Citation: Dukalski, P.; Miko´ s, J.; Krok, R. Analysis of the Simulation of the Operation of a Wheel Hub Motor Mounted in a Hybrid Drive of a Delivery Vehicle. Energies 2022, 15, 8323. https://doi.org/10.3390/ en15218323 Academic Editors: Lorand Szabo and Feng Chai Received: 5 October 2022 Accepted: 31 October 2022 Published: 7 November 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). energies Article Analysis of the Simulation of the Operation of a Wheel Hub Motor Mounted in a Hybrid Drive of a Delivery Vehicle Piotr Dukalski 1, * , Jan Miko´ s 1 and Roman Krok 2 1 Lukasiewicz Research Network-KOMEL Institute of Electric Drives and Machines, 40-203 Katowice, Poland 2 Department of Mechatronics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Silesian University of Technology, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland * Correspondence: piotr.dukalski@komel.lukasiewicz.gov.pl Abstract: The article presents the analysis of operational parameters and thermal analysis of the wheel hub motor during operation in the car drive. The authors proposed an analysis of the operation of the wheel hub motor mounted in a hybrid car, during Artemis driving cycles and while driving on the road with different slopes. The simulations were carried out in the Ansys Motor-CAD program. The calculations are based on coupled models of the electromagnetic circuit and thermal models of the motor. The conducted research is a proposal of an approach to the design of electric vehicle propulsion motors, which allows us to consider problems related to predicting at the motor design stage what are its possibilities and what risks during operation in a real drive. The analysis also includes the impact of the applied motor control strategy and the variation of the supply voltage. These are aspects that are extremely important in wheel hub motors, as they are weight-optimized motors with a limited volume and a relatively high power and torque density. Keywords: wheel hub motor; electric drive; permanent magnet synchronous motor 1. Introduction Nowadays, the dynamic development of electromobility focuses on ever greater requirements for vehicle drives, resulting in the search for new designs and topology of drive systems and continuous increase in performance. One of them is the wheel hub motor, the use of which allows for the elimination of elements mediating the transmission of the torque. Motors of this type can be used in various applications, and research on various designs [1–6] and design methods [7–10] is the subject of many studies and scientific descriptions. The use of compact wheel hub motors in the automotive industry, due to the working conditions and location, is a challenge for the design of the motors and the technology of manufacture, related to mechanical strength, sealing, cooling system concept, and control [11–15]. One of the well-known problems with wheel motors is the large unsprung mass. The motors mounted in the car in this way constitute an additional unsprung mass, which has a negative impact on the operation of the shock-absorbing system components and on the vehicle’s steerability [16–21]. The public research and conclusions suggest that depending on the vehicle and the ratio of unsprung and sprung masses, the impact of using this type of solution when driving the vehicle may be limited to the impact imperceptible for the average driver. Both the research carried out by the authors of the project and other publications indicate that the impact of a suitably reduced unsprung mass of motors can be compensated for by some changes in the structure of the shock-absorbing system. This solution offers a number of possibilities related to driving configurations for the front, rear, or both drive axles. An interesting application also seems to be the use of this type of motor in a hybrid drive, because the motors do not take up space in the vehicle and can offer various, switchable modes of drive operation. Drives of this type can be used in many different applications in Energies 2022, 15, 8323. https://doi.org/10.3390/en15218323 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/energies