Orbis Wheel

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by IsaacCarlson

... They tout less unsprung weight and then add 31 lbs to each wheel! ...

I think you missed the plausible point they make that the are replacing the entire brake rotor, caliper, and hub assembly. The claim is that unsprung weight is reduced slightly because their hub motor is slightly lighter than the parts removed. I am not saying you should believe that claim just because they make it, but you are missing half of their equation. It does seem to me they need to enclose and somehow safely ventilate that hub for sure, to reduce or eliminate road debris. That would add weight a little and degrade the superior brake cooling performance they also claim.

EDIT: sorta like what he says:

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

Let's suppose a similar mechanism could be encased within some sort of oversized brake drum, I could see it being easier to promote for usage on commercial vehicles, even in a rougher environment. On a sidenote, regenerative braking would also lead to fewer wear to the service brakes.

[California98Civic]

I sent a message to the company last night and received a response this morning. The rep said that the pandemic actually helped their engineering and manufacturing planning productivity. He asserted that a "highly regarded performance aftermarket brand" is interesdted in distribution rights and "actively" engaged. And he gave these particulars:

Assuming we can structure a deal, we should see the following products enter market in mid-2022:

18” x 8 & 18” x 9 two-piece forged aluminum wheels with a bespoke spider as an option
90hp / 540 ft-lb per wheel (300V “narrow motor” without gearbox)
110hp / 1835 ft-lb per wheel (300V “long motor” with gearbox)
Compatible with strut / SLA, unequal length A, and trailing arm (some finish machining required in all cases for direct bolt-on)
Recommended battery: 15kWh (3 / 5kWh “Mini Modules” from Cascadia Motion)
Pricing TBD

I have asked followup about the torque numbers and about mitigating the danger of debris. Will post reply when I get one.

[freebeard]

(some finish machining required in all cases for direct bolt-on

This is what you call a contradiction in terms.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by freebeard

This is what you call a contradiction in terms.

Yeah. We'll see where that goes. I got another reply from Orbis. The video is interesting.

The measurements [torque & HP] are taken after the gear reduction on a dyno that measures AWD.


The motors, gearboxes, brake parts all in have been durability tested extensively and meet all requisite standards (OEM).


But as the OEMs are focused for the time being on copying the Tesla e-axle (also known as P4 in automotive terms) Orbis is entering market in 2022 with a small delivery van that utilizes the inherent advantages of our patented “P5”.


https://vimeo.com/579641028/bf4f73a013


At some point when the benefits of P5 are better understood, we’ll migrate what we’ve produced for the van directly into the OEM and performance aftermarket channels.

[freebeard]

I was going to make a 'this P5 goes to eleven' joke but then but then I watched the video. I'm pretty impressed.

15KWh of man-portable batteries? Knock Down Kits? The only problem I see is the cab design is inferior to Kanoo.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by California98Civic

The rep said that the pandemic actually helped their engineering and manufacturing planning productivity.

Quite interesting to say the least.

[freebeard]

Arcimoto had the same experience, they'd done enough production to have a baseline and used the downtime to open up production bottlenecks and iterate the design.

[Piotrsko]

Originally Posted by freebeard

15KWh of man-portable batteries? Knock Down Kits?.

Why not? If you take apart a Volt pack @16-18kwh the batteries are 88 lbs, so modules at 40lbs apiece should be movable. Search also the chrysler Pacifica batteries.

[freebeard]

Originally Posted by freebeard
15KWh of man-portable batteries? Knock Down Kits?.

Things I was impressed by. The NDK is similar to Gordon Murray's OX.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Things I was impressed by. The NDK is similar to Gordon Murray's OX.

That OX is way cool. It's front wheel drive arrangement might even give it nearly similar cargo abilities with the Orbis Wheel delivery van. Definitely has superior off road ability, obviously, due to clearance.