Author: EVAI

The 2025 Genesis G80 midsize sedan rolls into the new year with a glow-up and a price bump, Genesis announced Friday. New ends complement a remapped dashboard that accommodates a single 27.0-inch OLED display with new interfaces. The base 2025 G80 2.5T AWD costs $58,350, including a $1,250 destination fee. That’s $2,700 more than the 2024 Genesis…

Toyota has filed a new patent application for in-wheel electric motors, indicating the automaker is still working on this tech.

The patent application was published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Jul. 18, 2024, and originally filed by Toyota Oct. 30, 2023. It deals specifically with a gear-case design that uses two helical gears and thrust bearings, which Toyota claims in the application allows the gear case to withstand thrust loads on the gears with minimal weight increase.

Toyota in-wheel motor patent image

While minimizing weight is an overall virtue in automotive engineering, keeping the weight of the gear case to a minimum can help reduce unsprung mass—one of the main drawbacks of in-wheel motors. Too much unsprung mass—meaning mass not supported by the suspension, such as motors attached the wheel hubs—can make tuning for ride and handling difficult.

Patent applications are not the same as product plans but, as Just-Auto has pointed out, Toyota has filed a lot of patents on in-wheel motors in recent years, so it’s clearly still at work on them. Toyota has had an in-house in-wheel motor program in the past (as did General Motors), and this might suggest that it either remains active or has been revived. 

Toyota Baby Lunar Cruiser concept

Toyota highlighted in-wheel motors as an efficiency and packaging choice 15 years ago or more and had signaled that its iQ EV might have them in an internally developed form. It arrived with a standard inboard motor setup though. More recently, Toyota has teased in-wheel motors on its Lunar Cruiser concept.

The tech is finding its way into passenger vehicles, gradually, and Aptera is including them as part of what it claims will be a super-efficient electric 3-wheeler, but a lot of questions about durability and safety remain. Hyundai has also teased another approach that moves an in-wheel motor design close to the wheels but not in them—but with no clear production plans.

The next Acura NSX, or a car like it, will be powered by batteries, Shinji Aoyama, global executive vice president for Acura parent Honda, said at this month’s 2024 Monterey Car Week, Motor1 reported. Aoyama described the car as an “NSX-type of vehicle” and said it may not necessary be called an NSX. He also confirmed it would ride on…

An unrestored 1934 Bugatti Type 59 Sports was voted Best of Show at the 2024 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, which ran on Sunday and closed out this year’s Monterey Car Week. The car marked a couple of firsts for the prestigious awards as it was the first time a preservation car was given top honors. It was also the first time the winner’s owner…

Consumers will switch to EVs after the range and charging speed matches that of gasoline vehicle refueling.

The Korean automaking giant is launching free inspections, disclosing its battery sourcing and adding software updates after a fire.

Ford is looking to patent roof rails and roof racks that can stow away when not in use, helping to reduce aerodynamic drag and potentially improving fuel economy or EV range.

These potential aero-improving features were detailed in separate patent applications published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) July 11, 2024, and filed by Ford at earlier dates.

Ford deployable roof rail patent image

One patent application covers deployable roof rails that would pop up out of channels in a vehicle’s roof on hinges, and then serve as mounting points for cargo carriers and other accessories like the fixed roof rails already offered on many SUVs.

Another patent application covers a deployable roof rack, although in this case the hardware appears tailored specifically to pickup trucks. The roof rack would be stowed behind the back wall of a pickup’s cab, at the front of the cargo bed, and pivot upward onto the roof when needed.

Ford deployable roof rack patent image

Automakers don’t always commercialize features that they patent, Ford wouldn’t be alone in looking for new ways to improve aero efficiency. Hyundai has designed an active air skirt for EVs that drops down ahead of the front wheels to reduce drag. The automaker claims this feature could help improve the aerodynamic performance of SUVs—something that could also be said of Ford’s deployable roof rails.

The need to maximize EV range has rekindled an obsession with aerodynamics first seen nearly a century ago, sparking the creation of streamlined shapes for the Hyundai Ioniq 6 and Volkswagen ID.7, among others. The Mercedes-Benz Vision EQXX concept has also shown that greater emphasis on aero—along with weight reduction—could help dramatically boost EV efficiency.

The administrator of the Federal Highway Administration details a new U.S. DOT plan for rolling out a long-simmering technology capable of saving thousands of lives on American roads. He also talks about the ways artificial intelligence and infrastructure can accelerate safety improvements.

Mercedes-Benz AMG used 2024 Monterey Car Week currently underway in California to bid farewell to its hugely successful GT3 race car based on the former AMG GT sports car. The AMG GT3 Edition 130Y Motorsport was rolled out on Friday in Monterey, and confirmed by AMG as its last naturally aspirated GT3 race car. The car also celebrates this year’s…

TO THE EDITOR:

Regarding autonews.com’s “Stellantis laying off up to 2,450 workers at Mich. truck plant” (Aug. 9), “Nissan offers buyouts to salaried workers as U.S. business slides” (Aug. 6) and “Seating supplier to cut jobs in Detroit after truck discontinuation” (Aug. 2), along with a video discussion about Chrysler’s future with Stellantis (Aug. 5) : Are we looking at the beginnings of a bloodbath?

ROBERT GAULT, President, Gault Chevrolet
Endicott, N.Y.