autoevolution
 

Magnet-Free Electric Motor Brings Formula E Efficiency to Electric Road Cars

The incredible power of electric motors can only be matched by how difficult it is to make them. These things need magnets to work, and magnets are made from rare earth elements, which are difficult to mine and at times politically tricky to get, given how most of the deposits are located in China.
Mahle magnet-less electric motor 1 photo
Photo: Mahle
But what if we could make electric motors with no magnets? After all, humanity is advanced enough to know how to transmit power from place to place without using physical links, so why couldn’t we apply this knowledge in this field as well?

German auto parts supplier Mahle says it has done it, and not for some racing series or special project but as part of what may very well become the future of electric motors.

Mahle’s still-unnamed piece of hardware has no magnet—instead, inductive power transmission is used. That means power is sent to the rotor wirelessly, through a coil through which alternating current passes, and the generation of an electromagnetic field.

Full details on the motor, such as output, are not yet public, given how, according to IEEE Spectrum, production of this hardware is still more than two years away. Yet the German company does outline one crucial element for the motor: efficiency.

Generally speaking, electric motors deployed in current EVs operate at 75 percent efficiency, which in words we can all understand means that for every 100 horsepower the motor is capable of, it works at just 75 horsepower (more on this in the PDF attached below).

In the case of the Mahle design, claims are it could reach an efficiency of 95 percent, something “previously only achieved by Formula E racing car,” as the company explains.

Also noteworthy is the fact the motor is scalable and will be suitable for a wide range of vehicles, from subcompacts to commercial vehicles.
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)

 Download: DETERMINING ELECTRIC MOTOR LOAD AND EFFICIENCY (PDF)

press release
About the author: Daniel Patrascu
Daniel Patrascu profile photo

Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories