This basic concept is actually very old: Anyone here ever read about Gustave Weisskopf? Either way, the man created an early aircraft, called the Whitehead 21", which was based around a boat-hull fuselage with a pair of wheels, a rudder in the back, wings based on Otto Lilienthal's designs, two tractor propellers driven by a type of steam-engine of his design (which was later used to power trains in Australia if I recall).
Now you might ask: What does this have to do with an A-320 using electrically driven wheels to help it taxi? Well, the Whitehead 21 actually used the engines to spin the wheels for accelerating along the ground initially; as the plane's speed would build, power would be transferred to the propellers prior to takeoff.