"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
The electric motor has maximum torque at zero rpm unlike an ICE.

Unlike an electric car, my car doesn't start from zero RPM. I get
maximum torque in the range 1,600 - 2,800 rpm and it will very quickly
be doing that if I am trying for maximum acceleration from rest.


Actually of course an electric motor does not necessarily have maximum
torque at zero RPM. Not if you want to keep it from melting.

I imagine that electric cars have a control unit which gradually applies
power over a short period of time, following a well-defined profile, even if
you suddenly floor the accelerator, so you don't spin the wheels and give
the occupants of the car a tremendous kick in the back. You could even allow
the driver to select from a number of different limiting accelerations,
depending on whether he wanted smooth, sedate acceleration or brisk sporty
acceleration (with the risk that takeup of power may be a bit more jerky if
you accidentally press the accelerator slightly further than you intended).

It must be good to feel smooth, fairly constant acceleration, without pauses
in acceleration while the transmission (auto or manual) changes gear.

The 0-60 time is neither here nor there in urban situations. As most
have a 30mph speed limit.

No but I'm guessing that *in general* a car with a faster 0-60 time will
also have faster times for accelerating from 0 to 10 or 20 mph.

If you looked at 0-10mph or 0-20 mph, that would have some bearing.

Figures that are not published, so we can only look at 0-62mph. However,
to give a practical example, do you think you could out-accelerate a 4.2
litre E type Jaguar? That is a car that is only a few tenths of a second
faster to 60mph than my 2 litre diesel estate car.

Really? Gosh, it shows how technology has advanced since the days of the E
Type Jag - what was once a rarity, only available on an expensive sports
cars, is now commonplace.


It's interesting to see how different types of engine in the same car make
such as difference to the acceleration profile. I used to have a Peugeot 306
with a 1.9 turbo diesel. It was fairly brisk but when I was loaned a 1.8
petrol version of the car while mine was being serviced, I noticed how the
petrol one was much better at accelerating away from rest. No surprise
there. However, on the motorway it was ****-poor: whereas my diesel had
phenomenal 50-80 acceleration (good for overtaking) the petrol one had a
much higher-revving engine (it screamed away at about 3500 rpm at 70,
compared with about 2100 for the diesel) and ran out of puff if you tried to
accelerate from 50-70 (either in 6th, 5th or 4th gear).

So the petrol was good at some things but lousy at others. Everyone talks
about 0-60 time, but some times it's 40-70 time that is important in
real-world driving, when you need to accelerate rapidly to get past a slow
lorry on a country lane where there are only limited overtaking
opportunities.