Will in-wheel motor tech go big in electric pickups?

In-wheel motors became a reality in a production electric pickup for the blink of an eye—in the Lordstown Endurance. But the technology, also known as wheel-hub motors, hasn’t yet been confirmed as production-bound for any other U.S. passenger vehicle or personal-use truck.

That could change in the future. Based on some pictures recently published, Ford appears to be testing a pickup truck with in-wheel electric motors, possibly for an electric version of its Super Duty heavy-duty pickups.

Spy photos published Thursday by Autoblog show a camouflaged truck that appears to be a modified Ford F-150 Lightning. It’s hard to say for sure, but the circular shape behind the wheel seen in one photo looks like a hub motor. It’s certainly suspicious that the vehicle lacks visible brake calipers, as Ford no longer offers drum brakes on its big pickups, Autoblog notes.

The truck also has eight-lug wheels, which are used on Ford Super Duty pickups but not on the production Lightning or gasoline F-150. An electric Super Duty would also make more sense as an application for in-wheel motors as Ford already nixed them for the Lightning.

2024 Ford Super Duty F-250

Ford’s global EV product development director, Darren Palmer, told Green Car Reports in 2021 that Ford considered in-wheel motors for the F-150 Lighting and confirmed that Ford continued to test them, but he emphasized that it decided they didn’t make the cut then for a number of reasons. The unspring mass, making the ride and handling difficult to tune and tame, was part of it. But the dealbreaker sounded to be hub motors’ seals, potentially letting contaminants in from off-roading.

Lordstown Motors opted for hub motors licensed from Slovenian firm Elaphe for the ill-fated Endurance. Versus millions of Lightning development miles, Lordstown said in 2021 that it had put about 20,000 development miles on its electric pickup before its release and about 200,000 development miles on the motors. Only a handful of Endurance trucks were completed before the company declared bankruptcy.

2024 Ford Super Duty F-250

That said, in 2023, Ford filed a patent for a system that uses a combination of in-wheel motors and solid axles. Perhaps that system is now being put to the test.

Meanwhile, Ferrari, McLaren, and others are reportedly considering in-wheel motors for future performance EVs. Several aftermarket conversions have shown off the packaging strengths that they allow as well. But it’s yet to be revealed whether the technology has evolved enough for Ford (and perhaps others) to see them as a viable solution—or whether they’ll remain at the testing stage for many years to come.