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Comments 3
  1. — Richard    Mar 21, 2006 12:14 PM    #

    Great Mini. Does anybody know where to get these in-wheel motors to try to retrofit an Ice car? At a flick of the switch change from ICE to EV.

  2. — James May    Mar 21, 2006 14:20 PM    #

    Hybrids: I was thinking of doing one one day. My idea is to get a little 4×4, disconnect the rear and front diffs and supply a motor to the rear diff. Then you have an ICE at the front and a motor at the back. It’s the only good reason to have one of those urban 4×4s

  3. — Dan    Mar 22, 2006 22:17 PM    #

    Just curious about that “4×4 with disconnected front & rear differentials”

    If it’s an awd setup, the ICE turns the transmission, which turns a middle differential, which connects the front & rear diffs. How do you keep the middle differential from free-wheeling once it’s disconnected from the rear diff? You could always replace the transmission with a 2wd version. If it’s a 4wd with a manual transfer case, you’d be carrying around a lot of heavy hardware that you don’t use.

    If it’s something relatively light weight like a subaru, maybe you could use a (heavy) double-shafted motor and connect the ICE driveshaft to the electric motor, which connects to the rear diff. Then you’d have awd in both ICE and EV modes. :)