Patent ID: 7216732

Claim:
An electrical drive unit for a wheel shaft of a vehicle, comprising: an electrical machine comprising a radially outwardly disposed stator, a rotor radially inwardly of the stator and rotatable with respect to the stator and a drive shaft extending therethrough the machine, the rotor having an associated torque and an associated speed when driven; a transmission unit having at least one input connectable in a rotationally fixed manner to the rotor and having at least one output connectable in a rotationally fixed manner to the wheel shaft such that rotation of the rotor rotates the wheel shaft through the transmission unit; all of the electrical machine, including the stator, the rotor, the input and the output of the transmission unit and the wheel shaft being coaxial; at least one power control unit operable to control at least one of speed and torque of the rotor the power control unit being combined with and attached to the electrical machine to form a physical combination therewith; a plurality of braking resistor units arranged in the vicinity of the electrical machine for converting electrical power of the electrical machine into thermal energy when the motor operates in a generator mode to brake the wheel shaft, the braking resistor units being disposed coaxially with the wheel shaft around the circumference of at least one of the input or the output of the transmission unit or the wheel shaft in a plane in an annular shape.