YASA R&D engineer Eddie Martin holding a 1,005-horsepower motor. YASA image.

George Harvey

A picture showing YASA R&D engineer Eddie Martin looking casual as he holds a 1,006-horsepower electric motor really indicates how nearly obsolete the internal combustion engine is for powering road vehicles. Imagine what it would look like if he had his arms wrapped around a 1,006 horsepower V8. He certainly would not have supported it himself.

We tend to think of making a car more powerful by giving it a larger engine. And the internal combustion engine (ICE) can be made more powerful by playing games with refining elements of design. A design can become very complicated and the engine very heavy.

For various reasons, electric motors can be very much more powerful, weight for weight, than ICEs. That gives them some real advantages for those who want speed or power. But there is another aspect to the issue that is not much discussed. Though electric motors have been around far longer than ICEs, they have not been as intensely developed. Not surprisingly, there is a lot that can be done with them to make them more powerful.

The axial flux (AF) motor is an example of this. The first design of an electric motor was an AF motor. It was made by Michael Faraday sometime about 1821. It had a couple of problems, as it was very difficult to build and it got very hot during operation. These characteristics held it back for over 150 years, as another electric motor, the radial flux motor surpassed it.

It is only in the most recent decades that the AF motor has been developed to the point that it could be brought to market in a meaningful way. One firm has that worked on it successfully is YASA, an English company that is now owned by Mercedes.

AF motors are not yet inexpensive enough that they can be put into ordinary electric vehicles. They are, however, starting to be found in high-end cars built by Mercedes, Lamborghini, and Ferrari.

In the latest iteration, the YASA AF motor is 750 kilowatts, or about 1,006 hp, and weighs 12.7 kilograms, or 28 lbs. Having the almost constant torque of electric motors, these motors don’t have to deliver energy through complicated transmissions. And at their light weight, they could be installed with a single motor to each drive wheel, making a differential unnecessary. So, they are far more efficient, delivering more power to the road, than their ICE counterparts.

The real-world applications for such motors might be more interesting to those who are not all that impressed with speed. Motors can be used in all sorts of vehicles, including trucks, ships, and aircraft. The weight savings of such motors might make longer flights possible for mid-range aircraft.

One thing that comes to mind for the AF design is that it could be adapted for use in generators. Axial flux generators might be used for operating in wind turbines. Such a case would be significant, partly because they would not need rare earth elements.

The new technology of an age powered by electricity is being developed fast. And as it is, our need to use fossil fuels and emit greenhouse gases to get things done is reduced.

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