WheelTug
Boeing Phantom Works and Air Canada have successfully tested the Chorus Motor's system in a 'proof of concept' demonstration. The goal of this test was to show that onboard electric drive motors can taxi an aircraft and to determine the feasibility of WheelTug. Boeing and Chorus Motors have formed a partnership to develop and market this technology.
The parent company Borealis Exploration Ltd. signed an agreement with Delta Air Lines making Delta the development partner and launch customer for the Boeing 737NG version of WheelTug to allow electric ground taxi. The company Wheeltug PLC has been spun off as a subsidiary of Chorus Motors PLC. and the expected delivery of the first units is scheduled for 2010.
WheelTug and Co-Operative Industries completed an Electrical Load Measurement (ELM) test on a B737NG in January 2010 at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, GA to confirm sufficient power.
Wheeltug is a fully integrated ground propulsion system for aircraft which puts a high torque Chorus electric motor into the hub of the nose wheel to allow for backwards movement without the use of pushback tugs and to allow for forward movement without using the aircraft engines. WheelTug will drive the aircraft with power supplied by the onboard APU (Auxiliary Power Unit). The first version is being designed for the Boeing 737NG with delivery expected in 2012.
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