cannabineer
Ursus marijanus
I am talking about regular cars for daily use, like Honda Civics or small four-door VWs. It is a sufficiently contested customer space that a serious performance/safety/ride comfort ding that comes with multiplying the unsprung mass is really not an option. For pickups or delivery vans, perhaps different case. But for a passenger machine, there will be considerable loss of stability under transient loads, such as encountered in a panic avoidance maneuver. Reducing the safe performance envelope is a Bad Idea imo.These are regular vehicles for everyday use, not sports cars where fully independent suspension has been around for a while and transversely mounted FWD cars with rear independent suspension are a recent innovation and save space. A car with independent suspension will perform better, but the point was about sprung weight, and a traditional rear axle has a lot. In many EVs there are transversely mounted rear motor(s), though with CV shafts driving the wheels.
To summarize, I don’t think hub motors confer a benefit that buys back the detriment to the car’s road manners.
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