A recently-surfaced Ferrari patent utility hints at in-wheel motors for future efficiency street automobiles.

First noticed by CarBuzz a submitting printed by america Patent and Trademark Workplace (USPTO) Nov. 2, 2023, filed the earlier April, the Italian efficiency automaker seems to be working to combine motors along with friction brakes, as a part of a automotive’s wheel meeting.

Ferrari is growing axial-flux motors, however the utility discusses the extra conventional sort of motor—of the radial-flux permanent-magnet synchronous form.

As described within the utility, the stator can be a part of the wheel hub, whereas the rotor can be hooked up to the wheel rim. This could additionally incorporate the brake disc as a part of the meeting, with the disc and rotor separated by a spacer.

Ferrari in-wheel motor patent picture

Ferrari claims this design reduces value and complexity by limiting the variety of further elements wanted for an in-wheel motor. The automaker additionally claims that it could deal with any points caused by the added unsprung weight that comes with in-wheel motors by means of suspension design and tuning. And it describes use of electromagnetic sensors to offer extra exact management over energy stream—which might be a major differentiator.

Ferrari is not the primary performance-car producer to think about in-wheel motors. McLaren early this yr introduced that it is growing an “in-wheel propulsion system” combining McLaren Utilized Applied sciences racing experience with Elaphe in-wheel tech, for “hyper-responsive electrical automobiles.”

Different functions have been much less performance-focused. Lightyear claimed that it had the world’s most effective EV powertrain with in-wheel motors—additionally from Elaphe—however the Lightyear 0 EV did not fairly get to the manufacturing stage.

Ferrari in-wheel motor patent picture

Lordstown Motors additionally used Elaphe in-wheel motors, licensing the tech for its Endurance electrical pickup truck. The Endurance did briefly make it to manufacturing, however few have been constructed earlier than Lordstown declared chapter. Elaphe has but one other buyer in Aptera, which in 2019 introduced that it could use the corporate’s motors for its three-wheeler. Aptera has mentioned the automobile is getting nearer to production-ready, however hasn’t supplied a agency timeline.

All this apart, Chinese language automaker Dongfeng earlier this yr claimed to have the world’s first common manufacturing passenger automotive with in-wheel motors—from provider Protean. The Dongfeng Fengshen E70 solely makes use of in-wheel motors to energy its rear wheels, nonetheless, with a traditional inboard motor powering the entrance axle.