Somewhat "tongue-in-cheek" about a year ago I wrote a blog about 4WD and 4WS, which referred to an Ecar with 4-wheel drive and 4-wheel steering. My main reasoning was this was a way to make the Ecar fun to drive, safe AND less costly.
Well guess what? Mercedes is leaking info about an Ecar planned for introduction in 2013. It's in prototype/refinement now. Although is does NOT have 4-wheel steering it DOES have 4-wheel drive using 4 motors allowing sophisticated vector powering control for superior traction control during maneuvering. BTW Mercedes has a gasoline version of this car without 4-wheel drive and both it and the Ecar (E-CELL) accelerate to 60pmh in 3.9 seconds
What I am impressed with is the packages they use for the front and rear axle of the E-CELL. Both have two motor packages that are combined much as a differential housing mounted to the frame and stub axles to the CV joint or wheel. It would be and it is obvious that for 4-wheel steering, (if they think of it) is using two of the front axle units for both axles. The rest is computer software/firmwareNow the insane part about this project is strategy of starting at $185,000 for the ECELL.
CONCLUSION
Both the GM VOLT and now the Mercedes E-CELL have some wonderful technology for controlling Ecars. BOTH are suffering birthing pains but I do think that the 4WD-4WS Ecar will evolve and become the suburban vehicle of choice in the 21st century, but at a 10 to 1 price reduction!
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