Whenever I hear people talk about acceleration in electric cars, they talk about the instant torque. I think I have an okay understanding of what torque is, but what does it mean for it to be “instant “?
In: Mathematics
Something I think other explanations are missing about EV motors:
The turning force on an EV motor, especially at low revs, is directly proportional to the current you run through it, which is directly proportional to the voltage you put across it.
More voltage applied to the engine = more turning force (torque).
The voltage applied is controlled by the accelerator pedal which (in perhaps overly simplified terms) is basically a glorified lightbulb dimmer switch. If you slam the pedal down it’s like flipping a dimmer switch from off to fully on – essentially instantaneously you’re running full voltage across the motor so have full torque.
As you get to higher revs you start to lose some, as the current in the coils is changing so fast you run into issues with getting the current moving each step so you get some fade at the upper end of the motors operational revs, but down at zero revs you don’t have any of that – you’re at max torque from the moment you finish slamming the accelerator pedal down.
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