The electric motors are designed for use in front-, rear- and all-wheel drive vehicle applications and can be adapted to existing internal combustion engine powered cars and trucks to turn them into hybrids.
In-wheel motors offer the benefits of drastically improved vehicle packaging, simplified two-wheel or all-wheel-drive layouts, the option of through-the-road hybridization, more efficient regenerative braking, and the most direct wheel control possible.
[5] Another drawback of in-wheel motors is the fundamental physical reality that their location inside the wheel places them in much closer proximity to road impacts.
This type of layout stands in contrast to the traditional mounting location of the motor in the vehicle body, an arrangement that ensures that a sudden road impact to the wheel is directly and immediately dealt with by the suspension, thereby ensuring that the vehicle body (containing the motor and all other components) is exposed to very little of the road shock.
Additionally, the location of in-wheel motors, combined with the fact that four of them are needed (for a four-wheel-drive vehicle), may result in more complicated maintenance.
[6] The suppliers and partners are: SKF, FEV, AB Mikroelektronik GmbH, Alcon, ATS Automation Tooling Systems, and Trelleborg Sealing Solutions.