Reinventing the Wheel to Power Electic Vehicle Future
jpost.com
jpost.com
”Wellington Adams of St. Louis first conceived of building an electric motor directly in the vehicle wheel, though it was attached via complicated gearing. The Adams patent is U.S. Patent 300,827 in 1884.”
It even mentions an in-wheel Diesel engine.
...which was linked off of:
https://newatlas.com/ree-modular-mobility-platform/60486/
It appears that the motor and gearbox are outside of the wheel, not an integrated part. Then there's a flat plate, then the wheel (that plate also seems to limit ground clearance).
It's nice that it's an all-in-one package, I guess - but not what I was really expecting (with the motor integrated into the rim, possibly the suspension being part of the wheel via sprung spokes or something).
While it would be great to have everything "in the wheel" - leaving tons of room for occupants and/or batteries on the chassis (not to mention fewer parts to wear) - the issue has always been how to cope with "unsprung weight" - which can lead to handling issues and "bad feel".
It might be possible (as my ideas noted above) - but it would require an almost complete rethinking and design of what a wheel, suspension, and motor should be; virtually the whole unit would need to be rethought - and my guess would be that the wheel/rim would essentially be a "rotor" in some fashion composed of "sprung segments". That rotor would either be some kind of PM structure (with the drive coils on the spindle/axle the rotor/wheel would rotate around), or it would be some kind of "squirrel cage" shaded-pole AC motor or something like that. There would likely need to be gearing incorporated to increase the torque, unless the motor could be designed to take tons of voltage and current (how to dump the heat generated?).
All things well outside my knowledge area, though.
Wheels need to be somewhat expandable otherwise you increase your cost. And what happens if you have a flat, has the spare wheel got a motor as well?