Wheel-hub-motor innovations in ‘flux’

The packaging and design of electric motors has, not surprisingly, come under scrutiny in recent years as the pace of vehicle electrification has accelerated. Wheel hub motors [https://www.sae.org/news/2021/07/making-the-case-for-in-wheel-motors], once dismissed as too costly and dynamically problematic for most automotive applications, are increasingly back in focus for EV use. Vehicle developers recognize that hub motors offer advantages - particularly in all-wheel-drive applications. And hub motors tend to favor the packaging advantages offered by axial-flux motor designs.

The compact dimensions of axial-flux motors make it far easier to package in a hub-mounted application. In addition, the more-powerful axial-flux designs are larger in diameter than comparable radial-flux motors, offering a packaging advantage in line with wheel dimensions: Small-wheeled vehicles such as scooters need smaller, less-powerful motors, while the larger wheel diameters of trucks and buses parallels the larger diameter and more powerful motors needed for these vehicles.