Patent ID: 7165640

Claim:
Traction chain for an automobile vehicle, comprising: a wheel support which carries a rotating hub designed to receive a drive wheel and having a rotation axis for the drive wheel, a rotating toothed wheel having a rotation axis the same as that of the drive wheel, the toothed wheel meshing directly with the hub, and an arrangement comprising at least two gear-wheels which are permanently meshed with the toothed wheel, an input shaft designed to be coupled with a shaft of an electric motor, and a gear ratio change shifter mechanism shiftable between: a first driving position in which the shifter mechanism directly connects the input shaft with one of the gear-wheels for rotation therewith about a common axis of the input shaft, a second driving position in which the shifter mechanism indirectly connects the input shaft with another gear-wheel through a mechanical transmission path establishing a gear reduction ratio different from a gear ratio established in the first driving position, and a neutral non-driving position.