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156 comments on The electric wheel - a breakthrough in car efficiency

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MicroHydro on January 28, 2007 - 9:14pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Actually a very elegant wheel powered electric car was developed in the USA in the 1960s. It was collapsible and weighed only 208 kg. They worked perfectly even in a challenging offroad environment but were never marketed to consumers.

A traction drive attached to each wheel had a motor harmonic drive gear unit, and a brake assembly. The harmonic drive reduced motor speed at an 80-to-1 rate for continuous operation at all speeds without gear shifting. The drive had an odometer pickup (measuring distance travelled) that sent data to the navigation system. Each motor developed 0.18 kilowatt (1/4-horsepower) and operated from a 36-volt input.

Technical data here: http://www.astronautix.com/craft/apololrv.htm

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paulfmursell on January 31, 2007 - 7:54am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

My son has a DVD set called fire power which features an 8 wheel drive diesel hybrid with in wheel motors. A very impressive concept developed for the US military, the dating on the DVD suggest that it is current or fairly recent. This suggests that someone in the US is taking things seriously.

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