Ram’s Tank Turn Halves The Cost Of Off-Road Donuts

CarBuzz has discovered a new patent filed by FCA/Stellantis at the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and it describes how future Ram 1500 trucks (or other off-road-capable vehicles) may someday be equipped with a complex tank steer system. We’ve seen such ideas before, most notably with the now-discontinued Rivian Tank Turn, and more recently with the electric Mercedes-Benz G-Class and its G-Turn, and in those vehicles, the electric motors to each wheel control the unique maneuver. The FCA patent suggests this is not the right way to go: “Such systems are expensive as they require four electric [motors], four power inverters, and [the] associated high-voltage cables and components.”

Mechanical Components That Work With A Combustion Engine

The nitty-gritty of the patent need not be discussed in excess detail, but the basics are that the Stellantis design employs a differential with planetary gears, two half shafts, and a gearbox. With that in mind, we imagine that there may be potential uses for the tank steer system in vehicles powered by combustion, but there’s a little hiccup, which may become apparent as we discuss the next factor – the abovementioned combination of mechanical components can only control one axle, and for the system to work, it needs a twin on the other set of wheels.

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With two differentials and two gearboxes, you need two sources of propulsion or a means of connecting each package to one motor. The patent mentions one electric motor per axle unit, which would certainly be more efficient and cost-effective than a set of four electric motors and their associated hardware, but we imagine that such a system could also harness the unique properties of a hybrid drivetrain so long as the electric motor and combustion engine do not rely on and support each other.

Reviving Century-Old Military Concepts For Modern Pickups

The rest of the patent discusses exactly how and when the gears, differentials, and shafts would be engaged and disengaged, but there is nothing particularly new here that hasn’t been discussed in some form on Wikipedia already; military contractors operating around the turn of the century explored clutch braking, triple differential setups, geared steering, and dual drive systems, among other ideas. Naturally, each has its own benefits and drawbacks, but one of the most common shortcomings with any such system is achieving prolonged reliability – something that is especially difficult to accomplish when the torque demands and thermal side effects of such intense maneuvers are passed through mechanical components time and time again.

Related

Ford’s Turn Manager Is Way Better Than Rivian’s Tank Turn

After taking on GM’s crab walk, Ford’s engineers have bettered Rivian’s idea too.

While this patent proposes an alternative to the systems we’ve already seen, and while it can reduce the number of expensive electric motors in a vehicle by half, the additional hardware may doom the idea to the annals of history. Why patent the idea, then? Because electric motors are expensive, and any way of increasing efficiency is worth exploring, if not for implementation on the cars of today, potentially for use in the EVs and hydrogen-powered pickups of tomorrow.