Photo: Helix
It's no secret to anyone that electric motors, when done right, can be immensely powerful. That's why makers of hypercars and other exotic vehicles jumped on the electrification train a lot faster than some established names in the industry, but also why several noteworthy startups have entered this segment.
With so many electric motor choices on the table, the battle has now moved into the suppliers' backyard, as each of them is trying to come up with the best product on the market. And this week it's the turn of British electric motor manufacturer Helix to say it has what it takes.
The name might not mean all that much at the moment, as it was spun off from a company called Integral Powertrain in 2022. Things might change, though, as the crew announced some details on an electric motor that is absolutely bonkers.
The motor is known over at Helix as the REB, and it's based on a design called SPX177. It was purpose-built to make its way inside a hypercar, but no exact details on what insane machine it's meant to power were provided.
We do know what makes the motor special, though, and that's enough to get us all excited. In itself, the motor weighs just 28 kg (62 pounds), and gains an extra 13 kg (29 pounds) with the addition of the inverter. Yet it is capable of delivering no less than 650 kW of continuous power – that's almost 872 horsepower.
The above level is the conservative one, though, as Helix says over 700 kW (939 hp) was constantly reached on the test stand, and the hardware shows signs it can do more than that still. During all the time it is running, the motor "cools remarkably well and delivers record-breaking steady-state power" according to the company.
Work on the piece of hardware took a team of twelve engineers about two years to complete. Sadly we have no exact info on what hypercar will be deployed on first and when we're to expect seeing it run. Helix says a "proposal for an initial small production batch is under way" and integration with the mystery hypercar is ongoing.
At a business level, Helix is offering integrated electric drivetrains in three packages called Scalable Core Technology (SCT). The three are Stock, Configured, and Custom, and it's pretty obvious the REB we discussed here is part of the latter category, being at the same time the "most powerful pure battery electric vehicle (BEV) motor the company has ever produced."
We'll keep an eye out for developments regarding both the electric motor and the hypercar and update with fresh info as often as possible. After all, we don't stumble upon new electric hypercars everyday.
The name might not mean all that much at the moment, as it was spun off from a company called Integral Powertrain in 2022. Things might change, though, as the crew announced some details on an electric motor that is absolutely bonkers.
The motor is known over at Helix as the REB, and it's based on a design called SPX177. It was purpose-built to make its way inside a hypercar, but no exact details on what insane machine it's meant to power were provided.
We do know what makes the motor special, though, and that's enough to get us all excited. In itself, the motor weighs just 28 kg (62 pounds), and gains an extra 13 kg (29 pounds) with the addition of the inverter. Yet it is capable of delivering no less than 650 kW of continuous power – that's almost 872 horsepower.
The above level is the conservative one, though, as Helix says over 700 kW (939 hp) was constantly reached on the test stand, and the hardware shows signs it can do more than that still. During all the time it is running, the motor "cools remarkably well and delivers record-breaking steady-state power" according to the company.
Work on the piece of hardware took a team of twelve engineers about two years to complete. Sadly we have no exact info on what hypercar will be deployed on first and when we're to expect seeing it run. Helix says a "proposal for an initial small production batch is under way" and integration with the mystery hypercar is ongoing.
At a business level, Helix is offering integrated electric drivetrains in three packages called Scalable Core Technology (SCT). The three are Stock, Configured, and Custom, and it's pretty obvious the REB we discussed here is part of the latter category, being at the same time the "most powerful pure battery electric vehicle (BEV) motor the company has ever produced."
We'll keep an eye out for developments regarding both the electric motor and the hypercar and update with fresh info as often as possible. After all, we don't stumble upon new electric hypercars everyday.
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