Researchers have discovered a potential tool to enhance magnetization and magnetic anisotropy, making it possible to improve the performance of samarium-cobalt (Sm-Co) magnets. Sm-Co magnets were the first rare-earth permanent magnets, and are still the top performer in applications where resistance to demagnetization—its coercivity—and performance at high temperatures are important.... Read more →

Leading motor manufacturer Nidec Corporation will form a joint venture with GAC Components Co., Ltd., a member of China-based Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd. to manufacture automotive traction motors. The tentative name of the JV is Guangzhou Nidec Auto Drive System Co., Ltd. Nidec will hold 51%, and GAC Components... Read more →

Dana Incorporated will provide its Spicer Electrified e-Propulsion solution with integrated TM4 SUMO HP motor-inverter system to power Class 8 tractor-trailer units that will move freight year-round between Edmonton and Calgary in Alberta, Canada. The trucks are part of a three-year, $11.2-million (C$15-million) Alberta Zero-Emissions Truck Electrification Collaboration (AZETEC) project,... Read more →

Hydro-Québec has invested $85 million to secure the growth of TM4, now called Dana TM4, and to ensure its leadership position in the electric powertrain sector. Since June 2018, Hydro-Québec has held a 45% interest in subsidiary Dana TM4 as part of a strategic partnership with Dana Incorporated. This $85-million... Read more →

GKN Automotive will this month deliver its one-millionth eDrive system. Demand for GKN Automotive’s expanding eDrive portfolio, which encompasses a range of driveline technologies for electrified vehicles, has increased markedly over recent years. The company currently has five major eDrive mass production projects in progress in China and Europe. GKN... Read more →

Continental is presenting its third generation of electric powertrains at the IAA 2019, with the new, very high-performance, light and compact axle drive set to take to the roads in various electric models from several Chinese and European manufacturers later this year. Highly integrated means that the new high-voltage drive... Read more →

Pre-series production of the ID.3 EV has already begun at the Volkswagen plant in Zwickau. The core components for electric cars are developed and produced for the new electric vehicles at the Volkswagen Group Components plants: the electric drive comes from Kassel; the Salzgitter plant supplies its colleagues in Hessen... Read more →

In a briefing in Tokyo last week, Honda Motor outlined its direction of technology development toward its 2030 Vision. A key element therein is the development of zero-carbon technologies. Honda said that because powertrain requirements differ from region to region and are becoming further diversified depending on infrastructure, regulations and... Read more →

GKN Automotive, Drive System Design and the University of Nottingham are collaborating on an £8-million (US$10 million) project to design and develop a world-leading electric vehicle powertrain for the global market. ACeDrive (Advanced Cooling and Control of High Speed e-Drive) is backed by match-funding from the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC).... Read more →

Essex Magnet Wire is introducing a new, high-temperature rated insulation system for the windings of traction motors utilized in hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, as well as electric vehicles: EnduroTemp 260+. EnduroTemp 260+ is a thin film insulation that will extend the life of traction motors in critical... Read more →

Elaphe Propulsion Technologies will begin low-volume series manufacturing of L1500 gearless in-wheel powertrain system. The Elaphe L1500 in-wheel motor achieves the highest torque densities of electric motors on the market, generating 1500 N·m of torque without using any gears. A single in-wheel motor can achieve a power output of more... Read more →

France-based Silicon Mobility announced the availability of OLEA APP INVERTER HE—a high efficiency inverter and electric motor control application. The new inverter is optimized for the OLEA FPCU (Field Programmable Control Unit) which increases the range of hybrid and electric vehicles up to 20% with the same battery capacity. The... Read more →

Dana Incorporated launched its newest direct-drive electric powertrain, the TM4 SUMO LD. The motor-inverter combination is designed for Class 2 through Class 6 vehicles. The new offering extends the comprehensive TM4 SUMO lineup, which is powering more than 12,000 electrified vehicles today. Designed primarily for today’s direct-drive architectures, the TM4... Read more →

ZF is introducing a new electric central drive for buses and medium-duty trucks. Developed in China, with future production planned there, the new unit is designed to meet the particular conditions of the Chinese market and the requirements of vehicle manufacturers there. The new electric central drive was developed by... Read more →

