Wheel hub motor

The wheel hub motor (also called wheel motor, wheel hub drive, hub motor or
in-wheel motor) is an electric motor that is incorporated into the hub of a wheel and
drives it directly.

Contents
History Raleigh SC30 with an aftermarket
Uses in current and future vehicles electric conversion hub motor kit
Concept cars installed.
Mechanism
Comparison with conventional EV design in automobiles
Drive by wire
Weight savings
Unsprung weight concerns
See also
References
External links

History
First wheel motor concept: Wellington Adams of St. Louis first conceived
of building an electric motor directly in the vehicle wheel, though it was
attached via complicated gearing. The Adams patent isU.S. Patent
300,827in 1884.
High torque low RPM wheel motor invented: The motor was
incorporated into the wheel without gearing and addressed torque
considerations through the use of a new high torque, low rpm motor
invented by Edward Parkhurst of Woburn, MA in U.S. Patent 422,149 in
1890 (and mismentioned in Parcelle's patent as #320,699).
Electric wheel motor advantages revealed in patent:An early wheel hub
electric motor was invented by FrenchmanCharles Theryc and patented The Lohner-Porsche Mixte Hybrid,
in 1896 as U.S. Patent 572,036 entitled Wheel with Electric Motor hub the world's first gasoline-electric
for Vehicles. In the patent he explained all advantages including no hybrid automobile, used wheel hub
transmission losses because of the absence of classic transmission
rods from engines to wheels. motors.[1][2]
Diesel wheel motor: Not all wheel hub motors were electric. C F
Goddard in 1896 invented a piston hub motor for horseless carriages
patented in U.S. Patent 574,200. He envisioned it powered by expanding gas of some kind.His offcenter flexible
bent spoke designs later appeared in the Apollo moon rovers' wheels in 1960s.
Using cams, another type of combustion wheel motor:In U.S. Patent 593,248 W C Smith in 1897 developed another
explosive gas expansion motor inside a wheel hub that utilized cams on a track in the hub to transmit power to the
wheel.
The electric wheel hub motor was raced by Ferdinand Porsche in 1897 in Vienna, Austria. Porsche's first engineering training was
electrical, not internal combustion based. As a result, he developed his first cars as electric cars with electric wheel hub motors that
ran on batteries. The Lohner Porsche, fitted with one wheel motor in each of the front wheels, appeared at the World Exhibition in
Paris in 1900 and created a sensation in the young automobile world. In the following years, 300 Lohner Porsches were made and
sold to wealthy buyers.[3]
Eventually the growth in power of the gasoline engine overtook the power of the electric wheel hub motors and this made up for any
losses through a transmission. As a result, autos moved to gasoline engines with transmissions, but they were never as efficient as
electric wheel hub motors.

Uses in current and future vehicles

They are commonly found onelectric bicycles.[4]
Wheel motors are applied in industry, e.g. driving wheels that are part of assembly lines.
They have not been used very often on cars, despite being invented for this purpose (see history). The only
production car using them is theLuka EV by MW Motors.[5]
Hub motors can also be found on buses.[6]

Concept cars
Several concept cars have been developed using in-wheel motors:

General Motors Sequel2005

Protean Electric's Mini QED in 2006, and other cars using itsHi-Pa
Drive
Mitsubishi MIEV concept model in 2005
Chebela (2010), a small urban EV prototype using 2 direct-drive in-
wheel motors in the rear.
Citroën C-Métisse with in wheel electric motors developed byTM4.[7]
Siemens VDO (bought by Continental) eCorner concept in 2006[8][9]
Heuliez WILL using the Michelin Active Wheel (which incorporates
motorized active suspension as well) in 2008[10]
The ZAP-X in 2007 "would use high-tech electric hub motors at all four
wheels, delivering 644 horsepower to the ground from a lithium-ion
battery pack. The hub motors would eliminate the need for transmission,
axles and conventional brakes, opening up space beneath the floor for a
giant battery pack."[11]
The Peugeot BB1 in 2009 incorporates rear in-wheel motors designed
with Michelin.[12]
The Protean Ford F-150 All-Electric Pickup T ruck by Protean Electric
PML Mini QED electric vehicle
uses four in-wheel motors.[13]
The Hiriko folding urban electric prototype has the drive motors located
inside each of the four wheels, and has an electronically controlled
maximum speed of 50 km/h (31 mph).[14][15] Each wheel integrates a motor, steering actuators, suspension and
[16]
braking right inside the wheel, controlled by a drive-by-wire system.

