3 ms·
> And yet... for whatever torque the motor supplies at 0 RPM, you could have 4 times as much torque with a 4:1 1st gear. There's no point. The tyres can't prov
by rlpb 6y ago
> And yet... for whatever torque the motor supplies at 0 RPM, you could have 4 times as much torque with a 4:1 1st gear.
There's no point. The tyres can't provide that much traction. My Leaf wheelspins if I put my foot down at 0 RPM (until the traction control kicks in to moderate the torque). I assume it has no gearbox.
- elihu 6y agoThat's actually something I've wondered about. It seems like what you're saying may be true, but on the other hand you have cars like the White Zombie. (I know it's builder, John Wayland; he's giving me advice in my own more modest conversion.) The car started out as about a 1500 pound 70's Datsun, and with a dual-motor setup and some expensive batteries it can supposedly do 0-60 in about 1.7 seconds or so. If the Leaf is already at the point where adding more power doesn't help because you'd just spin the tires, how do cars like the White Zombie get around that? The Leaf is front wheel drive I believe whereas the White Zombie is rear wheel drive. That probably accounts for some of it. Maybe the WZ also has a limited slip differential and some kind of high-traction tires? I don't know; drag racing is pretty far outside my area of expertise. (Another random anecdote about the White Zombie: according to John, he always wanted to have a transmission, but they kept breaking whenever he tried to use one, so eventually he just settled on direct drive.)
- sokoloff 6y agoPart of the issue is that the LEAF has tires that are terrible for anything approaching spirited driving. They are low rolling resistance round blocks of approximately cast iron and slip at the slightest provocation as a result. (And yes, the LEAF is FWD-only.)