In Wheel Motors Coming From Protean Partnership With VIE

The last time we did a story about Protean in wheel motors was four years ago. Back then, the headline said production would begin in 2014. Not much has been heard from Protean since then but now comes word that it has formed a partnership with  Zhejiang VIE Science & Technology Company (VIE) and will to develop its ProteanDrive 16″ in wheel motor for use in a broad range of automotive and light truck applications.

What’s so great about in wheel motors? For one thing, they eliminate all the transmissions, driveshafts, axles, differentials, and cluthes that have been part of conventional cars with internal combustion engine cars for a century. Getting rid of all that hardware leaves lots more room inside the structure of an automobile for passengers and the stuff they carry around with them. It also means designers can devise new crash structure architecture that does a better job of protecting people in the event of a collisiion.

The bad news is that the ProteanDRIVE 16 adds 60 pounds of unsprung weight to the corner of a car. Unsprung weight is the enemy of handling. Every time the car hits a bump, a pot hole, or a speed bump, all that weight has to get started in one direction and then move in the opposite direction as soon as the spring it is attached to reaches the limit of its travel.

It is Newton’s First Law of Motion — a body at rest tends to remain at rest until an outside force is applied to it. Add in the weight of the tire, the wheel, and brakes and the total weight of the components at any corner of a car fitted with an in wheel motor could exceed 100 pounds. That’s a lot of mass to get moving every time a bump in the road comes along. Such a thing would have been impossible a few years ago, but today’s computer controlled active suspensions might be able to cope with the stress an in wheel motor will place on the suspension components.

Each ProteanDRIVE 16 in wheel motor has nearly 600 ft-lb of peak torque and 54 peak horsepower according to Green Car Congress. The wheel/motor combination is intended to meet the needs of all plug-in hybrid and electric cars. The torque is more than ample. The power seems a little low unless four in wheel motors are planned. The motor is designed to fit inside a standard 16″ wheel. Here’s hoping it won’t be another 4 years before we hear from Protean again. Be sure to check out the video below for more information.

Protean Launches Production In-Wheel Electric Motor

The benefits for dedicating an electric motor to each wheel of a vehicle were clear to see in Drive's recent video of the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Electric Drive.

Make those motors in-wheel units, and in theory you get even more benefits.

It's a design that in-wheel motor company Protean has been perfecting over the last few years, and has debuted a production version at the 2013 Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress.

We last saw one of Protean's designs back in May 2012, helping to power an already-potent BRABUS Mercedes-Benz.

The company has also demonstrated its motors in a Ford F-150 pickup truck, a Vauxhall Vivaro cargo van, and a Chinese Trumpchi family sedan.

Protean markets its in-wheel motor for both hybrid and all-electric applications. Each unit sits in the space behind a wheel, supplying power exactly where, and when, the driver requires.

It's certainly powerful, with each motor alone producing 75 kW (100 horsepower) and 735 pounds-feet of torque.

Each also weighs "only" 68 pounds which probably isn't so good for unsprung mass--all the weight not supported by the car'ssuspension, affecting handling, steering, responses and ride quality. Protean does say that the extra unspring mass can be compensated for in other ways though, reducing the effects of significantly heavier rolling stock.

And with claimed economy improvements of up to 30 percent (depending on battery size), the benefits may offset the negatives for many. Protean also says up to 85 percent of the vehicle's kinetic energy can be recovered when braking.

Perhaps the motor's biggest benefit is that it can be retrofitted to almost anything, as demonstrated by the electic mix of demonstration vehicles.

There's no word on when the first vehicles equipped with Protean in-wheel motors will hit the road, but the benefits for larger vehicles in particular could be significant.

In-wheel electric drive company Protean receives $84M in funding; to build production plant in China

Protean Electric, developer of in-wheel electric drive systems, received $84 million in new funding from GSR Ventures, New Times Group, Oak Investment Partners and the city of Liyang, Jiangsu Province, China. This capital will be used to bring Protean’s electric drive technology to production by establishing manufacturing facilities in Liyang.
The funding is led by GSR Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Beijing and Silicon Valley. They will be joined by the New Times Group, a Liyang-based industrial group. Oak Investment Partners, Protean’s first venture investor, is also participating in this round of funding. The city of Liyang is partnering to provide prototype manufacturing support, with favorable industrial policy.

GSR is honored to lead this round of investment in a disruptive technology that we believe has great promise for the Chinese automotive market and potentially building a global EV platform.

