Just came across this thread and I want to throw my hat in and say I think the idea of a hybrid Wrangler sounds fantastic and if it can be achieved with 'hub motors' in the wheels than I say "Hell Yeah!"
To all those naysayers who are winging about 'range anxiety' and battery weight etc, isn't that only an issue for plug-in electric vehicles? Is not the idea of a hybrid that you can run exactly the same old Pentastar (or Hemi if you're that way inclined) and instead of having it bolted to a transmission you simply stick a generator on the end and power the motors electrically? You can basically do away with the batteries altogether can't you, like in a diesel-electric train? What you're achieving is the same amount of power at each of the wheels but eliminating all the drive train guff in between. You still burn the same fuel at probably a similar efficiency and end up with a similar result you just have an awful lot less parts to concern your pretty little head about in between. Sure, a small battery would be advisable to capitalize on regenerative braking and provide instantaneous torque while the engine is still at idle but we're not talking about powering the whole car for 100's of kilometers from it. It's just there essentially as a capacitor to help decouple the motors performance from the current state of the engine a little. If that's how it works than I have to say I'm all in!
My only concern with hub motors would be the amount of unsprung weight but would 4 hub motors be much heavier than a set of D60s? Obviously the motors would need to be powerful enough to haul your wranglers sorry ass up a busted rock ledge but given the current Wrangler sports 18" rims surely that would be enough space for them to make a motor that can handle any amount of power your engine is capable of delivering to it. But imagine that. 4 independently powered wheels doing away with lockers, universal joints and axle shafts altogether. Sounds like a dream to me.
