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Domain: e-traction.com

Stories and comments across the archive that link to e-traction.com.

Comments · 11

  1. throw away car? by roman_mir · · Score: 2 · on Integrating Capacitors Into Car Frames

    Combine these capacitors in body together with the motor in wheel thing, and you'll get that much closer to a car, that you can't fix without replacing too many functional parts, when all you needed to do was to replace wheels (how about winter?) and do some body work after a minor accident, so at some point the most economic thing will be just to toss the car away and get a new one.

    Is that where they are going with this?

    How about stopping with all this nonsense with the batteries and working on nuclear engines instead?

  2. Re:0-60 in less than a second by sjames · · Score: 1 · on Electric Motorcycle Inventor Crashes at Wired Conference

    Actually, there is lot of R&D effort underway to produce a direct drive in-hub motor now. One example is here.

    Of course, an electric car won't need a 100+hp motor, It will need 4 25+hp motors. There have been a lot of improvements in power electronics lately that go a long way to reducing the size and weight of a controller.

    Early production models do/probably will use a single reduction gear but the goal is to do away with that. Even so, a single reduction gear per motor beats a gearbox, differential, and CV joints any day.

  3. the e-traction buses are diesel hybrids by sittingQuietly · · Score: 1 · on Electric Cars and Their Discontents

    They are being tested in the Netherlands

    The company claims the buses pollute less because their engines never accelerate (think of the fumes emerging from a conventional bus as it accelerates away from a bus stop, this is avoided with a hybrid).

    the E-traction buses have their electric motors in the wheels.
  4. carrying the generator/think of the children! by beaverfever · · Score: 1 · on Test Driving the Tesla Roadster

    There are Dutch buses which utilise this idea (as featured on Slashdot some years ago). The buses also feature an original approach to motor/drivetrain efficiency.

    The diesel engine the bus carries drives a generator, which charges batteries which power the electric motors. This allows the diesel engine to run constantly at its optimal RPM, instead of revving and idling in stop-and-start conditions, increasing efficiency and reducing noise. Perhaps one day this can be adapted for smaller vehicles such as cars.

    As for your worrying about the lack of noise, I think that's a ridiculous issue to hold against electric vehicles. I can imagine how much nicer cities would be without the constant drone of gasoline-powered vehicles. Somebody think of the children!?! What about the children's future? Shall we attach noisemakers to the front of electric vehicles just to warn absent-minded kids to get off the damned road? Which noise will be most effective? Shall we fill the air with the constant drone of raspberries, or would a loud beeper be more efficient?

  5. I like these folks' idea: by Bobzibub · · Score: 3, Insightful · on Modded Hybrid Cars Get Up to 250 MPG

    http://www.e-traction.com/TheWheel.htm

    Put the motor in the hub. No drive train! AWD!

    All I need is some big bucks to get a welding torch and put 4 in some old jalopy. (And some batteries..)

    Anyone know what these things go for? They can use a lot of juice and put out a lot of power.

    Cheers!
    -b

  6. WTF? by Quantum-Sci · · Score: 1 · on Dutch Invention Uses Electric Engines For Wheels

    Hm, homokinetic couplings...

    homo kinetic couplings?

    homokinetic couplings...

    homokinetic couplings?

    Hm...

  7. Re:terrible idea by geoswan · · Score: 1 · on Dutch Invention Uses Electric Engines For Wheels
    On this page you will see a step in the conversion where they piled the components they removed on the roof of the bus, in order to simplify the comparison in which you are interested.

    While the weight of the battery has to be added they are removing the transmission and replacing the original engine with a smaller one.

  8. Monstertruck!! by gmania · · Score: 1 · on Dutch Invention Uses Electric Engines For Wheels

    Check out the size of the wheels on this page.

    A single buswheel (SM700/3) is weighed in at a hefty 750 Kg. Interesting to see how this will affect the suspension system.

  9. Odd Quote from The Website by Crypto+Gnome · · Score: 1 · on Dutch Invention Uses Electric Engines For Wheels

    Please insert all your jokes under this thread....

    the environmental impact will be dramatically reduced when using TheWheel(TM)

    Sounds like someone stole an advertising campaign from 55 hundred years ago
    I especially love this page with the heading "The Wheel - What It Is, and What It Does"

    -----

    I've actually read the article.
    IANAE (I am not an engineer) but it sounds to me like they're re-inventing the wheel.

    -----

    In Communist Russia, The Wheel turns The Engine.

    -----

    1. Re-Invent Wheel
    2. ???
    3. Profit

    -----

    Damn STUPID Patent Office has DONE IT AGAIN.
    (TheWheel(TM) has been patented internationally - Patent Nr. WO 01/54939)

    -----

    Have I forgotten anything, folks?

  10. Wheel drive by sparkhead · · Score: 2, Interesting · on Dutch Invention Uses Electric Engines For Wheels

    While having the motor built into the hub reduces the number of parts and connectors (shafts, u-joints) that rob efficiency, it would seem the major item for efficiency is not so much because of the "inside out" motor, but because of the direct drive on the wheel with fewer parts.

    This same company has a similar motor for smaller vehicles here. It uses short axles so the motor is not direct on the wheel.

    There are some space considerations with this motor, but while it would work on a bus, such a large amount of unsprung weight on a smaller vehicle would not promote a great ride or handling.

  11. Ugly website by LakeSolon · · Score: 3, Funny · on Dutch Invention Uses Electric Engines For Wheels

    Thank god it just got posted to slashdot. That frontpage-template of a website will be gone shortly.

    ~Lake