Mechanism
Hub motor electromagnetic fields are supplied to the stationary windings of the motor. The outer part of the motor follows, or tries to
follow, those fields, turning the attached wheel. In a brushed motor, energy is transferred by brushes contacting the rotating shaft of
the motor. Energy is transferred in a brushless motor electronically, eliminating physical contact between stationary and moving
parts. Although brushless motor technology is more expensive, most are more efficient and longer-lasting than brushed motor
systems.

A hub motor typically is designed in one of three configurations. Considered least practical is an axial-flux motor, where the stator
windings are typically sandwiched between sets of magnets. The other two configurations are both radial designs with the motor
magnets bonded to the rotor; in one, the inner rotation motor, the rotor sits inside the stator, as in a conventional motor. In the other,
the outer-rotation motor, the rotor sits outside the stator and rotates around it. The application of hub motors in vehicular uses is still
[17]
evolving, and neither configuration has become standard.
Electric motors have their greatest torque at startup, making them ideal for vehicles as they need the most torque at startup too. The
idea of "revving up" so common with internal combustion engines is unnecessary with electric motors. Their greatest torque occurs
as the rotor first begins to turn, which is why electric motors do not require a transmission. A gear-down arrangement may be needed,
but unlike in a transmission normally paired with a combustion engine, no shifting is needed for electric motors.

[18][19]
Wheel hub motors are increasingly common on electric bikes and electric scooters in some parts of the world, especially Asia.

Comparison with conventional EV design in automobiles

Compared with the conventional electric vehicle design with one motor situated centrally driving two (sometimes four) wheels by
axles, the wheel motor arrangement has certain advantages and disadvantages:

Drive by wire
Cars with electronic control of brakes and acceleration provide more opportunities
for computerized vehicle dynamics such as:

Active cruise control, where the vehicle can maintain a given distance
from a vehicle ahead
Collision avoidance, where the vehicle can automatically brake to avoid
a collision
Emergency brake assist, where the vehicle senses an emergency stop
and applies maximum braking
Active software differentials, where individualwheel speed is adjusted in The Hiriko Fold pre-production model
response to other inputs uses a hub wheel that integrates a
Active brake bias, where individual wheel brake ef fort is adjusted in real motor, steering actuators,
time to maintain vehicle stability suspension and braking right inside
Brake steer, where individual wheel brake bias is adjusted to assist the wheel, controlled by a drive-by-
steering (similar to a tracked vehicle like abulldozer) wire system.
While some of these features have started to appear as options for some internal
combustion engine vehicles, optionalABS brakes can add up to $2,000 to the cost of
a base model.[20]

As wheel motors brake and accelerate a vehicle with a single solid state electric/electronic system many of the above features can be
added as software upgrades rather than requiring additional systems/hardware be installed like with ABS etc. This should lead to
cheaper active dynamic safety systems for wheel motor equipped road vehicles.

Weight savings
Eliminating mechanical transmission, including gearboxes, differentials, drive shafts, and axles, provides a significant weight and
manufacturing cost saving, while also decreasing the environmental impact of the product.

Unsprung weight concerns

The major disadvantage of a wheel hub motor is that the weight of the electric motor increases the unsprung weight, which adversely
affects handling and ride. The wheels are more sluggish in responding to road conditions, especially fast motions over bumps, and
transmit the bumps to the chassis instead of absorbing them.

Most conventional electric motors include ferrous material composed of laminated electrical steel. This ferrous material contributes
most of the weight of electric motors. To minimize this weight, several recent wheel-motor designs have minimized the electrical
steel content of the motor by using a coreless design with Litz wire coil windings to reduce eddy current losses. This significantly
reduces wheel motor weight and therefore unsprung weight.
Another method used is to replace the cast iron friction brake assembly with a wheel motor assembly of similar weight. This results
[21]
in no net gain in unsprung weight and provides a car capable of braking up to 1G.

A good example of this is the Michelin Active Wheel motor as fitted to the Heuliez Will, the first electric car with an Active Wheel
drive, which results in an unsprung weight of 35 kg on the front axle and which compares favorably to a small car such as a Renault
[22]
Clio that has 38 kg of unsprung weight on its front axle.

