I agree w/ Old Mechanic.
I also have severe doubts about the weight. I don't think it's possible, unless titanium and carbon parts are used, to get a "two stage" AWD drivetrain WITH a 65 kW motor that weighs only 20kg. If you take the motor parts ( rotor & stator ) out of the MGR, you're left with a one speed gearbox and differential that weighs about 20kG. ( I need to dig up my notes on that ) Toyota did an excellent job at keeping the MGR light; I'm having a difficult time finding excess weight to remove.
Now they're claiming that they can get twice as many gears and differentials, etc with the same weight??? Oh yeah, and a motor too?
It may be possible to get a 65kW electric MOTOR that light, especially if they are spinning it REALLY FAST, like the 12.5:1 gear ratio would imply. To get the 6.86:1 MGR to move a "sporty car" at 130mph, the motor needs to spin @ about 12,000 rpm. I would guess by their gearing they have a motor spinning well over 20,000 rpm.
That's the "easy" way to get a light electric motor...
The problem, we're finding with the MGR is that the BEMF requires a very high voltage power supply. For the MGR, it's 650V.
- E*clipse