In the last few days I've seen plenty of hype about a motor in wheel electric/diesel hybrid First off, there is nothing new about a diesel-electric hybrid. Trains have been operating in this fashion for over 50 years. Nothing new about the motor in wheel idea either... The Lohner-Porsche used this design in 1898! Secondly, the motor in wheel design is not a great source of efficiency... It only eliminates a driveshaft. A constant velocity driveshaft (as seen in most FWD cars) is nearly 98% efficient. So at best you could gain 2 or 3% by eliminating the need for these driveshafts. What the motor-in-wheel has going for it, is packaging. On a bus, there would be no need for driveshafts and the diesel motor could be placed where it was most convenient, thus leaving maximum room for passengers. This would be fine for passenger cars too, but for one giant problem: unsprung weight. That's everything that isn't isolated by the suspension... unsprung weight is the bane of any car engineer. Analogy: Hold a 5 lb weight at arms length, and shake it up and down. Do the same with a 10 lb weight... It takes much more effort to do it with the same speed. Dealing with greater unsprung weight in a car requires bigger springs and harsher shock absorbers (dampers) to keep the wheels on the ground. These increased forces find their way back into the chasis resulting in either a harsh ride, or a very poor handling car... sometimes both. If unsprung weight was very low, you could have an excellent handling car that was still comfortable to the passengers. For a bus or truck, this could be a viable trade-off, but not for a passenger car. I don't doubt that hybrid vehicles will be the wave of the future (assuming there is no giant leap in battery technology or fuel cells.) I just don't see anything revolutionary (or even hype-worthy) about this particular design.