Hoyt (the Insider) Stearns wrote, :-) "The energy in the battery does not go to the kinetic energy of the rotor, it is used as an easy way to modify some parameters of the device."
In watching the Launch 2009 video where some closeups and animations are shown, they show what looks like a small electromagnet; a metallic cylinder with a coil of fine copper wire around its end that faces the rotor. WHAT IF that metallic cylinder is not an iron core, but is a permanent magnet? This is the all PM motor, and the coil is used to 'modify some parameters' as Hoyt states. In all PM motors, the problem that must be solved is the cogging effect. Pulse these coils at the right time and they cancel or reduce the cogging effect of the PM stator magnets... Yes, agree that this demo really does not prove anything, and could have easily been configured (monitoring V and I) to be more definitive... NO, these guys are not stupid, so whatever they've done is probably well thought out. Whether it's a good strategy or not won't take more than a couple of weeks/months. -Mark
