This paper presents the development and experimental characterizations of a prototyping pure electric ground vehicle, which is equipped with four independently actuated in-wheel motors (FIAIWM) and is powered by a 72V 200 Ah LiFeYPO4 battery pack. Such an electric ground vehicle (EGV) employs four in-wheel (or hub) motors to independently drive/brake the four wheels and is one of the promising vehicle architectures primarily due to its actuation flexibility, energy efficiency, and performance potentials. Experimental data obtained from the EGV chassis dynamometer tests were employed to generate the in-wheel motor torque response and power efficiency maps in both driving and regenerative braking modes. A torque distribution method is proposed to show the potentials of optimizing the FIAIWM EGV operational energy efficiency by utilizing the actuation flexibility and the characterized in-wheel motor efficiency and torque response. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.