This article discusses the characteristics of several concepts of powertrains suitable for use in purely electric vehicles. Attention is paid to how the given system affects the driving dynamics of the vehicle and especially the overall drive efficiency based on the defined driving cycle. The introduction presents the specific types of powertrain used in modern mass-produced electric vehicles. The following sections describe the properties of selected devices, demonstrated using an example of a high-performance virtual electric motor. The dependence of the available tractive effort, the attainable acceleration and the overall efficacy of the powertrain with one or two motors are depicted graphically.