Okay,

I want to start but stating that I understand why an electric motor doesn’t need a transmission in the context of required torque and the lack of need to convert low RPM to high torque.

​

But in randomly plotting a battery pack for my “planned and likely to never happen” electric bike/moped. I was wondering if there might be ways to extend the battery life without just dumping more cells in. My first thought is that if the power applied to the motor is proportional to the total output of the motor, then higher output means higher power draw (profound, I know but bear with me) so to reduce power draw, you would just have to reduce the work the motor is doing (again, brilliance incarnate, I know)

That brings me back around to transmissions and this might be where my understanding of the way motors and their relationship to power falls apart.

Wouldn’t the momentum of your system reduce the need for certain torque ranges? Until recently, I actually though that was how transmissions worked, they traded the torque energy for high end speed in later gears. You have environmental conditions (drag, friction, etc etc) but the momentum should help alleviate some of the torque requirements, right?

If so, then outside of “top end performance” could a transmission be used to reduce the work load of the motor allowing it to do the same work at lower RPM’s and thus extend the range of the battery?

Obviously a lot of energy would get lost in the new system being added and efficiency would be an issue but throwing the idea of a car transmission out the window, would a transmission of SOME sort help with that?