[gtirloni]

I'm completely clueless about electric engines so I was wondering if, besides range, there are other attributes one should look for in an electric car like HP and that kind of stuff? In other words, are all electric motors so similar that range is the only differentiator?

[dexen]

Good question, and the answer is a resounding "consider more attributes".

You should take into consideration the (sustained) top speed, and acceleration (for electrics, that tends to range from great to decent for 0...60, but fall off rather quickly beyond that). Those two are limited by on-board power electronics, by battery & engine cooling capacity (which is the main limiting factor in all electrics I've seen so far), and by the motor power rating.

Unlike the typical ICEs, for a short while you can over-load electric motors by quite a bit beyond the continuous rated power - say, for quick & safe over-taking - but the sustained top speed of electric vehicles isn't all that great.

The other important factors are: how quickly you can re-charge the vehicle, and how long will the battery pack last (or conversely, how quickly will it degrade), including the manufaturer's warranty, if any.

As the electric motors are also used for regenerative braking, the efficiency of energy recovery is a moderately important consideration, especially for start-stop city style traffic. Sadly I haven't yet seen that information published for any car.

Charging plug compatibility and charging station availability - for fastest charging you want to be able to use the car's native standard.

Lastly, as with any car, safety ratings (battery pack protection is a big item here) and towing capacity.

[Shivetya]

Range Battery Cooling technology, steer clear of air cooled Charging rates Weight Cd

From my view weight is the big limiting factor in EV efficiency at lower speeds and Cd becomes more important as you increase your speed to highway numbers and higher.

Engines are important as the company Munro pointed out during their tear downs. They stated that Tesla had by far the most impressive EV motor they have seen based around how they implemented the magnets and their inverter work finally coupled to a battery solution that proved naysayers wrong.

That out of the way, I would not fret over motor differences. It all comes down to, if it passes the initial three features I listed about then concern yourself with, do you like how it looks, how it drives, and does it fit in your lifestyle. In no shape or form think you will save money parting with your current vehicle for a new one however if you already were decided to change cars and EV may fit your lifestyle.

There is a good possibility many EVs will be rear drive which will greatly improve driving dynamics, the ease of packaging opens up many options

[konschubert]

The interesting thing is that these motors are not made by Tesla.

[konschubert]

Ps: What I was referring to is this: https://www.thedrive.com/tech/27790/toyota-gears-up-to-becom...

[ridged]

Who is making them? It seems they are making them in their factory, but is another company manufacturing them?

[davidgould]

The motors in Tesla’s absolutely are made by Tesla. Why do you think otherwise?

[petre]

No. Electrical engines are even more dissimilar between them than diesel and gas engines. They can have different geometries, one can put them in wheels or power any or all of the axles. Traction designs all have very good starting torque, which translates to good 0-60 acceleration. The most wonderful thing about them is that you don't need a gearbox. The limiting factor is the battery. The power electronics and the motor are pretty much a solved problem.

[thinkmassive]

The amount and rate of energy that can be delivered from the battery to the wheels probably depends more on the power electronics than the motor. Obviously the motor will overheat at some point, but I would bet the power converters and interconnects would fail much earlier except on very high performance models.

[woodandsteel]

Some good discussion here, but I would just like to point out that the word engine is wrong for electric power units, they are always called motors.

[mrkstu]

Apparently they are way out ahead- check out this report on a teardown where they also compare the tech to the competitors:

https://www.teslarati.com/teslas-model-3-electric-motor-is-a...

And he isn't gentle on his opinion where they got it wrong, so it doesn't seem to be a puff piece.

[rurban]

so I worked in the automobile industry in a prominent company working with all prominent car manifacturers, and I was one of the PMM experts there (the dynamic electrical motors).

By far the best PMM's worldwide are made by Kessler, Germany. They are way ahead of everyone else, but they can only manifacture about 200 units per year. Hand-made, like a Ferrari. Many of these PMM's for Formula 1. All the good german carmakers know about these very well, the prices, principles and tricks. They are far ahead of most others, including Tesla.

What Tesla did well was bringing parts of this technology to market. In record time.