IN-WHEEL MOTORS
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48 // January 2020 // www.electrichybridvehicletechnology.com
requests for electric buses because passengers
like the feeling of driving electrically, and I
believe they will say they it’s more
comfortable,” he states.
A similar timescale to Hilton and Klett’s is
also seen by Gotovac. “We anticipate a
non-negligible share of in-wheel powertrain
vehicles by 2025, but it is hard to defi ne what
will be mainstream. Like other technologies,
in-wheel motors will likely grow through
niches that will see the benefi ts emerge
relatively soon, and then spread through most
segments. Many OEMs will still use central
e-motors for a decade or more, but vehicles will
be more diversifi ed than ever in this upcoming
era of mobility.”
7. Testing of in-wheel
motors involves climate
chambers with extreme
low temperatures and
shock testing
8. The Akka Bertone
Smart project is based on
an F1-inspired Smart car
with electric hub motors
that produce 283ps
production. We plan to be selling these motors in volumes
of hundreds of thousands getting up to millions by
2023-2025. That’s an ambitious target but we can see the
opportunity,” he enthuses.
The increased visibility of all-electric, hybrid and
hydrogen fuel cell vehicles over the past 10 years
has accelerated the development of in-hub
technology to create that opportunity. “It’s
been very helpful,” acknowledges Hilton.
“We could look at predictions of the
growth of the electric vehicle market
and it was always about to take off . It
didn’t really happen until Tesla
became successful. Since then,
interest in the whole sector has grown
and that benefi ts us.”
Gotovac agrees. “This just shows a
positive trend. It was expected that the
market from IC would evolve through
hybrid, plug-in hybrid, central motor BEV,
e-axle BEV to multiple-wheel hub drive. Now
everyone is under pressure to fi nd the next
key technology and not be caught by surprise
again. This makes in-wheel technology a
serious topic.”
Klett also believes that the next fi ve years
will be crucial for commercial and city
transportation systems. “RATP in Paris has
announced it wants to have 80% of its buses
powered electrically by 2025. There is a clear
will around Europe and all over the world to
go for this. Over the next few years we will
see a mix of fuel systems, but we will see more
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