How exactly do electric motors in cars work?

Question

is it true they can go faster than any car, its just that the manufacturer electronically limits their speed electronically? i know the tesla roadster is electronically limited to 200 something km/h.

well, how do electric motors work?

links would be awesome too

thanks

Answer 1

If you  look up th basic DC motor, they are all DC motors, which have a very high torque at low speed. Torque does drop off at higher rpm so that to get very high speed the motor has to be made more powerful to retain enough torque at high speed.

Like an internal combustion engine we can use gearing to let the motor run slower at high road speed.

Giving us an electric car that gives distance on a charge is our first objective, and only when that is met do we move on to higher speed. A speed of 200 km/h would likely cut our range significantly, So expect designers to offer us mostly the high priority range rather than ultimate speed.

They can offer you both, your option, but not likely at the same time.