Witchcraft! These rims can convert the Honda Civic Type R in a hybrid 4×4 car of 520 HP

Can you imagine a hot hatch as fun as the Honda Civic Type R with 520 HP without touching the mechanical part? And what about the ECO sticker on the windshield? And what would happen to be 4WD? It would be a hoot, and it could be around the corner if these tires reached mass production.

These are wheels that house inside a set of bushing, brake system and electric motor that can carry an extra of up to 100 HP per wheel with hardly any impact on the weight, but significantly reducing unsprung masses.

Up to 100 electric HP per wheel

The Honda Civic Type R is one of the funniest cars we’ve put our hands on . With its radical aesthetic, its good set-up of the chassis and its 320 hp transmitted to the front end could still be better if we convert it from apparently simple to an all-wheel drive of 420 hp hybrid.

This dream is possible at least on paper with this ingenuity of the Orbis company . It is a scheme that completely eliminates the transmission shafts, the differentials and any other element necessary to bring the power of the engine to the wheels because the engine is ON the wheels . In fact, designed in its day by Ferdinand Porsche in 1897 it is so compact that you do not even have to change the suspension geometries of the car to anchor the whole. In the case of a front it is simpler still.

At the engine level, the engines that are housed inside are adapted from the Zero electric motorcycles and can each develop a power of up to 75 HP , while the gear system is prepared to quietly support a power of 100 HP. In addition, the engine applies its force directly on the rim ring, decentering its performance to achieve a transfer of power without losses.

The Orbis scheme also replaces the standard hub and brake equipment with a perimeter disk attached to the inside of the rim bitten by a much less bulky gripper with which to achieve the same effect. Having less mass to stop inside the wheel also reduces the effort that has to be made to stop the car so the car clip can be replaced by a lighter bike, but in addition the Orbis system also makes the times of regenerative braking. All resistant to water.

With the prototypes that they have developed in Orbis, they claim that they have eliminated almost 10 kg of weight of non-suspended masses , a great qualitative leap especially if we take into account the increase in benefits that must be added to the whole. In total, the set with the batteries mounted, the wheels and the control unit fattens more than 80 kg to the Civic.

All pieces of metallic material have been designed not to be especially expensive. The main three-pronged structure that holds the entire wheel assembly is made of mechanized aluminum, like the rest of the elements, achieving a significant reduction in weight without having to resort to exotic materials.

On the electrical section, with this solution is possible to make a hybrid car or even 100% electric as traditional elements are replaced by this new proposal. The battery coming from a Toyota Prius would be placed in the trunk and the control unit can be programmed to act the way we want.

The price is almost 10,000 euros without counting the batteries to convert a 4×2 into electric 4×4 hybrid. The solution is promising, both to increase the performance of any car and to convert a front wheel drive with an extra energy on demand or operating in unison with the thermal engine, getting through the ECO sticker at a stroke.