I'd be interested as to weight distribution, presumably the batteries are under the floor so no reason why the vehicle can't have 50/50 weight spread, which means no RWD penalty in snow, if anything a slight gain.

The only reason people find FWD cars better in snow is because they are heavier over the drive axle, on cars with only 2WD i much prefer RWD for overall handling and control in all conditions, FWD almost always suffer from understeer a most unpleasant handling defect.

Tyre size and type dictates snow grip, used to load MINIS out of Cowley plant, those fitted with wide low profile tyres the only way to get them to move in deep snow was to reverse them (making them RWD), lesser models on sensible tyres had no trouble driving normally.

Edited by gordonbennet on 24/10/2020 at 22:42

My take on it would be that in slippery conditions the driven wheels will spin easily.

With RWD there would be a tendency for the rear wheels to break grip and swing round to overtake the front - undesirable!

With FWD a loss of grip typically just reduces forward progress, possible sideways slip can more easily be corrected by steering.

Too much speed and the laws of ohysics take over anyway!

Another thought - why not make EVs 4WD - not through the usual method of transfer baxes, limited slip diffs, propshafts etc - but through a small electric motor in each wheel hub. Could be easily switched between 2 and 4 wheel drive, and electronic control of wheel spin to mirror the action of a limited speed diff.

The basic Tesla Model 3, the VW ID3, the BMW i3 and the Honda E are all rear wheel drive although the Tesla Model 3 is also available as a 4x4 by means of fitting two electric motors.

The advantages in 'packaging' that front-wheel drive offers on petrol or diesel cars doesn't apply in the case vehicles designed from the ground up as electric cars. Rear wheel drive allows a tighter turning circle and frees up more space for a luggage 'frunk' or 'froot' under the bonnet. On the other hand, if an electric car is based on the design of an internal combustion engined car (for example the VW e-Golf) then is makes economic sense to use the existing drive layout.

Individual hub mounted electric motors for each wheel looks like an attractive idea but there are disadvantages. One is that these would add a lot to unsprung weight. I read some time ago that the limited space means that only hub motors of up to about 80 bhp can be fitted. I don't know how true this is now but that means that a 2 wheel drive car would be limited to 160 bhp although a 4 WD one could be 320!

The car that showed the performance potential for modern electric cars was the Japanese Elica experimental car of the early 2000's - even before the Tesla Roadster. The Elica had wheel hub motors but it needed 8 wheels with 8 motors to provide the necessary power! The Elica might look like a static show-stopper concept but it was a working vehicle with staggering performance.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliica

Edited by Sofa Spud on 25/10/2020 at 11:28