Quote:
Originally Posted by danibjor
I like the idea of having more motors. Personally I would go for a modular approach where you have one box talking to the car (brakes, throttle, gear selector, steering angle, ABS/ESP system etc) and that box broadcasts torque demand for each wheel. Each inverter is set up to listen to broadcasts over the bus (canbus?) and generate power based on request. Failsafe turns of the motors if error conditions is present on the bus and/or if torque request and status signals are corrupt/missing.
This way it you can easily expand the setup on the car from single motor, to dual (either AWD or two motors on one axle) or quad motor AWD for the big spender. You could probably have dual back and single front motor too.
Got some toys for testing. Water cooled 80kW/280Nm motor capable of 10400RPM 
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Totally agree!
I'm doing something like that on my AWD conversion.
Some years ago, I was inspired by a team that converted a Subaru WRX to AWD electric. Basically, they used two Siemans induction motors; one coupled to the front differential, the other coupled to the rear differential. They used lithium cells ( I don't remember; I think they were Kokam) and were quite successful in autocross and track racing.
One of the huge advantages of electric drive is control. AWD Rally racing cars have an adjustment that allows the driver to bias the torque front or rear on the fly, depending on conditions. The electric WRX took that to the next level.
The ultimate is torque vectoring, which would allow the motors to adjust torque to whatever wheel needs it, on the fly. With it, the motor torque can actuallly help the vehicle around a corner - in both braking and accellerating. Here's an example of it in action, with the Mercedes AMG electric car on the Nurburgring:
If you watch the video, check out the guages - in the lower right is a guage that shows current as a % of total available, both positive and negative. it's a good regen illustration.
IMHO, were in for a very fun future!
E*clipse