History of the direct-drive wheel

It must be pointed out that the root of TheWheel™ technology is far from new.

In the early 1900’s a 25 year old Ferdinand Porsche working for Hofwagen-Fabrik Jakob Lohner & Co. developed electrically powered wheels and used them in roughly 300 different vehicles.

  Front wheel drive version        Four wheel drive version

In Amsterdam, for instance, both the fire brigade and the “Amstel” brewery briefly drove with this type of traction. 

The substantially higher initial unit cost, however, put these vehicles out of reach to all but the very rich.  In addition, until recently insurmountable, problems such as the mere 20 minute endurance of the batteries, the absence of individual motor-control, the solid tires (which where grossly unsuitable for the bumpy roads of the time) and the overall vehicle weight gave lighter weight competitors with fossil fuel engines a decisive lead.   The brief experiments with hybrid powered solutions, called “mixte” met an equal fate for much the same reasons.

Newly developed high performance lightweight batteries, advanced electronic devices like including IGBT's and/or Mosfets, electronically controlled differential power supply to each wheel, an excellent road infrastructure, superior tire technology and suspension, lightweight composite vehicle construction together have enabled us to successfully revisit this essentially abandoned technology.

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Last modified: June 12, 2007