SEMA Preview: Flightlink bringing Volt-like F-150 series hybrid with in-wheel motors
by Jeremy Korzeniewski on Oct 24th 2008 at 7:32PM 
Ford and PML Flightlink -- the same company that created the Volvo ReCharge concept -- will be showing off a plug-in hybrid electric F-150 pickup truck at the upcoming SEMA show in Las Vegas. Like the ReCharge, the F-150 will be a series hybrid, so the truck should be powered by the electric motors until the battery is close to being depleted. At that point, we assume a stock Ford V8 would recharge the trucks on-board battery pack. The motors themselves are pancake-style wheel-mounted units and use permanent magnet technology. Each wheel is powered by a separate motor, ridding the truck of its normal axles, driveshafts, transmission and transfer case. At this point, we're not sure what kind of range or performance figures the automaker is claiming for this concept, but we'd expect more details to filter out closer to the show's November 4th start-date.
[Source: PickupTrucks.com]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Shawn 9:36AM (10/26/2008)
I like this Auto blog. I was on the original AOL blog when I saw the link to this blog site. Great job on the layout. In other comments, I think hybrid and electric cars are going to seriously takeover, because the majority of Americans feel the oil and gas industry is a monopoly, but you didn't hear that from me.
http://www.ShawnDrewry.com
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The Luigiian 7:50PM (10/24/2008)
St. Patrick's day is coming early this year fellas. Check those clover rims.
Other than that, I don't really know what to say.
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abrood 8:26PM (10/24/2008)
"ridding the truck of its normal axles"
Isn't there a pumpkin in that rear axle under that truck?
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Axis 9:12PM (10/24/2008)
Hi-Pa...Drive? Dear god...what a horrid name.
Names aside sounds like a pretty good setup.
montoym 12:47AM (10/25/2008)
Well, that doesn't look like a photo of the exact truck, more like a rendering or more likely, a drawing. Probably just an oversight on the artist's behalf.
Assuming the info provided for the story is accurate and it is all electric and has no ICE power to the wheels.
So, yeah, you are technically correct. But, I wouldn't debunk the whole thing simply because of that.
Conundrum 10:06AM (10/25/2008)
The axle housing is part of the suspension system on the F-150. If they wanted to reduce weight without spending big money on major suspension modifications, they may have kept the housing and removed the shafts, gears, and other innards.
Vintage 8:33PM (10/24/2008)
I'm pretty sure I was better at Photoshop when I was 17, years and years ago. Seriously, what is with the truck manufacturers and HORRIBLE photoshop jobs?
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Kwesi 12:16AM (10/25/2008)
In wheel Motors??!!.///thats sooo MITSUBISHI!!!!
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Dave 12:42PM (10/25/2008)
"Albert Parcelle of Boston, MA developed the first fully incorporated Wheel hub motor in his 'Electro-Motor Traction Wheel' and patented it in patent US # 433,180 in 1890. "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:A-Hrafn/Wheel_motor
Torrent 2:48AM (10/25/2008)
doesn't look like a truck that should be a hybrid..
and that ps is only moderately better than what I can do... but overall, it's pretty bad.
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ecs 7:59AM (10/25/2008)
Five leaf clovers of doom!
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Obviously DaMinority 6:46PM (10/25/2008)
Um...
Anyone ever heard of Unsprung Weight?
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Bob Aman 3:42PM (10/30/2008)
You're quite right. If the wheels are directly driven by the electric motors and are part of the unsprung assembly, that could very well cause some issues. However, this is not necessarily the case. There's nothing preventing Ford from moving the motors off of the unsprung assembly.
Morgenster 11:45AM (10/31/2008)
Unsprung weight is not that big a deal with this setup because it replaces the axles, brakecalipers, pads and discs all in one go. The difference in weight will be close to 1kg.
Obviously DaMinority 4:24PM (11/01/2008)
In an independent setup, the axles weight is only 1/2 unsprung so it would be 1kg plus 1/2 of the original axle weight. Seriously, though, it it really was 2.2 lbs difference that would be okay strictly from an unsprung weight perspective. Of course then you get into rotational weight vs. non-rotational.
I doubt in practice that you could remove the brake assembly for one thing, it's probably against some arcane regulation. If you did remove the brakes, you'd still need spindles for steering so you couldn't remove the entire unsprung assembly.
Don't get me wrong, if they could do it for less than 5 lbs (2ish kg) it would be phenomenal. I just don't know that it gains you anything except a cool factor.
great catch, though.