How far-fetched is this?
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Consumers do not buy solutions, they buy fashion
Some ideas of my own: It may enable flight and long distance driving without charging. As the connection is magnetic and not mechanical, there is the option to quickly remove the wheels: may enable cars to fly (leaving heavy wheels on the ground), or may enable hot-swappable wheel/battery combinations. Goodyear present their reasons in the middle video from 3:10.
OK, you’re trying to be funny.Consumers do not buy solutions, they buy fashion
Some ideas of my own: It may enable flight and long distance driving without charging. As the connection is magnetic and not mechanical, there is the option to quickly remove the wheels: may enable cars to fly (leaving heavy wheels on the ground), or may enable hot-swappable wheel/battery combinations. Goodyear present their reasons in the middle video from 3:10.
I get it. Very good.
There's no reason why you couldn't do all of this. Why has it not been done before? Electric motors have allowed this. Until now, an internal combustion engine had to drive through a multi ration gearbox to drive a car. The power was then split through differentials and propshafts to get to the wheels. This limited the range of movement of the wheels to one axis of rotation and a bit of tilting for steering. Electric motors don't need a gearbox. It's also quite feasible to have 1 motor per wheel where you couldn't really have one engine per wheel. Similarly, mechanical linkages for steering has limited 4 wheel steer.
Why is this good? Oversteer and understeer can be corrected by adjusting the movement of the wheels. Steering can be tighter right up to turning on its axis. No more 3 point turns. But also cars can change direction without "turning". At speed, cars can "crab" to change lanes, which is more dynamically stable. Parallel parking is also easier if you can move sideways. You can fit more cars in a given amount of space.
Why is it bad? Spherical wheels are wider than round ones, which takes up more road space. We have narrow streets. Spherical tyres are bigger so will be more expensive. The wheel is not attached. So it is easier to steal.
Why is this good? Oversteer and understeer can be corrected by adjusting the movement of the wheels. Steering can be tighter right up to turning on its axis. No more 3 point turns. But also cars can change direction without "turning". At speed, cars can "crab" to change lanes, which is more dynamically stable. Parallel parking is also easier if you can move sideways. You can fit more cars in a given amount of space.
Why is it bad? Spherical wheels are wider than round ones, which takes up more road space. We have narrow streets. Spherical tyres are bigger so will be more expensive. The wheel is not attached. So it is easier to steal.
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And if you drive too fast over a hump-backed bridge, you won't even need the thief there to remove it! It'll do it autonomously!! Elon will love it !!!
As my Dad discovered when he did just this in an old Hillman Imp, where the central weld for the dual-Y-shaped front suspension unit had rusted through, and only the weight of the bodywork was holding the sub-frame (if you could call it that) in place ...
The REE system replaces the current approach of central single/dual motor and drive shafts with “corners”. The idea of driving along with a yoga ball for each wheel is patently ridiculous and a non starter for too many reasons.
REE’s approach makes a lot of sense as it gives you all the individual wheel control you could want, although you would still have to physically steer.
REE’s approach makes a lot of sense as it gives you all the individual wheel control you could want, although you would still have to physically steer.
Spherical tyres will last longer because the wear is spread around the entire surface, and fewer changes will mean less shipping/changing costs. Spherical wheels could also be immune to needing wheel alignment, so overall maintenance costs could be lower.
It may also be possible to achieve the same stability with 3 wheels instead of 4.
Funny how that never happened to the wheel in my computer mouse!
The wheel arches would wrap around so that only part of the tyre is exposed. Presumably the same force that rotates a wheel could be used to pull/push a wheel so that it is not rubbing on any particular section of the body while driving, and to rub against the body to produce hard braking. Fewer mechanical parts could translate into lower total costs.
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