In-wheel motors roll again

AT THE END of the 19th century, Ferdinand Porsche in Vienna and Joseph Ledwinka and Fred Newman in Chicago attached an electric motor to each wheel of their horseless carriages to provide power simply, efficiently, and controllably. These automotive pioneers hardly expected that electric propulsion would soon wither and that ever more complex hardware would be developed to transform the output from a centrally mounted internal combustion engine into torque at the wheels. But that's what happened.