The in-wheel motor used in green car was designed and constructed for an electric direct-drive traction system. It is difficult to connect cooling water piping because the in-wheel motor is located within the wheel structure. In the air cooling structure for the in-wheel motor, a outer surface on the housing is provided with cooling grooves to increase the heat transfer area. In this study, we carried out the analysis on the fluid flow and thermal characteristics of the in-wheel motor under the effects of motor speed and heat generation. In order to check the problem of heat release, the analysis has been performed using conjugate heat transfer (conduction and convection). As a result, flow fields and temperature distribution inside the in-wheel motor were obtained for base speed condition (1250 rpm) and maximum speed condition (5000 rpm). Also, the thermo-flow characteristics analysis of in-wheel motor for vehicles was performed in consideration of ram air effect. Therefore, we checked the feasibility of the air cooling for the housing geometry having cooling grooves and investigated the cooling performance enhancement.