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Dutch Invention Uses Electric Engines For Wheels
Makarand writes "A Dutch invention is
promising to make vehicles atleast 50% more efficient
and also bring down the soot and carbon dioxide emissions. This is made possible by replacing
the conventional wheels by 'in-wheel' electric engines which are normal electric engines turned inside
out. No transmission is necessary as the in-wheel engines are powered by battery-packs installed on
the vehicle. A diesel-powered generator which replaces the original engine on the vehicle
charges the battery-pack continuously. The Dutch company
E-Traction has built a bus using this technology that
will undergo testing for the next six months."
I've heard about this invention, and it promises to make the ultimate 4-wheel dive vehicle! I can now take my old Land Cruiser and remove the engine, replace the wheels with these motors, and load the trunk up with batteries!
It also promises to make auto repair much easier...just swap out a wheel.
Free your ecomony and enact the FairTax
..then they will all die the day after the waranty voids. Won't this create cleaner air AND dumps filled with highly toxic battery-waste?
"It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
Diesel locos use a Diesel powerplant to generate electricity, which is then used to run the electric motors powering the drive wheels. It's very effective and proven technology.
Why is this anything more than just a slightly more efficient way of doing a hybrid gas-electric system by putting the engine in the wheel.
Well, I believe most hybrid cars today are parallel hybrids - the (gas/diesel) engine can power the drivetrain directly, and the car will use the engine or the electric motor or both depending on conditions and demand.
This bus (and potential other hybrid cars today) is a series hybrid. The only thing powering the drivetrain is the electric motor. The engine either charges the batteries or powers the motor, but never directly powers the drivetrain.
Wow, all these cogent thoughts from the EE's and CE's, but where are the ME's?!
/.) could calculate the precession-force but I think the more pressing problem is called "UNSPRUNG WEIGHT." For decades, wheel and tire manufacturers have made huge strides toward lighter products to reduce the UW. Lowering UW allows a more agile suspension. (Perhaps "Unsprung MASS" would be more scientifically accurate?) All that having been said, I think the benefits in design would outweigh this one problem...
-Too quiet for a bus?
Round my midwestern city, the noisy, stinky buses are, oh, let's say 30' long, with the engine at the stern. If you're depending on hearing them for avoidance, you're gonna be meat on the front bumper 100% of the time.
-Gyro-effect?
Intersting, a REAL ME (I only play one on
-Various comments on Diesel Hybrids.
MIT's done the math, and I've ranted about this before: Forget Hydrogen as a transportation fuel (for a while), a high acceptance rate of Diesel hybrids would save the world. (Soot? Darkening of the earth? All soluble, and still more manageable problems than the far larger emissions from gasoline as a transport-fuel.)
These are a fairly logical solution to the problem, especially for allowing car-designers to make the car do what you want/need it to do: Carry your self and stuff in safety and comfort.
I, for one, welcome our new motor-in-wheel overlords. (Sorry 'bout that)
How Diesal-electric loco's work
It is interesting that this old technology is being used with a bus, and they are adding batteries, but it certainly is not a break through.
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