NEVS Emily GT: SAAB’s Secret EV With 600 Mile Range
 

Nice looking car. The motors mounted in the wheel hub is an interesting if odd choice, in terms of it contributing to unsprung mass. Might not matter in an EV sedan where ‘performance’ driving is limited to straight line acceleration runs, but it has to be felt in the corners, no? I’m sure the instant torque vectoring on every wheel helps somewhat.

An interesting point I saw raised was how these compact hub motors could be used to more easily adapt some older ICE cars to functional EVs where normally there is insufficient room in the donor car for batteries + motors in board.

They do mention the potential issues with unsprung mass, and that they obviously did their best to resolve it with suspension tuning.

You’re right that the design of these hub motors could allow manufacturers to better package EV drivetrains into existing chassis without having to design a different chassis or design multiple chassis like an ICE chassis and skateboard EV chassis . For instance, they could make a Toyota Rav4 ICE, hybrid and EV option, and while a bespoke EV chassis would be lighter and better, this could make EVs cheaper for manufacturers to produce, as they develop out their battery manufacturing.

Whoever creates these titles must not comprehend what they're writing: how the f*ck can it be a secret if there's a Youtube clip on the subject?
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Unsprung weight increase is compensated with suitable springs and dampers. This design is the oldest implementation of electrification. With all its tradeoffs they were able to produce an implementation that allows extreme simplification of a vehicle floorplan.

I couldn't help but wonder though how it will feel on a pothole compared to a conventional hub.

Hub motors are nothing new. Just ask an nsx owner

I’ve said the same thing about Victoria’s Secret for years! Clearly Victoria isn’t keeping anything secret.

'round these parts, we just have victoria's secret.

as far as i'm concerned, victoria really should've kept her secret.

Definitely nothing new. Tell us that you didn’t watch the video without telling us you didn’t watch the video.

I was responding to comments on unsprung weight.

I don’t really get the NSX reference, but hub motors have been around almost since we have had cars on the road.

The nsx uses front hub motors. It's a hybrid. I would assume they've addressed the issue of unsprung weight. Bradley can now smash a pothole and see what happens

I'm wrong about that. My apologies. The nsx used a twin motor system up front but not hub motors.