The hope has always been: connect power, connect CAN, and that’s it- no tiny encoder wires, no auto-tuners, no fiddling with parameters. Just smooth torque and power!
Our M128 motor is unique in that it is a fully self-contained unit, with the controller built into the motor housing. The controller is already perfectly tuned for every aspect of the motor, no user tuning required- it’s already good-to-go right out of the box. Trust us, we’ve spent a lot of hours dynoing and tuning!
Additionally, our motor is an IPM, which stands for “Interior Permanent Magnet,” in contrast to the more common “Surface Permanent Magnet” magnetic geometry usually found in hobby motors. IPM motors offer a unique advantage: highly efficient field weakening. This allows for high torque at low speeds, but no back-EMF limit, allowing for efficient high speed operation as well. In a normal motor, the motor will “run out of volts” at high speeds as the back-EMF voltage becomes equal to the battery voltage. This limit doesn’t exist for IPMs. Think of it as a CVT built into the motor: The motor starts in “low gear,” for high torque. Then, as speed increases, the motor shifts into “high gear” with field weakening, allowing for high speed operation. This type of motor is used in nearly every EV in the market, but has not been implemented extensively for smaller EVs- until now.
For our M128 motor, we predict this efficiency map. We are still dynoing the prototypes to see their full capabilities, so this chart is based on simulations. This chart was extrapolated from real data taken from our in-house dyno. Our motor is over 85% efficient across nearly the entire operation range, and over 90% efficient across the most of the normal operating area. Rather than having peak efficiency at one tiny point, IPM motors are designed for maximum efficiency across a wide band- the “Jack of All Trades” of motors.
At the moment, we are testing prototype units with friends and local businesses. Shoot us an email if you’d like to try one of these prototypes!