alt Hacker NewsA sufficiently compact electric motor enables mounting it in the nose-wheel of commercial aircraft, allowing it to be driven around like a golf cart. This means the plane can taxi without the use of its engines, just the power from the APU. [1]
Also planes would not have to wait for a tug to pull back from the gate, which improves turnaround times for the airline.
You could also spin up the landing gear wheels prior to landing to massively reduce the amount of rubber transferred from tire to runway on touchdown. Rarely done today because of the weight and complexity of adding motors, but letting the ground spin up the wheel is pretty expensive both for tire wear and runway maintenance