At last it looks like there is positive advancements with the EV. Schaeffler really does appear to be coming up with the goods. I feel quite excited about this Ford Fiesta as I drive into London and Paris several times a week. This would allow me to be able to fit all my gear into the car and be able to virtually sideways park - great. I can't wait to see what Schaeffler and the others come up with during project MEHREN. Hopefully they will solve the battery problems, ( should be a Continental speciality ), so that mileage on a full charge can be considerably increased. I also see the need for front and rear protection as, with the 90 degree steering lock, it's going to be possible to squeeze into some pretty tight spaces, so the car might get shunted a bit when the cars parked either end are trying to get out !

Nothing new about having the motor within the wheel. The clever bit would be getting the motor mass low enough so that the sprung to unsprung ratio is not too compromised..... Still, it's all progress, one way or another.

Funny....just saw that in the Porsche Museum yesterday.....I think he invented it back in 1897

Thats a huge battery under the hood! Wondering how much is the mileage coverage? As its demonstrated in the video, the handling of the car is actually pretty good, much less worrying than expected I must say. And it is delighted to hear Ford and Schaeffler will be joining force with child company Continental, RWTH Aachen and the University of Applied Sciences, Regensburg to further develop projects on electric cars, I believe with all the input from the top auto companies and top university, the result will be much profound. Competitors like Protean may therefore need to put in more effort if they want to win the match against Schaeffler. Since electric car will be the future for transportation, you wont be hearing anymore "voom voom" from vehicles like now, so you wont be able to recognize a Ferrari or Lamborghini is actually approaching you from far. I am eager to see how will the auto companies to reinvent their identity!

This is not new technology, but it is the right idea. I used to drive huge haul trucks that had very small diesel powered engines that powered generators, the generator powered drive motors on the wheels. The Trucks were made in Sweden I believe, and they're still making them. I read an article last year that said that the company was selling more of them than ever. The haul trucks were being shipped to mines all over the world. The one I drove was an 80 ton. I had to climb a ladder to get into the cab from under the chassis. If these motors could propel a truck that big and heavy up and down mountains it should be a no brainer to do the same with passenger vehicles. Even solar power could do most of the work on sunny days. I advocate for Alternative Energy Product Group.

As Porsche found out 110 yrs ago this won't work well enough because the RPM is so low it has little starting power so they must be made too heavy, powerful, expensive just to start up a hill, the controlling spec for most vehicles.
Now Ford will again confirm this after playing around a while.
It's really only good for very light vehicles like MC's especially where the rider can help starting by pushing off with their legs. I'm debating right now on whether it's workable in a 2wh Streamliner.
But in cars, not a chance.

It's time not only to "rethink the city car", but to rethink the city. In my book, The P.E.T. Solution, the message is that we have many "means" (i.e. concept vehicles such as the one featured in this article) for getting around the future cities, but no "ways" (i.e. infrastructure ) to make using these urban-specific vehicles (USVs) safe, convenient, and comfortable to drive.
The P.E.T. (People Express Thruways) is designed to give these USVs dedicated, exclusive pathways to get around cities; like an expanded bike path, that accommodate these smaller vehicles that are optimum for city travel, especially the single-occupant vehicle drivers.
My hypothesis is that unless urban travelers are given these safer, more comfortable ways to get around in these USVs, they are unlikely to make the switch from larger, inefficient cars.

For the drive wheels, they should try a single Fred Flintstone wheel (which extends to the entire width of the vehicle). They could build in all the necessary stop and go elements including energy recovery and storage i.e., flywheel in a vacuum. The sheer brutality of the ride would be sufficient to charge the batteries via coil-over-magnet shock absorbers - as one corner compensates for the other.

Hmmmm. Now if they could just 'build in' a small variable ratio transmission into each motorized wheel, you might just get enough torque to start off uphill - or at least start off fast enough at a green light to keep out of everyone else's way.
I'm hoping some consideration in that fun-to-drive factor includes the thing being able to get out of it's own way when it has to.

This is Amazing... I'm just sat here kicking myself in my ass for not patenting my design for this technology a year ago.. Yet as I was.. I remembered my design has one thing over this one, not only do I have the Ewheel design.. My vehicle employs Vortechnology which allows it to Fly :)