NEOM Green Hydrogen Company completes financial close of $8.4B for world’s largest green hydrogen plant
German supermarket chain EDEKA to convert its 700-vehicle fleet to low CO2 by 2025 with IVECO S-WAY LNG trucks

Equipmake showcasing Ampere-220 e-axle featuring 3D-printed electric motor

Equipmake, a UK developer and manufacturer of electrification products for battery-electric vehicle drivetrains, will be showcasing its Ampere-220 e-axle system—a compact, lightweight, high-power electric drive system for manufacturers of high-performance EVs—at Battery Show Europe this week.

1_Equipmake_Ampere_e-axle

Combining 3D-printed electric motors with all power electronics, including the company’s own silicon carbide (SiC) inverter, and an integrated transmission system in a compact unit that directly powers the vehicle’s axle, Ampere-220 e-axle brings a step change in off-the-shelf performance for electric sports cars and supercars.

2_Equipmake_Ampere_e-axle

At its heart, the e-axle features the Ampere electric motor, featuring a spoke rotor design which has recently also featured in the Ariel HIPERCAR in the form of Equipmake’s APM motor and pioneering knowledge in additive manufacturing and thermal engineering.

Extremely lightweight yet efficient and cost-effective, Ampere has peak power of 220kW and a maximum motor speed of 30,000rpm. Weighing just under 20kg, it offers power density of 11kW per kg—more than twice that of a conventional electric motor. The key to its performance is its combination of Equipmake’s spoke design with additive manufacturing, allowing Ampere’s metal structure to be 3D-printed, rather than milled from a solid billet.

6_Equipmake_Ampere_e-axle

Metal is only put where it is needed. Further, thermally efficient thin walls and optimized fine surface details are combined directly with the motor’s structure, replacing multi-part assemblies with a single, complex architecture that has exceptional cooling ability, is lightweight, has low inertia and allows for greatly increased rotational speed.

The advanced electric motor is combined with all necessary power electronics, including Equipmake’s high-performance silicon carbide-based inverter, and an integrated transmission system too, resulting in a state-of-the-art, highly compact and lightweight electric drive system, ready to be integrated into a high-performance electric vehicle.

Debuted in twin-motor specification, Ampere-220 e-axle offers 440kW peak power per axle with a total unit weight of just 85kg. Equipmake can also develop a single-motor e-axle application with 220kW of peak power per axle.

The Ampere-220 e-axle is designed, engineered, and manufactured at Equipmake’s headquarters in Snetterton, Norfolk, where the company provides the complete electric vehicle solution, offering everything from motors to fully electrified platforms, supporting primarily the automotive and aerospace sectors. On site, it designs and manufactures its fully integrated electric bus chassis for an increasingly international customer base.

Comments

dursun

In what way is 3D-printed a better option in a production product?

Davemart

@dursan:

As they say above:

' Metal is only put where it is needed. Further, thermally efficient thin walls and optimized fine surface details are combined directly with the motor’s structure, replacing multi-part assemblies with a single, complex architecture that has exceptional cooling ability, is lightweight, has low inertia and allows for greatly increased rotational speed. '

You can make complex shapes easily with additive manufacturing, when it would be impractical and expensive to do it with sticking bits together and grinding them to shape.

Davemart

@dursan:

Here is an article on the new geometries possible using additive manufacturing:

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1402-4896/aa694e

Initially it was mainly plastics, but this is using metal, which is pretty cool.

yoatmon

I assume that at present, KIT is the pacesetter as far as printing speed in general is concerned.
https://www.kit.edu/kit/english/pi_2020_007_fastest-high-precision-3d-printer.php
Presently, this achievement is limited to synthetic materials but they are concentrating their efforts to achieve the same results with metals.

The comments to this entry are closed.