I gotta agree with Oilpan4 below. I have been following hub motors with interest for 6 or 7 years now, and there seems to be development activity, but not enough. The Orbis Wheel made a big splash at SEMA, attached to the rear wheels of a new Civic Type R for all wheel drive. It *seemed* brilliantly designed, and they were selling kits directly to the market. But they were bought out by investors and have disappeared.
If Lordstown does not have some amazing new tech in thos wheels they will be prohibitively heavy as unsprung weight and not durable.
I wish that were not true.
Quote:
Originally Posted by oil pan 4
Nissan, tesla, GM and ford don't seem to think electric vehicle gear boxes arent such a horrible thing.
I was thinking more along the lines of a heavy highway driven vehicle that will see some water and mud on its hub motors. That's where the problem are.
10 to 12 years ago it seemed like every major OEM wanted to be the first to launch a hub motor electric car, then reality set in. All the hub motors failed rapidly, attempting to improve the design didn't help much, made the hub motors bigger and heavier which made already bad ride quality worse and they did the smart thing and gave up one by one.
Maybe they figure if a truck handles like a forklift not so many people will complain since it's just a truck.
If they aren't trialing hub motors right now and ready to show a hub motor that's as good as a traditional gear box and they're trying to put a product to market in 2021 it's likely going to fail spectacularly.
What I think is going to happen is this company was born to fail.
They launch the hub motors, the hub motors torpedo the company, GM buys it for change on the dollar, redesigns it a little to take a traditional motor and gear box setup.
That way they test the hub motors and if they work great everyone lives happily ever after, if they don't then GM gets to lead the electric truck market with a flag ship factory they bought at fire sale prices and it's nearly impossible for them to lose any money.
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