This grouse re-working of the car-wheel and tyre offers a much cheaper wheel and hub assembly. The Tweel combines wheel and tyre into one, performing and behaving like a pnuematic tyre without the use of any inflation pressure and with the safety benefit of never deflating.The inner hub contains a matrix of deformable plastic structures that flex under load and return to their original shape.
Apparently the only reason this profound new invention from Michelin hasn't seen light of day in production vehicles is that the tweel is uncompromisingly noisey and as the car increases its speed so to does the noise !
Consequently the first commercial applications will be in lower-speed, lower-weight vehicles such as wheelchairs, scooters, and other such devices. like the iBOT mobility device and Segway’s Concept Centaur that were both introduced with Tweels.
