| The Slovene physicist Andrej Detela has for ten years been developing various types of direct drive electric motors for electric vehicles: electro-mobiles, motorbikes, bicycles and other small, lightweight vehicles. Detela's motor is situated in the drive-wheels themselves: each wheel on a car has its own electric motor. Such a car does not need a clutch, gears, a differential, homo-kinetic joints - the only moving parts are the wheels. The only thing left in the central system is the microprocessor, which controls all the drive functions. |
| The electric car can turn sideways and round on the spot - particularly useful when driving in towns. Without the heavy mechanics of transmission (which uses at least 10% of the energy in a traditional car), the electric car is lighter, cheaper and more economical. The best electric motors at the moment have a specific torque which is too weak - only 10 N.m/kg. Detela's direct drive motor has a specific torque of up to 25 N.m/kg. |
| In Japan, Andrej Detela found a
partner in the company HDS, which manufactures robotic systems. Through
co-operation with them, new prototypes are being created, cheaper and
better with regard to motor mass and efficiency. The motor Detela is creating at the moment has multiple uses: HDS use it for direct drive robots. |
| In the development of electric vehicles, the biggest problem at the moment is the source of electricity. Detela claims that with regard to the energy source there are a range of possibilities. It is feasible, for example, to make a 'carpet' that is at the same time a photocell and a battery. When you connect it to the user of electricity, it works like a battery (chemical energy is converted into electricity). In the morning, you spread the carpet in the garden so that it 'fills up' in the sun, then you roll it up, connect it to the car and drive around for half a day... |
| There are, of course, other so far unused options: apart from the fuel cells which are being intensively developed at the moment, there are, for example, thermo-ionic converters, special converter chips or miniature ceramic turbines, which have excellent efficiency... |
| "These things are perfectly possible, but there is no real development. The car industry is not genuinely interested in change, in electric cars, because it can for a few years yet exploit and earn good money with the existing production lines. And partly they are too rigid in development because they do not dare depart from the outmoded (traditional) concepts: modern cars just imitate petrol using cars with a central engine. I hope things start to change when there is a real ecological crisis," says Detela. |
| Detela also has a detailed concept for an electric plane without a propeller, a craft weighing 50 kg, with four wings, flying almost silently at a speed of 120 km/h. Whilst drawing the designs for his electric plane with direct drive he was greatly assisted by observing the flying abilities of a dragon fly. "A dragon fly can take off vertically, it can float and fly backwards, and all this can be achieved by an electric plane," claims Detela. |
