Sourcing Wheel Motors

http://fliiby.com/file/474347/j94l3neiva.html

there is a vision for the future and it will not be electric motors

Are you arguing with yourself, or by wheel motors do you mean hydraulic wheel motors? In either the hydraulic or electric case, putting wheel motors on a car is a huge project, whereas converting an existing car to electric is a no-brainer. As a result, we have electric car conversion kits and individual pieces that benefit from mass production for lowering cost. We don't have mass-produced wheel motors that can be fitted easily to cars, and so all the systems you hear about (Mitsubishi, Siemens, Michelin, PML Flightlink [used on prototypes from Ford, Volvo, Lightning] are prototypes supported by huge R&D budgets at the car companies.

There is a chicken-and-egg problem whereby there is no market for wheel motor conversions, because of the complexity of the engineering involved, so not until a large manufacturer starts offering wheel motor powered cars will the cost come down.

For a light, efficient vehicle, it is very hard to justify wheel motors even if they were not 10 times the price of a single hydraulic or electric motor. Adding weight to the wheels goes in the opposite direction from the desired direction for good vehicle dynamics. In my own lightweight prototype, am am going to some length to reduce, not increase, unsprung weight, even to the extent of mounting brakes inboard, because in a lightweight vehicle, it is easy (if using production components) to end up with more unsprung weight than you want. For trucks this is less of a concern, so the wheel motors on the prototype F150 could make sense.

For small vehicles, (scooters, motorcycles, very small cars) China provides wheel motors. Perhaps they will come up with affordable wheel motors for larger vehicles.

Very good post about wheel motors. Primary problem is the unsprung mass increase, which, as rightly said, affects vehicle dynamics. It must be said, these dynamics affect the safety (wheel contact with the road, therefore handling), and I would not recommend them for F-150s as they can move fast enough to create the dangerous situations. There is much less problem with slow moving vehicles. I recognize the advantage of one electric motor for each wheel, but the electric motor, together with the brakes could be placed in-board, and that is what we have in store for our Beaver car, - but only if batteries are lighter (energy/power density) and better recycled. Electrification of present overweighed car fleet make no sense, except to energy businesses...

on the subject of weight and size - trains move tons with electric motors and get 400 miles on a gal of fuel - and i like no breaks on wheels - whould an electric break work on drive shaft to wheel -- could you keep me posted on the Beaver car - i do want to bulid electric but the end of this will be air powerd cars - compresed air - Geo.

whould an electric break work on drive shaft to wheel

Yes, works well. My prototype uses regenerative braking (in which the drive motor works as a generator to recharge the batteries) and the friction brakes very rarely come into play. Our neighborhood has fairly steep hills (18%) and the regen braking will hold the speed of the vehicle going down these hills, with no need for the friction brakes. (But the hills would not have to be too much steeper before the regen in my system would need help from the friction brakes -- but that is a limitation of my system, not regen in general).

The other type of electric brake is a friction brake actuated electrically. These work too, but actually consume slightly more energy that hydraulic brakes (where the energy to actuate them comes from you).

In practical terms, it is unlikely that the laws will be rewritten to allow only electronic (regenerative) braking -- although, in theory, regen can work for all braking, if the wheel motors (or inboard motor or motors) is/are big enough. Many people (including me) would want to have friction brakes available as a backup.

printedmotorworks.com

PML Flightlink (now Protean) was spun off of these people, who no longer handle automotive size motors.

hipadrive.com

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