# Street Racing In Wheel Hub Motor



## Inframan (Jan 30, 2011)

My friend just bought a just bought a honda civic hatchback that was used in street racing and he want to know if there are any hub motors made that are powerful enough to put on both of his back wheels to act as a boost when he's racing and just to get him to the grocery store in ev mode? If this were possible is it a good idea?


----------



## PaulS (Sep 11, 2012)

There are hub motors that are powerful enough to act as a "boost" for racing and to get him to and from the local store on battery power.
They are expensive and difficult to find. If your friend has more money than he can spend and the time and knowledge or more money to hire someone to build the EV system then it is a project that might be considered possible but I doubt it could be considered a good idea. 
The motors at the rear wheels will be a source of drag when they are not powered. This would slow him down at the very least. Adding an electric motor to a car designed for gas engine operation (with the engine in it) makes for poor performance. With the engine compartment full of engine and heat you will have to find someplace for the batteries and controller - like the trunk - which means there is no need to go to the store because you have no place for the groceries now. As far as racing is concerned I have never seen a successful race car that had the weight of two electric motors, a battery pack and a controller added to it. Getting any added acceleration out of it will be difficult just due to the weight increase. I doubt that the electric motors will make up for the weight.


----------



## Bowser330 (Jun 15, 2008)

Inframan said:


> My friend just bought a just bought a honda civic hatchback that was used in street racing and he want to know if there are any hub motors made that are powerful enough to put on both of his back wheels to act as a boost when he's racing and just to get him to the grocery store in ev mode? If this were possible is it a good idea?


There aren't a lot of hub motors out there for the DIY'er.....although, http://www.enertrac.net/ they make hub motors that can do 30kw peak output...60kw on the pack wheels would be a nice little burst to have, they do weigh 60lbs each so that's 120lbs of weight plus they are 1300$ each and the controller for each is 1000$, so total price comes too $4,600. not to mention the cost involved with incorporating them into the honda civic wheel/rim. They are rated to support 400lbs of weight so they would struggle to propel the 2800lbs civic on their own, but for nice little burst while moving they should work....

Another option would be implant another FWD drive line into the rear of the car to the rear wheels, so you have the same transmission and half hafts going to the wheels, just no steering rack. Connect an electric motor to the transmission and connect the shifter/clutch cables to make both transmission shift at the same time. If your friend were to use a warp9 and soliton1, he could have a 270ftlb boost from 0-4000rpm (depending on voltage) Warp9 1800$ + Soliton1 3000$ = 4,800$, a lot more fabrication required, but more performance as well.


----------

