Wikipedia
WheelTug is a privately traded company incorporated in Gibraltar in February 2005 holding patents for and doing research intended to produce a ground propulsion system for aircraft. The patents and advertising describe placing a high torque electric motor into each of the nose wheels hubs intended to allow for backwards movement without the use of pushback tugs, to allow for forward movement without using the aircraft's engines, and to allow for rotation of the aircraft at the gate. According to the Wheeltug website, by rotating the aircraft at the gate using WheelTug, both the front and rear door of the aircraft could potentially be used at a specially equipped gate to speed boarding. The planned two electric motors in the nosewheel, together projected by Wheeltug to weigh less than 150 kg, are hoped drive the aircraft with power supplied by the onboard auxiliary power unit rather than main engine thrust. According to AINonline an aviation website, in a comparison article on forthcoming e-taxi technology, Wheeltug is projected to reduce emissions, fuel consumption, brake wear, maintenance, noise, and engine damage from foreign object damage; the concerns being that the additional weight of a Wheeltug module in the nosewheel could be troublesome for safe retraction, that low traction conditions such as ice could preclude its use, as well as the concern that Wheeltug propelled aircraft would move too slowly to integrate with conventionally driven aircraft taxi traffic especially on non-level ground.
The company owning the design, Wheeltug PLC, is a subsidiary of Chorus Motors which is also owned by Borealis Exploration; Wheeltug is not publicly traded.
According to Fleets&Fuels website, a Wheeltug press release claims that in February 2014 their Order Book was 785 pre-production “slot reservations” and the Wheeltug website lists the following airlines as potential customers: El Al, Jet Airways, Israair, Alitalia, Onur Air, KLM, Corendon Airlines, Airberlin, Iceland Air, Malaysia Airlines, Volaris, Air Transat, Hainan Airlines.
In a 2013 presentation at an industry conference Isaiah Cox, WheelTug's CEO, said Wheeltug would be offered to customers with no up-front cost in return for 50% of the savings realized by the airline.