See also
ActiveWheel
Locking hubs
Direct drive mechanism

References
1. "History of Hybrid Vehicles" (https://web.archive.org/web/20090904154040/http://www .hybridcars.com/history/history
-of-hybrid-vehicles.html). HybridCars.com. 27 March 2006. Archived fromthe original (http://www.hybridcars.com/hist
ory/history-of-hybrid-vehicles.html)on 4 September 2009. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
2. Mixte Voiturette (http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/3456/Lohner-Porsche-Mixte-Voiturette.htmlLohner-Porsche)
3. http://www.porsche.com/usa/aboutporsche/porschehistory/milestones/
4. http://www.electricrider.com/crystalyte/
5. "Luka EV" (http://www.lukaev.com/). MW Motors. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
6. "Wheel Motors to Drive Dutch Buses"(http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/22328/). Technology Review. 23
March 2009. Retrieved 23 November 2009.
7. "TM4 has developed and produced the electric motors used on the CITROËN C-Métisse concept car"
(https://web.ar
chive.org/web/20131029192502/http://www .tm4.com/AxisDocument.aspx?id=17&langue=en&download=true). TM4.
Archived from the original (http://www.tm4.com/AxisDocument.aspx?id=17&langue=en&download=true)on 29
October 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
8. "Siemen's VDO's by-wire technology turns the ecorner"(https://web.archive.org/web/20080118122329/http://usa.vd
o.com/press/releases/chassis-and-carbody/2006/SV_20061016_i.htm) . VDO. 16 October 2006. Archived fromthe
original (http://usa.vdo.com/press/releases/chassis-and-carbody/2006/SV_20061016_i.htm) on 18 January 2008.
9. "Car motors will disappear – into the wheels"(https://web.archive.org/web/20080527170315/http://usa.vdo.com/pres
s/pictures/chassis-carbody/sv-2000608-001e-005.htm) . VDO. 8 August 2006. Archived fromthe original (http://usa.v
do.com/press/pictures/chassis-carbody/sv-2000608-001e-005.htm)on 27 May 2008.
10. "MICHELIN ACTIVE WHEEL Press Kit"(http://www.michelin.com/corporate/document.DocumentRepositoryServlet?
codeDocument=7735&codeRubrique=salonauto2008&codeRepository=MICHCORP&lang=EN) . Michelin. 26
September 2008. Retrieved 15 September 2009.
11. Ulrich, Lawrence (23 September 2007)."They're Electric, but Can They Be Fantastic?"(https://select.nytimes.com/pr
eview/2007/09/23/automobiles/1154690129008.html) . The New York Times.
12. "Peugeot Shows Two HYbrid4 Concepts, New BB1 EV Concept at Frankfurt"(http://www.greencarcongress.com/200
9/09/hybrid4-bb1-20090915.html). Green Car Congress. 15 September 2009. Retrieved 31 May 2010.
13. "Test drive of new in-wheel electric motored pickup truck" (http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2011/05/driven-protean-ford
-f-150-all-electric-pickup-truck.html). 15 September 2009. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
14. "Hiriko electric city car folds up to save space"(https://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-01/26/hiriko-city-car).
Wired UK. 26 January 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
15. Jimmy Hitipeuw (30 January 2012)."The Folding Electric Car"(https://web.archive.org/web/20120202112627/http://e
nglish.kompas.com/read/2012/01/30/13002021/The.Folding.Electric.Car) . Kompas.com. Archived fromthe original (h
ttp://english.kompas.com/read/2012/01/30/13002021/The.Folding.Electric.Car) on 2 February 2012. Retrieved
16 July 2012.
16. James Holloway (20 February 2012)."Hiriko - the fold-up electric two-seater set for 2013"(http://www.gizmag.com/hi
riko-folding-electric-car/21506/). Gizmag. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
17. "Designing In-Hub Brushless Motors"(http://machinedesign.com/motorsdrives/designing-hub-brushless-motors)
.
machinedesign.com.
18. http://www.ebikes.ca/hubmotors.shtml
19. http://www.electricrider.com/crystalyte/motordimensions.htm
20. http://www.openroad.com.au/motoring_roadsafety_priceofsafety.asp
21. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1uTR-8KarE
22. http://www.causecast.org/news_items/7667-michelin-unveils-active-wheel-in-affordable-electric-car

External links
e-Traction in-wheel direct drive technology
Mitsubishi' experimental car, presented in May 2005, is fitted with wheel motors at the rear
.
The ez-Wheel
Elaphe performance in-wheel electric motors

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