With the transformation of the automotive industry towards electrification, hub motor technology has become a hot research topic, especially direct drive hub motors, which have received widespread attention. When the electric wheel undergoes mechanical braking, a large amount of heat is generated, and the impact of this heat on the hub motor has not been fully understood. Therefore, this paper selects direct drive hub motors as the research object and focuses on exploring the temperature distribution and thermal deformation characteristics of electric wheels under mechanical braking conditions. By geometric modeling and parameterization of key components of the electric wheel, ABAQUS software is used to simulate temperature and deformation under emergency braking conditions. The simulation results show that the temperature rise of the brake disc is most significant, reaching up to 75 °C, while the temperature rise in the motor part is relatively small and can be ignored. In terms of deformation, the maximum deformation of the brake disc is 0.18 mm, while that in the motor part is smaller with a maximum rotor deformation of only 0.058 mm. This provides some reference for heat dissipation design for hub motors.