Electric cars with in-wheel motors

Protean Electric looks to revolutionize electric cars with in-wheel motors

Protean Electric hasn't exactly reinvented the wheel, but what's inside of it is a different story.

The Michigan-based company is set to begin production of compact, in-wheel electric motors that could revolutionize the plug-in car business.

With an $84 million investment from Chinese investor GSR Partners, Protean is building a manufacturing center in the city of Liyang, China, that will have an initial capacity to build 50,000 motors per year and will begin pre-production in early 2013.

Unlike many existing systems that use large motors to drive either a transmission or axles to get power to the wheels, Protean's in-wheel motors are fully housed within the otherwise conventional wheels, which are bolted directly to them.

Versions of the motor measuring 18 inches in diameter weigh 68 pounds and provide 110 hp each, but they can be scaled up to 24 inches for higher power applications. Two or four are used on each vehicle.

Protean's innovative design packages the stationary, permanent magnet at the center of the device while the rotor is on the outside, making it easier for the wheel to be directly attached. Inverters and power electronics are housed between the two, rather than in a remote unit, further simplifying and reducing the weight of the complete system. Each motor is made up of between four and eight parallel submotors, so in the event that one fails the unit can continue to operate until it is serviced.

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