Michelin Unveils Active Wheel in Affordable Electric Car
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 11.30.08
Image: Michelin
The Holy Grail of Eco-transportation
Could this be the technology that revolutionizes transportation? Will the company that invented the air-pressure tire trump that achievement by making electric cars affordable and practical? Michelin's Active Wheel system is the holy grail of wheel technology: a wheel with an integrated drive motor that has succeeded to meet unsprung weight limitations.
The Active Wheel frees automobile designers from the restrictions posed by the need for engine, transmission, drive shaft, differential and exhaust systems. Imagine the possibilities. Curiously, the prototype which Michelin will partner to bring to the roads in 2010 may not be what you imagined.
Image: The Heuliez Will, Michelin
The Future of Car Design
The future of automobile design looks like...an Opel Agila? Meet the Heuliez Will, the first electric car with Active Wheel drive, built on the platform of Opel's Agila. The Will results from a partnership between Michelin, coachbuilder Heuliez and French telecommunications giant Orange. Although the Heuliez Will may represent the next generation in transportation technology, its designers and builders want to convey a comfortable familiarity. The empty storage space in both the front and rear trunks first hints that something strange is afoot.
Nonetheless, enthusiasts point out that in-wheel motor technology should trigger a paradigm change in car design. Without engines, transmissions and exhaust systems, smaller cars can carry more people and cargo. Impact absorbing collapse zones in both front and rear offer safety improvement potential.
The Tech Specs
A 7 kilogram (14.4 pound) in-wheel motor forms the heart of the Michelin Active Wheel. Packing in a sophisticated active shock absorption system, with its own dedicated motor, and disk braking brings the wheel to a hefty 43 kg (95 pounds). But Michelin Director for Sustainable Development and Mobility of the Future, Patrick Oliva points out in Die Welt that the unsprung weight in the Heuliez Will is 35 kg (77 pounds) on the front axle and 24 kg (53 pounds) on the rear, noting for comparison that the small Renault Clio has 38 kg of unsprung weight on its front axle. With battery packs on board, the prototype Heuliez Will weighs in at 900 kg, 75 kg less than the Opel Agila.
Together, the two front wheels deliver a steady 41 horsepower, which can spurt up to 82 hp for short sprints. The Will should do 0-100 km (0 - 62 mph) in 10 seconds and will have a max speed of 140 km/h (87 mph).
Lithium ion batteries will be delivered in three modular configurations, offering ranges of 150, 300 and 400 km (93, 186 and 248 miles). Just like hybrids, the Active Wheels recover energy during braking to extend vehicle range. The in-wheel motors are reported to be 90% efficient, compared to about 20% efficiency for a conventional vehicle in city driving.
The partnership with Orange ensures that the Heuliez Will customers benefit from the latest in mobile communications technology. The Will is wired for high speed 3G+ WiFi and optimized navigation that monitors real-time traffic information.
The target price of 20 to 25 thousand euros (US $27 - 34 thousand) puts the Will in the class of affordable electric vehicles, along with the much anticipated Chevy Volt. The first Active Wheel vehicles are on the streets for testing now and Heuliez intends to make the first production vehicles available to professional drivers, fleets and municipalities in 2010 followed by release to the general public in 2011. If you are willing to wait a bit longer, and spend a bit more, look for Active Wheels on the Venturi Volage in 2012.
More on Active Wheels
Michelin News
Die Welt (German)
ZAP Reinvents the Wheel
Hi-Pa Drive Wheels in Lightening Electric Car
Electric car technology is starting to hit some of the mainstream companies. Coolness!
"The future's so bright I gotta wear shades."
Yes, it looks like electric cars are about to hit the tipping point of viability, cost and desirability.
Nice one.
I'm starting a pothole insurance company. Bending a rim is going to become WHOLE lot more expensive.
how about a segway-like gyro system and foot stands on either side, so we can zip around caveman style.
e-traction has been making some interesting in-wheel stuff for a while.
http://www.etraction.com
"...the company that invented the air-pressure tire..."
I thought it was John Dunlop, and decided to look it up, and learnt something new:
The first practical commercial inflatable rubber tyre was developed by John Dunlop in 1888. Robert William Thomson beat him to the patent though, in 1846, in France.
Both men were Scots.
Michelin can probably claim to be the first to make inflatable tyres for cars, in 1895 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyres )
Thank you... Many forward looking auto designers have been talking about wheel-based motors for several years now...
The problem isn't oil, it's the combustion engine.
The key is how we build cars, not how we fuel them.
