One of my oldest friends is a Professor at the University of Warwick, specialising in power electronics. For some years now he has been working across the motor industry on the power systems required by electric vehicles.
A while back I asked him why you couldn't put electric motors in the wheels and then retrofit these to existing vehicles and replace the engine and gearbox with a battery array. He told me that was already being worked on.
Well here we go...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49958457So now we have a vehicle with vastly improved battery storage, advanced power electronics and in wheel motors. It needs no drive shafts so the wheels can rotate around a pivot and the car can drive sideways or rotate on the spot.
It is this 'perfect storm' of technological advances that needs to be matched by similarly creative thinking in ownership models, charging point availability, autonomous capability and taxation.