Internal combustion engines basically have a very limited range of RPM where they can work. Too slow and they are going to stall and too high and the engine can't handle it.
That is why you have gears in your vehicle to allow your vehicle to drive different speeds but still having a small band of RPM for the engine.
With that understood, we can get to the main issue. An internal combustion engine doesn't produce a constant torque. You can understand the torque as basically the force with that the wheels try to move the car for this instance. Instead, the engine produces more torque the faster the engine is. That is why race car drivers try to shift right at the end of the gear and keep the engine hat high RPM.
Now, you don't want to do this with your own car, because is stresses the engine and has horrible fuel economy. The faster the engine spins, the more losses the motor has and the fuel economy gets worse.
That is where electric engines come into play. Modern electric car engines have the ability to produce a near constant torque with no connection to the RPM of the engine. So rather than having to spin up the engine first before you have the maximum force available, you have the force available even for small speeds then LOW RPMs.
This is why electric car engines can accelerate so high at small speeds compared to combustion engines.
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Now, as a little caveat, this is not universal for all electric motors. Modern car engines use electronically controlled engines to have this effect. Especially for older train engines with limited electronical controls there are some variations and those characteristics might not hold.
RedditSchnitzel t1_j1iy7z6 wrote
Reply to ELI5: Why are electric car engines/motors able to accelerate so much faster (0-60 mph) than internal combustion engines? by jacobhottberry
Internal combustion engines basically have a very limited range of RPM where they can work. Too slow and they are going to stall and too high and the engine can't handle it.
That is why you have gears in your vehicle to allow your vehicle to drive different speeds but still having a small band of RPM for the engine.
With that understood, we can get to the main issue. An internal combustion engine doesn't produce a constant torque. You can understand the torque as basically the force with that the wheels try to move the car for this instance. Instead, the engine produces more torque the faster the engine is. That is why race car drivers try to shift right at the end of the gear and keep the engine hat high RPM.
Now, you don't want to do this with your own car, because is stresses the engine and has horrible fuel economy. The faster the engine spins, the more losses the motor has and the fuel economy gets worse.
That is where electric engines come into play. Modern electric car engines have the ability to produce a near constant torque with no connection to the RPM of the engine. So rather than having to spin up the engine first before you have the maximum force available, you have the force available even for small speeds then LOW RPMs.
This is why electric car engines can accelerate so high at small speeds compared to combustion engines.
​
Now, as a little caveat, this is not universal for all electric motors. Modern car engines use electronically controlled engines to have this effect. Especially for older train engines with limited electronical controls there are some variations and those characteristics might not hold.