Stellantis develops tank turn steering system for EVs

• Future Stellantis EVs might feature the flexibility to execute a tank turn
• Rivian ended up passing on tank turns
• The electrical Mercedes-Benz G-Class could make a tank turn
  

Following the lead of a handful of other automakers, Stellantis is seeking to patent an EV tank-steer system for off-road use, allowing vehicles to spin around on the spot without moving forward.

A patent application for this feature was published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on July 25, after being filed by Stellantis in early 2023. It discusses using a mechanical differential to spin the wheels on each axle in opposite directions with a purpose to accomplish the tank turn, which might enable the function to work with EVs only with a single motor per axle.

Where actual tanks turn by braking the tracks on one side of the vehicle, Stellantis discusses using a gearbox to rotate the axle half shafts in opposite directions. The gearbox can be coupled to an electrical motor, with one among these assemblies on each axle allowing for power to be sent to all 4 wheels.

Tank turns could possibly be initiated via a touchscreen or by steering-wheel paddles or buttons, Stellantis suggests within the document. The automaker also lays out a procedure for controlling tank steering during which the steering wheel is turned to decide on the direction and the accelerator and brake pedals are used to begin and stop, respectively.

Stellantis tank turn patent image

It’s unclear if Stellantis will actually bring this feature to production. If it did, Stellantis would join Mercedes-Benz, which offers the similar G-Turn feature on the electrical version of its G-Class. Rivian cancelled its own Tank Turn feature because of environmental concerns, because the vehicular pirouettes tear up the bottom on loose surfaces. Try something this on pavement and also you’re prone to do the identical to your tires.

BMW is developing a quad-motor EV powertrain that might make tank turns easy, however the automaker plans to concentrate on performance fairly than trick features like that, or the CrabWalk feature that permits for diagonal driving within the GMC Hummer EV and Sierra EV. A 2022 patent filing indicated Ford was working by itself crazy EV steering feature, but we’ve not heard the rest about it since then.