Exactly the same thing as the electric wheel engine developped by enginner Couture at IREQ about 15 years ago...Hydro-Quebec canned the project instead of providing a mere 30M$ to finish it and come out with a car...
The technical problem is essentially that mass on wheels is bad for suspension efficiency. It is hard to make these motors lightweight without losing other qualities. Five years to find a provider and develop the technology is very short. I don't know how long Toyota took to develop the Prius but this will involve developing high-tech materials for the in-wheel motors. If e.g. Toyota was able to produce such motors today, I would bet Volvo would buy them, just as they already buy their AW boxes.
Not necessarily true. We built complete electric cars for Homeland Security using this technology over 4 years ago for Border Patrol vehicles. You would be surprised how little the weight difference is one you eliminate much of the mechanical drivetrain associated with gas engines. In our case, we were only 9.5 pounds more at each wheel. It all depends on the design. These magnetic, brushless motors are amazing and are virtually bulletproof.
they still need to work on it. Since the car has the motors in the wheels it has full time all wheel drive. If the wheel at different speeds when driving the car could lose control. That is on problem. Also some parts need to be toughened up for regular street use.
True. This car does not have the fail-safe feature of drive-wheel interlock of transmission-differential-driveshaft vehicles (whether petrol, other electric or hybrid) Essentially, it has an independent drivetrain package at each wheel-each wheel could spin at vastly different rotational speeds. Volvo probably has a fail-safe mechanism/system to negate this. I imagine that it would have to be an independent montoring system, much like ESP, that can provide feedback to the central control unit.
under all driving condition involves more than 500 lines of code. The 2015 release date is a suicide note, if it is deliberate or plain stupidity is unclear.
I am a student at the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest. A group of teachers and students converted a Daewoo Matiz to electric. Each front wheel has it's own motor. They wrote some computer code to make the motors act like differentials ( according to the steering wheel's angle they would spin at different speeds ) and other things like this. I don't think this is very complicated. There must be other problems.
Exactly the same thing as the electric wheel engine developped by enginner Couture at IREQ about 15 years ago...Hydro-Quebec canned the project instead of providing a mere 30M$ to finish it and come out with a car...
crimson69666 1 year ago
The technical problem is essentially that mass on wheels is bad for suspension efficiency. It is hard to make these motors lightweight without losing other qualities. Five years to find a provider and develop the technology is very short. I don't know how long Toyota took to develop the Prius but this will involve developing high-tech materials for the in-wheel motors. If e.g. Toyota was able to produce such motors today, I would bet Volvo would buy them, just as they already buy their AW boxes.
singer1924 2 years ago
Not necessarily true. We built complete electric cars for Homeland Security using this technology over 4 years ago for Border Patrol vehicles. You would be surprised how little the weight difference is one you eliminate much of the mechanical drivetrain associated with gas engines. In our case, we were only 9.5 pounds more at each wheel. It all depends on the design. These magnetic, brushless motors are amazing and are virtually bulletproof.
HogHunterNSon 2 years ago
Thats Awesome!!!
shentrock 3 years ago
SUPER COOL!!!
walteriko 3 years ago 2
Where I can buy this car??
sonix3x 3 years ago
If I cound buy this car today I would have bought it instead of my S40.
We need more of these cars, not just Toyota and Honda!
ManosS40 3 years ago
Very interesting - but why wait till 2015???
We can deliver PHEV conversion sets for the Prius today, driving 55km on the battery and on average 50km per litre!
LodewijkWesterling 3 years ago 3
they still need to work on it. Since the car has the motors in the wheels it has full time all wheel drive. If the wheel at different speeds when driving the car could lose control. That is on problem. Also some parts need to be toughened up for regular street use.
sixyears 3 years ago
True. This car does not have the fail-safe feature of drive-wheel interlock of transmission-differential-driveshaft vehicles (whether petrol, other electric or hybrid) Essentially, it has an independent drivetrain package at each wheel-each wheel could spin at vastly different rotational speeds. Volvo probably has a fail-safe mechanism/system to negate this. I imagine that it would have to be an independent montoring system, much like ESP, that can provide feedback to the central control unit.
FFF666GP 3 years ago
I doubt distributing torque between the wheels
under all driving condition involves more than 500 lines of code. The 2015 release date is a suicide note, if it is deliberate or plain stupidity is unclear.
eurasia57 3 years ago
I am a student at the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest. A group of teachers and students converted a Daewoo Matiz to electric. Each front wheel has it's own motor. They wrote some computer code to make the motors act like differentials ( according to the steering wheel's angle they would spin at different speeds ) and other things like this. I don't think this is very complicated. There must be other problems.
bogdanp9 3 years ago 2
Lets all hope that this is not another Evo1. Great car recalled for no reason.
akitoakito 4 years ago
I want this baby NOW!
Smugglarn 4 years ago