Michelin Active Wheel System

Those crafty people at Michelin are at it again! Here's the Gizmag article on their revolutionary product:

http://www.gizmag.com/michelin-active-wheel-production-electric-car-by-2010/10489/

Don

They got 30kW out of that little motor by watercooling it?

Nice. 8)

It's worth watching the little video at the end of the Gizmag article. I've always been sceptical of in-wheel motors because the the big unsprung weight penalty, but this active suspension system looks like fun

Michelin Active Wheel is definitely the future. I read somewhere that it uses 5 times less energy than a conventional transmission. I think it might be an idea to combine it with a small diesel-electric generator (as in the Volkswagen XL1 concept car). Diesel is the most concentrated form of energy storage and you don't need a new infrastructure for it. What do you think?