The Future of EV Performance? Putting Elaphe’s In-Wheel Hub Motor Prototype to the Test on Ice in a Hyundai Ioniq 5
What if electric vehicles could offer not only instant torque and zero emissions but also unprecedented handling precision and packaging flexibility? We went to a frozen lake in Sweden to test Elaphe’s revolutionary in-wheel hub motor technology in a Hyundai Ioniq 5, and the results could fundamentally reshape the future of EV performance and design.
Tim Stevens
Writer, Manufacturer, Photographer
March 18, 2026
Imagine piloting a 500-horsepower, front-engined, rear-drive American muscle car on ice without a single tire stud. It sounds like a recipe for disaster—a white-knuckle balancing act requiring saint-like levels of self-restraint and driving finesse. As someone who appreciates the delicate dance of a rear-wheel-drive car in low-friction conditions, I’m usually the first to admit that such a machine on a frozen lake in early March would be a handful.
However, on this particular day, sliding across a vast, snow-covered expanse outside Arjeplog, Sweden, I’m not being careful. In fact, I’m having the time of my life. My right foot is planted firmly to the floor, and I’m carving effortless, impossibly long drifts around a massive skidpad. The rear end is happily wagging, kicking out in controlled arcs, yet I’m never fighting the car.
What’s the secret? I’m getting a little help from the front axle. Up front, where you’d typically find only big brakes, suspension components, and steering hardware, this coupe has something extra: a pair of electric motors. Nestled right over the front brakes and barely fitting inside the wheel wells, these motors are adding power, yes, but more importantly, they’re providing an incredible amount of capability to a car that would otherwise be utterly useless in these conditions.
Straight From Slovenia
These remarkable motors come from a relatively small Slovenian company called Elaphe. Though in operation since 2006, Elaphe has largely flown under the radar, working behind the scenes on what they call “black-ops” projects with various automotive manufacturers. Their mission? To evangelize the virtues of in-wheel hub motors on a scale far grander than the electric scooters and e-bikes where this technology is most commonly found.
Elaphe’s most high-profile moment came with their partnership with Lordstown Motors, a collaboration that promised to finally bring their in-wheel technology to the masses. Unfortunately, Lordstown’s subsequent bankruptcy put that dream on hold. Now, Elaphe is back, eager to demonstrate what their motors can do on a wide range of vehicles, proving their versatility and performance potential.
One such vehicle is a modified Hyundai Ioniq 5. In its top-tier N form, the Ioniq 5 is already quite a thrilling machine. But this particular test car is a base model, a much humbler offering that highlights the transformative potential of Elaphe’s technology. And on ice, in its stock configuration, the difference is night and day.
I started my day on a plowed handling circuit at the Colmis Proving Ground, just outside Arjeplog. The standard Ioniq 5 is an extremely competent vehicle. Ask too much of its standard all-season tires on the icy surface, and its stability and traction control systems intervene quickly and quite aggressively, cutting power to manage the slip. Trying to accelerate out of a corner becomes a frustrating exercise in restraint. You must keep both the steering angle and throttle input within a razor-thin window of functionality. Veer slightly outside that envelope, and you simply go nowhere, the tires spinning uselessly as the electronics fight for control.
Interestingly, it is possible to disable these nannies. With a long press of the traction control button, the stock Ioniq 5 transforms into a completely different beast. With the electronic safety nets gone, it’s finally possible to slide the car around, to spin the tires in a much more enjoyable fashion. However, it’s still far from a rewarding experience. The standard Ioniq 5 is extremely difficult to drift smoothly. The rear end tends to kick into wild oversteer with very little warning, catching the driver off guard. Then, if you try to power your way out of the slide, the car falls victim to terminal understeer. Even with an aggressive Scandinavian flick—a technique that involves a quick steering input to initiate the slide—the car simply plows straight ahead as soon as you apply any significant throttle. It simply refuses to rotate.
