Color me skeptical. There’s the issue of unsprung mass, as others have mentioned. That degrades handling, bumpy road comfort, and control.
There’s the issue of cooling the motors and the brakes. Cooling air for them flows from the underside of the car out through the spokes in the wheels. If you block that flow completely, the brakes won’t cool. I know, I know, dynamic braking with the motor and battery reduces the heat from braking. The problem is that high speed stops require braking equivalent of several thousand Hoursepower. You simply can’t put that much energy into the motor and battery in several seconds. That gets turned into heat by the brakes. Drum brakes are also difficult to integrate with dynamic braking because they are very inconsistent.
In addition, if you can make a motor that’s 20% more efficient, you can so that with the motors already on EVs, too. It doesn’t have to go only inside wheels.
“The problem is that high speed stops require braking equivalent of several thousand Hoursepower. You simply can’t put that much energy into the motor and battery in several seconds.”
Drum brakes are not a problem for a single high speed stop. In fact they are safer for EV’s since exposed disk brakes are degraded if not frequently used.
Drum brakes also have a larger surface area.
” Drum brakes are also difficult to integrate with dynamic braking because they are very inconsistent.”
Modern design and electronic control systems have eliminated this concern.