Photo: Schaeffler
The Skoda Octavia Scout is a very capable and keenly priced all-wheel drive crossover-estate-crossbreed which makes a lot of sense for a lot of people - a very good idea on Skoda’s side. However, a German company think they can get more out of the Scout by ripping out its VW drivetrain and replacing it with their own, very modern electric variant.
However, as the ‘e’ in front of ‘Differenzial’ may have suggested, this is more than just a differential, serving as both transmission and torque vectoring system at the same time. This basically makes the system very simple and adaptable, and it would be perfectly suited for hybrid 4x4s, as the front would only house the petrol-powered motor, with the electric one in the back, powering the rears. The system is apparently very good at efficiently shuffling torque among the four wheels, with as little loss of traction as possible.
Thus, we would eliminate conventional differentials for the rear, transfer cases, drive shafts and all the rest of them would become redundant, making hybrid 4x4s more viable than we though - this is again, only in theory.
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