Clermont-Ferrand, France – Where there’s a will, there’s a way – Michelin
When you think of Michelin you think of black round doughnuts called tires. When you think of a vehicle you think of an internal combustion engine that has the ability to move those tires through the drivetrain
Step forward into the future of today. You can no longer think of Michelin as just a tire company, and you can no longer think of vehicles with internal combustion engines.
Michelin has taken that empty space known as the wheel and put an entire electric drivetrain inside of it.
Gone is the engine under the hood, the traditional suspension, the gearbox, and the transmission shaft. All those components have been miniaturized and have been integrated into the wheel of an electric vehicle.
Michelin is collaborating with two auto manufacturers that were shown at the 2008 Paris auto show. The first is the electric Venturi Volage roadster.
The second is a partnership with Hueliez, Orange, and Michelin. The marketing name for the product is called WILL, as in where there is a will, there is away.
The Michelin Active Wheel is used with an electric vehicle. the energy in the electric vehicle will come from lithium-ion batteries of a fuel-cell or some other supercapacitor. In any of these cases, the net effect is less pollution and less noise.
