There are several reasons why Porsche you are not finding the best results of its history in recent times. Some will point directly to its shameless commitment to the electric car. A bet that, right now, is being reversed but that has left us a product portfolio in which its best-selling car, the Porsche Macan, can only be purchased right now in electric versions.
It is very likely that they themselves believe that the Porsche customer He doesn’t even want to hear about the electric car. And, no doubt, there will be a few who think this. But as they explained a few days ago in The Coches.net podcastnot all Porsche customers are the same.
In fact, the brand itself is much more linked to the electric car than we might think. So much so that your first vehicleat the end of the 19th century, was moved by electricity. The one known as Porsche P1 It had an “octagonal electric motor” capable of developing a power of up to 3.7 kW (5 horsepower).
Its maximum speed: 35 km/h. A missile compared to the 16 km/h reached by the vehicles of the benz family that were moved by a combustion engine and were produced just a few kilometers away.
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Trusting in that technology, Ferdinand Porsche would continue to evolve the concept and in the year 1900 he stood in the Palace of Electricity at the Universal Exhibition in Paris with what was known as “Lohner-Porsche system”.
This innovation integrated what were called “wheel hub motors.” These were installed on the front axle wheels. Yes, 125 years ago the creator of Porsche boasted completely electric front-wheel drive cars. We can ask for some other Valium.
The company explains that these engines could generate 2.5 HP each and the top speed rose above 30 km/h. The system was perfected and presentedn three different sizes with increasing powers, with the aim of being able to test them in larger vehicles. Thus, the most advanced evolution incorporated wheels with 12 HP motors that pushed the cars for a maximum of 50 kilometers, with the energy accumulated in lead batteries.
Even that same year, what is known as the world’s first electric competition vehicle was unveiled. Named “La Toujours Contente” (“Always Happy”), it was a vehicle with four wheel hub motors that could produce up to 14 HP of power each. It is also considered the first car with four-wheel drive.
a century later
As we already know, electric cars from the beginning of the 20th century did not have much further travel. At that time, lead batteries were very expensive and required maintenance that was almost prohibitive for most car owners’ already deep pockets. Besides, the rapid evolution of combustion engines They promoted this technology that quickly left the electric car behind.
As one century passes since those early days of automotive history, the electric car He is going through his best days. Not only do we have among us vehicles with features unimaginable more than 100 years ago, we must also take into account the rapid evolution that we have experienced in the last decade, which generates a certain optimism about what cars we will find in another ten years.
From that point of view, there are those who are betting on recovering what was once called a “wheel hub motor.” That is, including an electric motor in the wheel concept itself, with the aim of limiting power losses and controlling the amount of energy delivered down to the smallest detail. This allows a car to be more precise, faster and should be able to improve control over it.
In Hybrids and Electrics They include a good number of proposals that are currently being developed. We have developments underway from Toyota or BMW that have opted for better dynamism but also from Hyundaiwho aspire to get a car with much greater interior space thanks to eliminating the engines located in the center of the axle, front or rear, it doesn’t matter.
Companies like Protean Electric They are developing their own versions, with the intention of showing them to the big manufacturers and being able to stake advantage of their innovations in the future. The main advantage is that, according to their calculations, the efficiency is 97% so the losses in power delivery are minimal.
These changes should be key to achieving electric beasts like the Renault Turbo 3E. But it is not only a question of improving dynamism with higher powers or a better distribution of engine torque, popularizing this system aims to revolutionize the concept of the car itself because we would gain much more interior space and the autonomy of the electric vehicle that fitted this technology would be improved, benefiting from said improvement in efficiency.
In the face of revolutionary promises, physics prevails for the moment. And including a motor in the wheel also increases the unsprung mass. That is, the kilograms that are not directly supported by the suspension. When the unsprung mass increases, the problems grow exponentially because inertia multiplies the impact that its weight has on the dynamic behavior of the car.
It is no coincidence that Hyundai’s proposal It also comes with a new air suspension to more closely control this increase in unsprung mass. Because your biggest problem It is not that it is more difficult to control that mass at high speed (which is also true), the problems are already apparent from the start, generating greater vibrations that are transmitted to the vehicle’s cabin before they can be filtered, worsening driving comfort.
It must be added that although the efficiency of the system seems guaranteed… this does not always seem to be fulfilled. By installing motors in the wheels, cooling is more complex, so the temperature increases and the motors may lose efficiency. That is to say, yes, losses in power delivery are reduced but only if the engine is sufficiently well cooled and it is not clear that this, at least for the moment, can be guaranteed.
And we must add one last problem: repairability. Changing an engine in a wheel is complex, complicated and, above all, expensive, so it is to be expected that when they become popular in the market they will do so first among the most expensive and powerful vehicles. A question that, in any case, is often repeated when we talk about innovations in the automobile industry.
Photo | Porsche and Hyundai
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