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FEROX AZARIS
All Water-powered – All Aussie!
W
hat looks like a NASA
buggy, has six wheels,
is powered by water,
and was designed and built in
Australia? The Ferox Azaris of
course!
Coming from little known Aussie
company Ferox Advanced
Vehicles, this monster from the
year 3000 promises to flip the
off-road industry on its head!
The futuristic chassis and special
suspension are interesting, but
wait till you see what drives it!
The power behind the Azaris
comes from four fluid motors.
Unlike standard electric motors
or internal-combustion engines
- the four motors here
are driven by a liquid
that’s 95% water!
That fluid gets
pumped into
ports inside
the wheel
hub,
which
pushes onto a series of ‘gates’
that rotate the outer housing of
the motor and then, the wheel to
which they’re attached.
Each motor is like a self-
contained steamer wheel, pretty
much. Weighing at just 11 kg
each, they could theoretically
output 680Nm of torque and
produce up to 500 foot-pounds
of torque each! For those taking
notes, that’s up to 2,000 total
torque; on par with high-end
diesel engines found in tuned-
up pickup trucks, and almost
on par with a Porsche 911
Turbo! You can choose from apartial or complete electric drive,
depending on your personal
preference.
Keeping all six wheels on the
ground is the responsibility of a
clever rocker suspension system.
There are two ‘DNA arms’
sticking out from the canopy
of the Azaris, each holding two
wheels on their own rocker
arms. You won’t find any hoses,
pipes or connectors to work with
the fluid motor system here - just
a unique coaxial piping system!
Want one? You’re out of luck -
sort of. The company has built
a fully functional prototype
with the intention of putting it
into a limited-run production.
It wouldn’t be cheap, though,
with a price somewhere in
the baller status range of
$500,000!