—Sonny Wu, GSR Ventures managing director

This marks Protean Electric’s entry into China, the world's largest automobile market. In 2011, China automobile sales exceeded 18.5 million units. Passenger car sales climbed to about 14.5 million units; commercial vehicle sales exceeded 4 million units. Total vehicle registrations in China today total over 100 million automobiles.
The Chinese government just published a plan through 2020 to accelerate the production and adoption of new energy vehicles, including electric drive vehicles.

With this round of investment in place, Protean Electric is now positioned to move aggressively to production and into the market. All of our investors believe in our technology and share in our vision to make Protean Electric the world leader for in-wheel electric drive. We will have the capability to directly supply our motors at lower volume levels, while providing licenses to our higher volume customers and partners.

We have a very unique value proposition: We can create hybrid and electric drive vehicle options, on the vehicles that people like to drive. We can provide more power, better fuel economy, easier integration, and lower cost. The Protean Electric drive system is probably as close as the industry will ever get to a bolt-on solution.

—Bob Purcell, chairman and CEO of Protean Holdings Corp.

Features of Protean’s in-wheel motors include:

• Fuel economy improvements up to 30% depending on battery size;
• Highest torque density of any of today’s leading electric propulsion systems;
• 81 kW (110 hp) and 800 N·m (590 lb-ft) from each motor;
• 31 kg (68 lbs) per motor;
• Fits within the space of a conventional 18- to 24-inch road wheel; and
• Regenerative braking capabilities allowing up to 85% of the available kinetic energy to be recovered during braking.

Protean Electric’s plans in China call for beginning prototype motor production early next year and volume production in 2014.
Protean has been awarded 21 patents for its technology and design, and more than 70 additional patent applications have been filed internationally and with specific countries in North America, Europe and Asia. Protean also has won the 2012 Technology Pioneers Award from the World Economic Forum as being one of most promising start-up technology companies in the world.
In addition, Protean has developed multiple demonstration vehicles, including a Ford F150 pick-up truck, Volvo C30, Vauxhall Vivaro cargo van, Guangzhou Automobile Company Trumpchi, and BRABUS full electric and hybrid vehicles, based on the Mercedes-Benz E-Class, and were featured at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show.


Source: Green Car Congress

Protean Electric suggests hybrid retrofit market in US will approach 500K total units by 2020

An all-new hybrid retrofit market will emerge and grow to a half million vehicles total by 2020, according to Protean Electric, which has developed an in-wheel motor electric drive system for light-duty vehicles. (Earlier post.)

Ken Stewart, Protean’s vice president of sales and marketing, will discuss the hybrid market this week at the Hybrid, Electric and High Efficiency Truck Users Forum (HTUF). The forum is sponsored by CALSTART in partnership with the U.S. Army National Automotive Center (NAC).

The vast majority of this new hybrid retrofit market will come from converting light duty government and commercial fleets. The total addressable vehicle market procured in the United States alone is estimated to be over 1.5 million vehicles, according to information from General Service Administration reports and Automotive Fleet Magazine.

Protean’s system can be integrated into a broad range of vehicles and can increase fuel economy by more than 30% depending on the size of the battery and the driving cycle. Fleet owners can get the benefits of hybrid technology without having to buy new vehicles, engines or transmissions, or having to modify their engines to run on different fuels than what they are using today. Since these vehicles often have a lifecycle of two to six years beyond the lifecycle of a typical retail vehicle, system costs can be amortized over several years after the vehicle is already in service.

Protean's in-wheel solution. Each Protean in-wheel motor produces up to 110 hp (81 kW), occupies the unused space behind an 18-inch road wheel, and can be fitted to conventional rear axles. And because each motor has its own self-contained inverter controller, the system requires less space on board the vehicle for motor power electronics. Protean Drive systems have regenerative braking, and a redundant disk brake design is being developed to meet all necessary safety requirements.

Protean says that it, along with battery companies and integrators, will help enable more wide-spread adoption of hybrid technology to convert fleet customers’ vehicles. The system offers advantages to front-, rear- or four-wheel drive vehicles that run on gas, diesel or gaseous fuels such as CNG. The motors also have the highest torque and power density compared to any of today's leading electric propulsion systems.

Protean’s in-wheel motors are uniquely designed for a broad range of vehicle applications. The motors can be added to vehicles more simply, creating a hybrid or plug-in hybrid configuration from an existing conventional truck. It’s the closest thing to a bolt-on hybrid system, and it will have broad appeal for fleets as the smart way to save fuel and lower emissions without having to give up performance or continually purchase all-new vehicles.

—Ken Stewart

Source: Green Car Congress