Enter the Quad-Motor Ioniq
Now, let’s talk about Elaphe’s version of the same car. The experience is, quite frankly, night and day. To convert the standard Ioniq 5, Elaphe ditched Hyundai’s dual-motor setup entirely. In their place, they installed four in-wheel hub motors—one at each corner. Each of these motors is capable of generating an impressive 188 horsepower and a staggering 1,254 lb-ft of torque. Elaphe integrated these motors with the car’s stock battery and power electronics, meaning the Ioniq 5 even displays the remaining state of charge on its familiar touchscreen.
You climb inside, familiarizing yourself with the standard Ioniq 5 interior. You twist the drive selector forward for Drive, just like in any other Ioniq. But from that moment on, everything is radically different.
In its default mode, the car remains safe and easy to drive on the slick surface. However, where Hyundai’s standard safety systems cut power abruptly the moment they detect slip and are then reluctant to restore it, Elaphe’s system is far more subtle. As you turn the steering wheel into a corner, the Ioniq gently reduces power—so smoothly that you barely notice it. You can keep your foot flat on the accelerator, and the car simply navigates the corner without drama.
The system also increases regenerative braking on the inside wheels to help pivot the chassis through the turn. But it never applies so much braking force that the car snaps into oversteer. There’s just enough gentle understeer to naturally dissuade a novice driver from pushing too hard. It’s a perfect blend of safety and driver engagement.
From there, you can escalate through the drive modes: Sport and Sport Plus, each offering increasing levels of control and power. In Sport Plus mode, the car becomes happy to engage in moderate drifts. The throttle response is significantly livelier, urging you to push harder. But if you were to hang the tail out by more than a few degrees, the car smoothly brings it back in line. It achieves this again by precisely managing the individual regenerative braking power of the four wheels, doing so without the clatter and intrusion of traditional anti-lock braking systems.
But there is one more mode, a dedicated Drift mode. Here, the system still provides a safety net, but it largely gets out of your way. The formerly humble Ioniq 5 transforms into an absolute joy on the ice. You can hang the tail way out through tighter corners or power it sideways through faster ones with complete confidence. The car behaves in a clean, predictable manner, free from abrupt power cuts or clumsy electronic interventions. If you fall slightly behind in your drift, the system provides just a little help to keep the tail from coming around completely, but otherwise, you are free to pivot and swing the 4,600-pound EV exactly as you desire.
Weight Implications
Elaphe representatives informed me that despite the addition of two extra motors, their version of the car weighs only a few pounds more than the standard Ioniq 5. The stock brakes are retained, but the suspension has been replaced by bespoke KW units, specifically calibrated to handle the extra weight concentrated in the wheels.
This brings us to the elephant in the room: unsprung mass. Each motor weighs around 60 pounds. Surely, that must ruin a car’s handling, right? “The top test drivers in the top performance OEMs would disagree,” Elaphe CEO Gorazd Gotovac stated emphatically. “From my perspective, that’s enough for me.”
Gotovac conceded that for premium luxury vehicles, the additional weight in the wheels could potentially introduce complications in ride quality. However, he stressed that this is something that can be effectively managed with more advanced suspension damping technologies. He firmly believes that the notion of in-wheel motors negatively impacting handling performance is nothing more than a myth. “High-mu, low-mu, on tarmac and on ice, we prove that every day to OEMs,” he declared.
Unfortunately, high-mu (high-grip) surfaces like dry pavement are one area of evaluation we couldn’t comment on during this test. The test courses in Sweden were groomed to be exceptionally smooth, providing a consistent, if slippery, surface.
Admittedly, that extra mass hanging out in the wheels must have some negative implications. However, Gotovac argued that these are far outweighed by the potential positives. By relocating the motors to the wheels, you free up significant space within the chassis. This translates directly to room for larger batteries, increased cargo volume, or simply more optimized interior packaging. Even in this prototype Ioniq 5, which typically has a minuscule front trunk (frunk), the space under the hood was completely empty, revealing a massive storage area.
But by designing a vehicle from the ground up to utilize these in-wheel motors, Elaphe asserts that cars can actually be lighter overall. This is achieved by switching to smaller brakes and eliminating the need for heavy reduction gearsets and differentials, which also rob the drivetrain of power. When