Wheel based motors can reduce the number of factories- and change the nature of car design. GM's Autonomy concept staked a claim at this revolution years ago. The future of the auto industry is changing their revenue stream from selling cars to getting paid while people drive their cars.
So thank you! Hopefully we can stop wasting time trying to improve the combustion engine and reduce the costs of reinventing the wheel-- and how we build cars.
Thanks for the post!
Garry G
Editor
TheEnergyRoadmap.com
http://www.theenergyroadmap.com
This technology may seem revolutionary but in 1898, yes 1898, Ferdinand Porsche built the first all-wheel-drive car in the world; an electrically charged automobile using hub motors, the Lohner Electric Chaise.
"The target price of 20 to 25 thousand euros (US $27 - 34 thousand)..."
1) Does that mean the car is targeted to be $27,000 with the smallest battery pack and $34,000 with the biggest battery pack, or does this mean the car will be somewhere between 27-34K with the smallest battery pack?
2) Does the target cost include anticipated tax credits?
3) will it be available in the US?
If this car ends up with a 200+ mile range in real driving conditions and sells for less than $30,000 after tax credits, then I'm excited. If it ends up with an 80 mile range in real driving conditions and sells for 34,000 after tax credits... yawn
Let's see this combined with the tweel.
Random thought that came into my head when I was reading this: What happens when you get a flat? It would be quite the family affair to change one of those.
Great idea otherwise.
For once it seems like the wheel has been reinvented for the better. Very nice idea. I do wonder if they could get the shock absorbers and brakes to generate electricity...you know, a small generator for the shocks and maybe a stirling engine for the brakes?
But ..whose bright idea was it to shove wireless crap in a car, which is after all very close to being a Faraday's cage...
damn... I wrote an inter-collegiate paper on this kind of active wheel device.. though the name I gave it was just a wee bit longer - "internally powered electric wheel"... and I din't have suspensions in mine. I din't think of that...
but this tech is really cool man.. pretty soon Michelin can do one where the suspensions harness the up- down motion of the shocks and convert it to electricity. add regen braking to that, a battery pack, and we could be looking at 100+ miles per charge..
If the car runs outta juice... simply bounce it up and down... now a valid reason to pimp the car with electronic adjustable suspensions to bounce the car while driving.. heh heh heh.. or a good reason to let your kids keep jumping in the car...
Hell this could be the best car in countries where the roads are shit...
While this technology is not new by any means, if applied effectively could be extremely useful.
>Random thought that came into my head when I was reading this: What happens when you get a flat? It would be quite the family affair to change one of those.
Despite the motor being "in the wheel," there will still be a connection between the rotating and non-rotating components. It may not be 5 lugnuts, but it would most likely be something similar.
A more likely outcome is that car companies could no longer get away with not offering a full-size spare. ;)
Interesting design, although we need to abandon the air-pressure tire altogether and put this motor inside of the tweel (I think that's another great invention by Michelin). Hopefully we see this more in the future!
The pneumatic tire was invented by John Dunlop, founder of Dunlop Tires.
Is it just me, or is anyone else confused as to how $27,000 - $34,000 is considered... affordable?
affordable to who?... people making $100,000+/year
What happens if your doing 60 mph and the motor goes out on one of the front wheels? Do you go in circles until you get control :-)
In Hawaii we need to ford some puddles that are half a wheel deep or more. I think that would hose this system. Neat idea otherwise
"I'm starting a pothole insurance company. Bending a rim is going to become WHOLE lot more expensive."
I've NEVER bent a rim, and hate to think how much worse the streets are where you live that you have! I thought the streets were bad here!
FWIW, this motor is incredibly light for it's power output, relative to permanent magnet motors like the Etek or Perm mag.
"The target price of 20 to 25 thousand euros (US $27 - 34 thousand) puts the Will in the class of affordable electric vehicles"
Why not 'Target' to half that amount and put it in the "actualy really affordable" class vehicles.
If there is no need for engine, transmission, drive shaft, differential and exhaust systems, why does it have to cost so much?
Here's a thought: why not put those on older cars as a conversion..
A more sleek aerodynamic design would be possible as no engine is required. This is a great idea.
"If there is no need for engine, transmission, drive shaft, differential and exhaust systems, why does it have to cost so much?"
