Yes, I’m going to talk about wheelmotors again. Mainly because I recently saw a video on the Japanese Eliica project. This uses 8 (yes, 8) custom designed and custom manufactured wheelmotors. Which, again, are not available for purchase anywhere. And this was debuted way back in 2004. Over 5 years ago. According to Wikipedia (Not the most reliable source, but it’ll do for this case), there are only 2 in existence, and while they’re fast (370 kph, or 230mph for you old-world proponents), and have a decent range (200km/120miles for the “Speed” version, 320km/200miles for the “Street” version), no-one is anywhere near touching them, or the technology they’re made from.
Just what is happening with the motor industry? It’s obvious the technology exists out there – all my previous posts here show it’s around. All we need is someone to take these disparate parts, put them together into one working shell, and float it on the market. Tesla is leading the way, but we need more. And while Obama’s plan in the US to incentivise EV production may also help the home converter, there’s still a lot of hurdles needed to jump before any kind of EVs really make it into the mainstream. And when the media stops with the whole “Look at this insane person – he took a working car and turned it into a high-speed golf cart” angle, and move closer to “covers all local commuting, costs $0.10 to ‘fill’, built by a novice for less than $5,000, will last for 10 years”, they might start getting the public more interested, and less amused.
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