Volvo C30 at the IAA motor show in Frankfurt,
was developed at the Volvo Monitoring and Concept Center in
Camarillo, CA.

Volvo / PML finally demo a vehicle running with 4 in-wheel
motors. The spec quoted by Volvo is MUCH less than was
originally announced by PML in 2006. Volvo says these demo
motors are 50 hp (36kw) with 1000nm. PML have said ever since
2006 these motors would have 160hp (117kw) So they have
about 1/3rd the power they said and I'd have to say the torque
figure is extremely suspect too. The Volvo s30 is a small
lightweight car, yet on the only slight grade on this video it slows
down substantially and the video is edited well before it crests
the hill. In my experience, with their claimed total of 4000nm of
torque, coming from electric motors which have 100% torque
from zero rpm, the S30 wouldn't even notice a hill twice as steep
or twice as long as the one in the video. I regularly drive up a
much steeper hill @60kph on cruise control with a 1600kg car
that has 1200nm at the back wheels with the engine rpm steady
@1500 rpm. It wouldn't even notice the grade in the video so I'd
have to say there's NO WAY the PML wheel motors on this
Volvo S30 have 1000 Nm each! At least they got one driving
under it's own power!

The ReCharge, Volvo’s concept plug-in hybrid, could squeeze 160 miles from a gallon of gas by tossing out the power-wasting transmission. It packs a
small electric motor inside each wheel, so that no power is lost in the drivetrain. Here’s a look at the next generation of fuel-efficiency
How Wheel Motors Drive the Car. Putting electric motors directly inside the wheels eliminates the transmission, which typically wastes 10 to 20 percent
of the engine’s energy. An interior disc, mounted to the wheel bearings, contains a series of independently controlled electromagnets, which emit a
magnetic field in response to an electrical current. Around that, an outer ring contains permanent magnets. Step on the accelerator, and a computer in
the interior ring begins to rapidly switch the polarity of the electromagnets, repelling or attracting the permanent magnets. The faster the polarity changes,
the faster the motor spins the wheels. The challenge is controlling four independent motors—if one spins even slightly faster, the car could veer violently.
The ReCharge team’s next big hurdle is refining the software that maintains precise control. As for performance, the car will have permanent all-wheel
drive with no gearbox standing between your foot and the motors—in other words, it should go like a rocket. Batteries power all four motors and the car’s
electronics. Unlike most plug-in hybrids, the ReCharge uses a lithium-polymer (rather than lithium-ion) battery. This is not only safer—it uses sheets of
plastic instead of a volatile electrolyte solution—but it also powers the car for 60 miles before the engine kicks in to recharge it. Small lithium-polymer
batteries have started to show up in gadgets such as the iPhone, but Volvo gets its larger, experimental versions from an undisclosed manufacturer. The
engine charges the battery when the car isn’t plugged in. The concept design calls for either a 1.6-liter flex-fuel or turbodiesel engine, but since the
engine doesn’t have to actually spin a drive shaft, a fuel cell or a second battery could do the job just as well. It would kick in to recharge the battery only
after the battery was at 30 percent capacity, so the ReCharge could travel 160 miles on a single gallon of gas. A charger feeds power to the battery when
the car is plugged in at home. Eventually, the ReCharge will be equipped with an intelligent version that can automatically sense strain in your area’s
electrical grid and either cut back its power consumption or feed electricity from its battery back into the system. Tires must be as thin as possible since
the motor makes each wheel bigger.The ReCharge uses specially designed Michelin tires with a soft, resilient surface that also reduces rolling
resistance. [Via Seth Fletcher - Popsci.com]