The Electric Ford F-150 uses four in-wheel motors, one in each of the wheels. The concept car was on display at the 2008 SEMA Show in the Ford Motor Company booth.
PML Flightlink supplied the in-wheel motors. PML Flightlink also supplied in-wheel motors to the Electric Lightning, made by the Lightning car company, which was covered in an article back in 2007. PML Flightlink has meanwhile split up into two companies and the in-wheel motors are now supplied by a separate business, Hi-Pa Drive.
The in-wheel motors used in the electric Hi-Pa Drive™ Ford F-150 each weigh 66-lb and each deliver over 150 lb-ft of torque directly to the wheel, at any speed. Together, the four motors deliver 600 combined horsepower and 2,000 lb-ft of cumulative torque at the wheels — more horsepower and torque than the 320-hp 5.4L V8 in the original F-150 truck.
The Hi-Pa Drive system effectively replaces the mechanical drivetrain, axles, gearbox, transmission, differential, driveshafts and transfer case that would otherwise be necessary for a four-wheel drive truck. Furthermore, it replaces the engine, exhaust system, supporting subsystems and the fuel tank, freeing up space for a 40-kilowatt hour battery that sits under the chassis, under the rear part of the cab and the bed where the fuel tank normally sits. This means there's no loss of load space, in fact it creates space under the hood.
The many further parts that aren't needed in all-electric cars include starter motor, air filter, air intake manifold, fuel lines, fuel filters, fuel pumps, carburetors (or fuel injection system), water pump, coolant pipes, radiator, fans, motor oil tank, alternator and all kinds of sensors and management devices to monitor and control all this.
Instead, there are in-wheel motors each with built-in control, and there is a battery pack, battery controller/management system, power inverter/charger system and associated wiring. This can make an all-electric car less heavy than a gasoline version, but the weight of electric cars much depends on the size of the battery pack.
The display F-150 features a 40-kilowatt hour Lithium-ion battery pack, weighing roughly 1000 pounds and giving the truck a range of up to 100 miles. This range depends on how the truck is driven. Highway driving will give it a smaller range than urban driving, as the Hi-Pa Drive system acts as a generator, recapturing kinetic energy during braking. Apart from this regenerative braking, the hydraulic friction brakes are retained in the truck, for additional braking capability.
Apart from the size of the battery pack, the distance that an electric car can drive before needing a recharge also depends on motor efficiency. What is also noteworthy is that the Hi-Pa Drive system uses four permanent magnet brushless motors. Brushless motors are smaller, less heavy, less noisy, more powerful and less prone to wear and tear, which is particularly important when fitted in the wheels, with all the vibration, shocks and tremors associated with this.
The advantages of brushless motors also make them attractive elsewhere. Higher efficiency and lower noise makes them attractive for use in handheld rechargeable vacuum cleaners.
The V2 Dyson digital motor is used in new Dyson handheld vacuum cleaners. The motor is 2.2in (55.8mm) in diameter and weighs 0.3lb (139g); this is 1/3 lighter than its predecessor; it is also 80% more power-efficient than its predecessor.
The design of electric motors has remained largely unchanged for well over a century. Conventional motors use brushes to switch polarity - transferring current through to the motor shaft. The brushes cause sparks and friction, resulting in energy wasted in the form of heat. Furthermore, such moving parts release particles and cause wear down.
In the Dyson digital motor, polarity switching is done by a contactless rare earth neodymium electromagnetic field controlled by a microprocessor, enabling the motor to run at 104,000 rpm.
The vacuum cleaner comes with a battery of either six or four lithium ion cells, depending on the model: the DC31 or the DC30 (pictured) respectively.
Links:
SEMA 2008 press release - Electric Ford F-150
Ford press release - Electric Ford F-150
mpgomatic.com - Electric Ford F-150
Dyson - vacuum cleaners
Electronics Weekly - Dyson brushless motor
autobloggreen.com - PML Flightlink
Electric Lightning! - by Sam Carana
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Comments: 8
Great idea. We can do it - yes we can.
Not really a new concept but it is about time it has made it's way to passenger vehicles. The T-Rex Titans and other very large off road equipment had bee built like that for years with the only difference being a Generator to supply the power. !00 miles is not too great of a distance and it would be much more practical to use an LP generator to power the motors until they come up with a viable alternative.
In many cases, a range of 100 miles will be enough - the battery can simply be recharged overnight at home. For those who live further away from their work, the battery can also be recharged when at work, thus allowing for more than 100 miles of travel a day.
As you say, there's also the possibility of using a generator to extend the range, or a range-extender as GM calls it, and it features prominently in the Chevy Volt.
The above truck also allows for a hybrid configuration that leaves all original parts in place. When traveling long distances, one can thus simply switch to conventional fuel.
One can also recharge on the way. When done at a rapid-recharge station that can be done in under one hour, while part-charging the battery can be done in a matter of minutes.
One can also swap batteries, as pioneered by Better Place or one can rent an additional battery for the trip.
A most promising alternative is to simply buy a larger battery to start with, or to buy an additional battery later on. Over time, innovation and economies of scale can be expected to make batteries smaller and cheaper.
Hitachi has over the years sold some 600,000 lithium-ion batteries with a power density of 2,600 W/kg, mainly to car makers and railway companies.
A new lithium-ion battery with a power density of 3,000 W/kg will be mass-produced soon, with deliveries scheduled to start in 2010.
Meanwhile, Hitachi is showcasing a recently-developed lithium-ion battery (pictured) with a power density of 4,500W/kg.
Hitachi recently announced that it will be providing lithium-ion batteries that power hybrid cars to General Motors from next year. Hitachi said it planned to increase its production of the batteries from 40,000 cells a month to three million a month.
Hitachi has received orders for lithium-ion batteries for 100,000 cars that General Motors plans to sell from next year, and will bolster capacity to meet the needs of 700,000 cars a year, targeting a 70-fold increase by 2015, according to a Reuters report.
Sam, how much of a political/supply problem is lithium going to be in future, in your opinion? I think I recently read that most of the world's supply comes from Bolivia, which makes me wonder how much we are already landfilling as lithium-ion batteries wear out.
Hi Gerry! Virtually all car batteries in the U.S. are recycled and I imagine the same will occur with lithium-ion car batteries. Recycling could be encouraged by imposing a deposit fee, to be returned when the battery is disposed of at a collection point. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, Bolivia has 5.4 million tons of lithium, Chile 3 million, China 1.1 million and the U.S. 410,000. Seawater, according to the Institute of Ocean Energy, Saga University, Japan, contains some 230 billion tons of lithium, at concentrations of 0.1 to 0.2 ppm. While it may now be cheaper to mine lithium in South America, recovery from seawater may be more viable when combined with desalination, as discussed in Four Cycles of a Sustainable Economy and when using surplus energy, e.g. as discussed in CETO wave power.
Longer-Running Electric-Car Batteries - Technology Review, MIT
Silicon Nanotube Battery Anodes - Nano Letters
The Active Wheel simplifies vehicle design by making many of the mechanical components of a conventional car superfluous. The wheel eliminates not only the need for an engine under the hood, but also the need for transmission components and a traditional suspension system. Thus, the car no longer needs a gearbox, clutch, transmission shaft, differential and shock absorbers. This can make cars safer and lighter, and thus more energy efficient.