Being an electricity powered series, the powertrain is the most crucial and important part to the Formula E teams and McLaren Electronic Systems have been entrusted sole responsibility for this task.
On a basic level, an electric motor works by effectively just spinning magnets. A magnet has a north and south pole and when you introduce a second magnet the north pole of one will attract to the south of the other (opposites attract), so the magnet introduced will be spun to make the pair attract. This is the basis of an electric motor - the magnetic attractive and repulsive forces of the magnets.
If you had a full circle of fixed magnets (we’ll call them the FMs) surrounding a central magnet (the CM), much like a compass, the CM will rotate so that its north pole is facing one of the FM’s southern poles. However, this obviously won’t work as a motor because the CM will just stop when its poles have found an attraction.
To solve this problem the poles of the FMs are electronically switched, by applying a current, between north and south (almost instantaneously) over and over again continuously spinning the CM – as it tries to catch the magnetic attraction from the individual FMs – and then spinning a shaft connected to the gearbox.
A major advantage with electric powered cars is that the motor can be used as a generator (for extra power) when the car is under braking, just like the ERS system in Formula 1.
When the car brakes, instead of the motor driving the gearbox, the moving wheels drive the electric motor – harvesting electricity and putting this generated energy back in the battery. So put yourself in a Formula E drivers’ shoes, you put your foot on the throttle, which sends an instantaneous ‘message’ to turn the motor current on, driving the gearbox and wheels – speeding the car up. Then, as you take your foot of the pedal for the oncoming corner, the rolling wheels generate the motor, harvesting the electricity for extra power later on.
On a basic level, an electric motor works by effectively just spinning magnets. A magnet has a north and south pole and when you introduce a second magnet the north pole of one will attract to the south of the other (opposites attract), so the magnet introduced will be spun to make the pair attract. This is the basis of an electric motor - the magnetic attractive and repulsive forces of the magnets.
If you had a full circle of fixed magnets (we’ll call them the FMs) surrounding a central magnet (the CM), much like a compass, the CM will rotate so that its north pole is facing one of the FM’s southern poles. However, this obviously won’t work as a motor because the CM will just stop when its poles have found an attraction.
To solve this problem the poles of the FMs are electronically switched, by applying a current, between north and south (almost instantaneously) over and over again continuously spinning the CM – as it tries to catch the magnetic attraction from the individual FMs – and then spinning a shaft connected to the gearbox.
A major advantage with electric powered cars is that the motor can be used as a generator (for extra power) when the car is under braking, just like the ERS system in Formula 1.
When the car brakes, instead of the motor driving the gearbox, the moving wheels drive the electric motor – harvesting electricity and putting this generated energy back in the battery. So put yourself in a Formula E drivers’ shoes, you put your foot on the throttle, which sends an instantaneous ‘message’ to turn the motor current on, driving the gearbox and wheels – speeding the car up. Then, as you take your foot of the pedal for the oncoming corner, the rolling wheels generate the motor, harvesting the electricity for extra power later on.
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