Drivetrain
From Apterawiki
The drivetrain is the set of components that actually move the car. In a conventional car, this would be the engine, transmission, clutch, axles, differentials, CV joints, and wheels. The Aptera Typ-1e's drivetrain contains the electric motor, belt drive, and rear wheel. The conventional car's "fuel tank" is replaced with a battery. The fuel storage is not normally considered to be part of the "drivetrain". The Typ-1h also has a electrical generator which is driven by a small gasoline engine.
In more technical language, the Aptera Typ-1e has a battery electric drivetrain, whereas the Aptera Typ-1h has an efficient plug-in series hybrid electric drivetrain (PHEV). In a 'series' hybrid, unlike all 'parallel' hybrid cars now on the road, the gasoline engine does not directly drive the wheels, but simply keeps the battery charged. The electric motor provides all the traction. For this reason it is sometimes referred to as a range extended electric vehicle (E-REV).
The drivetrain is probably comprised of the AC24LS Motor with the DMOC445 controller, all by Azure Dynamics.[1] Azure Dynamics has provided electric drivetrain solutions for the Ford E450 hybrid (customers: FedEx, FPL (Florida Power & Light), and Purolator Courier); the Citibus HD Senator hybrid (customers: BOEDC (the Bronx Overall Economics Development Corporation), the city of Soledad, CA, and Uprose); the LEEP auxiliary power generation system (customers: New York City Harvest); and the Force Drive drivetrains, developed from that of the Solectra electric vehicle (customers: Aptera, Cornell AXP, and EAE (Electro Autos Eficaces de Mexico)). A specsheet for the hardware can be found here. Total drivetrain efficiency, from battery DC to output torque, peaks at 85%-87%. The inverter itself is 96-98% efficient[2] and supports Vehicle-To-Grid (V2G) power generation[3] (although Aptera has not announced V2G support for the vehicle as a whole at this point). The drivetrain can operate in either 156 or 312 VDC configurations, with the 312VDC configuration being more powerful and slightly more efficient.
There is no transmission. The "drive ratio" is fixed by two drive belts and the associated two sets of speed-reduction pulleys. A reduction ratio of 1:6 is expected[4], so that when the electric motor is turning 6000 rpm, the drive wheel will be turning 1000 rpm (approximately 63 miles per hour).
