[extropy-chat] In-wheel motors

[Eugen Leitl]

On Fri, May 07, 2004 at 11:30:59PM +0100, BillK wrote:

> Presumably you mean 'I can't buy a car at my local dealer with in-wheel
> motor drive"?

There's no mature design available in quantities. I can't even purchase an
immature design off the shelf. I'd have to have it custom-built, or roll my
own.
 
> I would say there are lots of concept vehicles around using in-wheel
> motors. If the idea turns out to be practical, then it is only a matter
> of time, plus increasing petrol/gas prices.

Exactly. Technology development is evolutionary, not revolutionary. Rational
design doesn't do short-cuts in design space. It could, in theory. In
practice, more often it does not. This is especially true in case of mature
technologies where risk is high and margins are low.
 
> Unsprung weight is still a problem in cars though. They need to make the
> electric motors a good bit lighter for general use in small cars.

Exactly. There's no mature design available in quantities.
 
> But lots of people are working on it. Looks hopeful. :)

Fuel cells were invented in 1838. First successful electric cars cruised the
roads in 1880s. Yeah, lots of people are working on it. Looks hopeful,
indeed.

-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a>
______________________________________________________________
ICBM: 48.07078, 11.61144            http://www.leitl.org
8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A  7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE
http://moleculardevices.org         http://nanomachines.net
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 198 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20040510/c0237ec5/attachment.bin>