3 ms·
Most electric motors are most efficient and can generate the most power within a certain RPM range. (It's a lot wider than gas engines, but beyond a certain sp
by elihu 7y ago
Most electric motors are most efficient and can generate the most power within a certain RPM range. (It's a lot wider than gas engines, but beyond a certain speed the torque falls off.) If you can drive at high speeds at a more efficient motor RPM, then that's less excess heat for the motor and inverter to deal with, and less current draw from the batteries.
- kenhwang 7y agoElectric motors are pretty much opposite of gasoline engines. Motors have peak torque at 0-2krpm and it drops off rapidly after that. Gasoline cars tend to hit peak torque near the end of their rpm range (ignoring turbos that can change that in any number of ways). From what I can see, most electric motors are tuned to have peak efficiency at ~5krpm which is conveniently around freeway driving speeds.
- eigenloss 7y agoOne might even imagine they were engineered to be optimally efficient at freeway driving speeds! :D