Vehicle drive unit and remotely controllable vehicle therewith

1. A vehicle drive unit comprising:

a pair of longitudinally aligned and longitudinally spaced apart ground wheels;

an electric motor operatively coupled to the pair of wheels by a gear drive assembly;

a housing enclosing the gear drive and motor to which the pair of wheels is operatively mounted; and,

a pivot structure configured to pivotally mount the drive unit to a land vehicle, the pivot structure comprising either

a pivot shaft receiving member located on the housing between the pair of wheels, the pivot shaft receiving member having an aperture configured to receive a drive shaft therein, the aperture configured to allow pivoting movement of the drive unit about a pivot axis passing through the pivot structure, or

a stub shaft located on the housing beneath the gear drive assembly, the stub shaft extending from the drive unit to be received within a corresponding aperture on a body of the vehicle, the stub shaft configured to allow pivoting movement of the drive unit about the pivot axis.

2. The vehicle drive unit of claim 1 , wherein the aperture is configured with a bearing and/or bushing to allow the pivoting movement of the drive unit when the drive shaft is received within the aperture.

3. The vehicle drive unit of claim 2 , wherein the pivot axis passes through a center of the pivot structure.

4. The vehicle drive unit of claim 1 , wherein the stub shaft extends inwardly of the vehicle.

5. The vehicle drive unit of claim 1 , wherein the housing is water-tight and wherein the drive unit is capable of floating.

6. The vehicle drive unit of claim 1 , wherein the ground wheels are configured with treads suitable for propelling the drive unit on land as well as on water.

7. The vehicle drive unit of claim 1 , wherein the drive unit comprises structure suitable for connection to an electrical power supply.

8. The vehicle drive unit of claim 1 , wherein the gear drive assembly comprises a planetary gear arrangement having a single drive gear and a pair of driven gears corresponding to the pair of ground wheels.

9. The vehicle drive unit of claim 8 , wherein each drive gear is coupled to its respective ground wheel by a rotatable drive structure configured to interact with an endless tension structure.

10. The vehicle drive unit of claim 9 , wherein the rotatable drive structure comprises a drive sprocket and wherein the endless tension structure comprises a drive chain.

11. The vehicle drive unit of claim 9 , wherein the rotatable drive structure comprises a drive pulley and wherein the endless tension structure comprises a drive belt.

12. The vehicle drive unit of claim 9 , wherein the rotatable drive structure has an axis of rotation that is not co-axially aligned with an axis of rotation of the drive gear when the gear drive assembly is in operation.

13. The vehicle drive unit of claim 9 , wherein the gear drive assembly comprises an engagement structure for maintaining engagement between the rotatable drive structure and the drive gear when in a first position and for permitting disengagement of the rotatable drive structure from the drive gear when in a second position.

14. The vehicle drive unit of claim 13 , wherein the engagement structure is moveable between the first position and the second position by an operator of the drive unit.

15. A land vehicle comprising:

a vehicle body;

a pair of drive units pivotally attached on opposite sides of the vehicle body, each drive unit comprising a pair of longitudinally aligned and longitudinally spaced apart ground wheels, an electric motor operatively coupled to the pair of wheels by a gear drive assembly, a housing enclosing the gear drive and motor to which the pair of wheels is operatively mounted, and a pivot structure configured to pivotally mount the drive unit to the vehicle located on the housing between the pair of wheels, the pivot structure comprising a pivot shaft receiving member having an aperture configured to receive a drive shaft therein, the aperture configured to allow pivoting movement of the drive unit about a pivot axis passing through a center of the pivot structure;

an electrical power supply; and,

remote control structure for the vehicle configured to permit differential operation of the drive units.

16. The land vehicle of claim 15 , wherein the vehicle body is water-tight and configured to float.

17. The land vehicle of claim 16 , wherein the vehicle is amphibious.

18. The land vehicle of claim 15 , wherein the vehicle is remotely controllable via a radio transceiver.

19. The land vehicle of claim 18 , wherein there is a radio transceiver for each vehicle drive unit.

20. The land vehicle of claim 15 , wherein the electrical power supply is located in the vehicle body and comprises a battery.

21. The land vehicle of claim 15 , wherein the vehicle comprises an electrical supply cable passing from each drive unit to the vehicle body.

22. The land vehicle of claim 21 , wherein the structure configured to pivotally mount each drive unit to the vehicle is hollow and contains the electrical supply cable.

23. The land vehicle of claim 15 , wherein there is a disconnect switch on the vehicle body for interrupting power to both drive units.

24. The land vehicle of claim 15 , wherein the vehicle further comprises a vehicle suspension configured to cause the vehicle drive units to pivotally move in opposite directions to one another.

25. The land vehicle of claim 24 , wherein the vehicle suspension comprises a pair of suspension links, each link being pivotally attached at one end to a respective drive unit and at an opposite end to a suspension cross member that is pivotally mounted to the vehicle body for movement about a central vertical pivot axis, the vehicle suspension configured such that pivoting movement of one drive unit in a first direction about the structure configured to pivotally mount the drive unit to the vehicle causes the other drive unit to move in a second direction opposite the first direction via pivoting movement of the suspension cross member about the central vertical pivot axis.

26. The land vehicle of claim 15 , wherein the vehicle further comprises a drive unit bushing between each drive unit and the vehicle body, each drive unit bushing configured to engage both the vehicle body and the drive unit during operation of the vehicle.

27. The land vehicle of claim 26 , wherein the drive unit bushing comprises at least an arcuately shaped portion concentric with the structure configured to pivotally mount the drive unit to the vehicle and is configured to slidingly engage one or more of the vehicle body and the drive unit during operation of the vehicle.