These things are an integral part of the automotive industries revenue stream. Take the associated maintenance away from these items and you take away a HUGE portion of the automotive industries revenue. And that maintenance is required due to the overall complexity of an ICE and associated systems (exhaust, drive train...). The automotive companies will still need to make a certain amount of money on the life of a car in order to keep operations profitable. In order to remain a sustainable company they will need to transfer that revenue stream someplace else, i.e. the initial price of the car (not to mention recouping some of their development costs). Electric cars will be less maintenance intensive due to the reduced complexity of an electric motor and associated drive train (especially this particular drive train).
Go find a logistician and ask them where the majority of the cost of an item like a car is associated. They'll tell you its in the life cycle costs and not the initial purchase.
Read Plan B to understand the complexity of the analysis that would be required to properly answer your question, and get educated on the shear size and interconnectedness of the environmental mess we are in at the same time. I'm sure the automotive industries have done those analysis for their own use.
Whatever happened to the Mini Cooper prototype from a couple of years ago that was using this technology? It was being tested by the British Embassy in Mexico City,
How is this different to the PML electric hub motor used in the electric Mini (previously a big hit on treehugger) and the Electric Volvo?
With the suspension recharging the car, Running out of gas will no longer be an issue when parking at lovers lane. "hey babe, help me charge my batteries"
Here in Quebec in the mid-90s there was a lot of talk around the
'wheel motor' that was developped by engineers at Hydro-Quebec. Beside the motor wheel they had designed all the other control elements. Problem was that they could not at the time find a car company that would partner to turn this invention into an actual production car. So, after having spent several dozen millions on the research, Hydro-quebec had to shelve the project. It is now kept alive by a subsidiary TM4, that has signed a deal with Dassault in 2003 to finally see the technology used in a real car... in France.
Hydro-Quebec stills has patents regarding the technlogy (see here)
At the time, stories in the news showed the motor wheel in action. It was amazing how much torque and power they could get, and the prototype car was pretty amazing as well. But then, oil was still too cheap, and the story ended with the usual question 'who killed the electric car'. The answer that was suggested at the time was the big auto makers didn't want the technology to suceed.
I am sorry to be a pessimist, but 30000 dollar is not an affordable price for a 12000 dollar opel agila on lithium!
I think the wheels are very cool, but would prefer to put them under a classic car and make it electric completely. Anyone know the price of such a unit
I have read to convert to electric is about 4 to 6 thousand so if you can buy that car for 12k then it is still more reasonable. the key of course is how far do you drive in a day and how fast? batteries are getting better all the time. I was thinking about converting my toyota and selling my engine and drive train parts, I know not the best case for discouraging others depending on gas, but many are anyway and my car parts have value. not to mention i have 2$ in my savings acount! not much hope to go electric unless i can sell my parts. The tires mentioned sound very interesting; so glad that inventors and scientists are taking up the challenge to find alternate means of fueling transportation!
My opinions may have flaws but I just want to get my point across.
The whole automotive landscape has changed. I think now auto companies in general don't have the luxury of just making another car. What "Doesn't Matter" mentioned stands to be true. The US car market will need to make politically and economically sound changes; cars that have new technologies will need to work with the current working infrastructure. If by moving the engine to the wheel you end up removing all parts associated with the automotive supplier and repair field and thus crippling a major sector, wouldn't it do more harm than good?
Designers have to take into consideration the old and the new as we mustn't forget the US was built to be an auto nation... not as if it were a good thing.
Wouldn't you know it: right after I just spent $13 billion on three failing car companies.
Somewhat later than the PML system wich is still my favorite in this field.
But nevertheles good to see a big company like Michelin join the action.
http://www.hipadrive.com/phev.html
Notice how every car item you read about here is always 'just a year or two away' but never seems to show up?
Aptera, the Volt, the Tesla, the Phoenix, all 'just around the corner'.
People, get with it. In the 1990s Toyota had an EV (RAV4 EV) that could go 120 miles on an overnight charge, and here we are in the 21st century still burning gas?
It's all nonsense and you know it. This wheel is no different.
If you want an EV make it yourself.
When will we see a realistic no BS electric car that doesn't cost an arm and leg? Everything here is pie in the sky and will be out of reach for most of the population for quite some time even if they make it to market. We continue to ohh and ahh about cars like the Tesla's and exotics. Do you think the Arabs will allow us to continue with gas less than $40 per barrel ? The next round of price inccreases will make everything before seem like child's play yet we continue to give lip service to electric cars that could be within reach.
I don't know what is so high about 30 grand for a car. I see new SUV's on the road all the time that cost much more than that. Most of the cost is probably in the Li Ion batteries as the car itself would be cheaper to build than an ICE car.