Quote:
Originally Posted by Targan
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The A3 may be too late but the concepts and tech were around from further in the past.
The LeTourneau company established itself manufacturing earth moving and engineering equipment. They supplied more than half the engineering & construction vehicles used by the Allies in WW2 but it was their work on electric drives that put them years ahead of other companies.
LeTourneau is responsible for the
Overland Train, along with a number of vehicles used for military purposes such as recovering beached landing craft. In most cases these vehicles used a diesel generator to supply power to electric motors on each individual wheel.
For some context, the Overland Train made use of this technology and it was built in the 1950s to carry supplies in areas with undeveloped/under-developed road systems. While it never passed the experimental/trials stage, the electric drive was well proven and continued to be a feature on later LeTourneau vehicles into the 1960s-70s.
The company was still in existence up to 2011 when it was acquired by Joy Global, itself acquired in 2017 by Komatsu Limited.