Dana Incorporated introduced its enhanced TM4 MOTIVE motor and inverter for the light-vehicle market at AutoShanghai. The new TM4 MOTIVE motor and inverter from Dana from an integrated system featuring high-RPM permanent magnet electric motors, power-dense electronic inverters, and advanced controls. The system is designed for seamless integration into Dana’s... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced up to $59 million for new and innovative advanced vehicle technologies research. Funded through the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, this funding opportunity (DE-FOA-0002014) seeks projects to address priorities in advanced batteries and electric drive systems, energy efficient mobility systems, materials... Read more →

Toyota announced that it will grant royalty-free licenses on nearly 24,000 patents it holds (including some pending applications) for vehicle electrification-related technologies. Also, Toyota will provide fee-based technical support to other manufacturers developing and selling electrified vehicles when they use Toyota’s motors, batteries, PCUs, control ECUs, and other vehicle electrification... Read more →

YASA, the leading manufacturer of axial-flux electric motors, announced availability of the first in a new series of motor controllers (inverters) for propulsion and generation applications in pure electric and hybrid vehicles. The new Si400 controller delivers 200kVA (400V and 500 Arms) from a 5-liter package weighing just 5.75 kg.... Read more →

A new report from Adamas Intelligence—Rare Earth Pricing Outlook to 2030—forecasts global rare earth supply and demand to 2030 under two scenarios to examine how oxide prices will evolve in the years ahead. With increased government oversight and an ongoing crackdown on illegal rare earth production in China, Myanmar and... Read more →

Next-generation electric motor company Linear Labs (LL) closed a $4.5-million seed round led by Science Inc. and Kindred Ventures with participation from investors Chris and Crystal Sacca, Ryan Graves of Saltwater Ventures, Dynamic Signal CEO Russ Fradin, Masergy Executive Chairman and former-CEO Chris MacFarland, as well as Ustream co-founder Dr.... Read more →

ZF and Venturi teamed up in a technology partnership for the FIA Formula E in 2016. For the current, fifth season of the championship, ZF developed an electric drive for the Venturi team, including an electric motor, a newly developed transmission and power electronics. 250 kW electric drive system During... Read more →

In 2018, 93% of all passenger BEVs, PHEVs and HEVs sold globally used permanent magnet (PM) traction motors, an increase of 1% over 2017 penetration rates, according to a model-by-model build-up using Adamas Intelligence’s “EV Motor Power and Motor Metals Tracker”. A PM traction motor has NdFeB permanent magnets mounted... Read more →

The share prices of more than a dozen rare earth materials (REE) companies in China are up 20% or more year-to-date (through February 26, 2019) on the back of strong profits in 2018 and a promising long-term outlook for value-added rare earth materials, such as NdFeB permanent magnets, according to... Read more →

Borg-Warner reported that a major European commercial vehicle manufacturer has chosen the company’s proven High Voltage Hairpin (HVH) 410 electric motor for a plug-in hybrid electric truck (PHEV) to be launched in 2019. Generating 130 kW (174 hp) of power and 1,050 N·m of torque, the HVH motor will work... Read more →

YASA, a leading manufacturer of axial-flux electric motors and controllers, signed a long-term joint innovation agreement with a global automotive OEM. The partnership will focus on developing custom electric motor and controller solutions for the OEM’s high-performance hybrid and pure electric vehicles. YASA’s innovative axial-flux electric motor and controller designs... Read more →

KS HUAYU AluTech GmbH—a joint venture between Rheinmetall Automotive and China’s HUAYU Automotive Systems—has developed a new production process for the new Chinese plant in Guangde, a process that is particularly suitable for highly complex engine block geometries and electric motor housings. The process was brought to series maturity in... Read more →

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT are working together with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT to develop a new cooling concept that will enable polymers to be used as EV electric motor housing materials, thereby reducing the weight of the motor and thus, the EV itself.... Read more →

Bosch is now taking full control of EM-motive, one of Europe’s most successful manufacturers of electric motors. Bosch and Daimler set up EM-motive GmbH as a fifty-fifty joint venture in 2011. Since then, it has manufactured some 450,000 electric motors. For Bosch, the complete acquisition of EM-motive is the next... Read more →

BorgWarner is introducing a fully integrated e-axle—iDM—that packages a transmission, electric motor featuring BorgWarner’s efficient bar-wound stator solution and specially developed power electronics. The company already has the iDM’s forerunner—the electric drive module (eDM)— in serial production. The iDM product family is available in three different versions (iDM XS, iDM... Read more →

UQM Technologies, Inc. has entered into a definitive merger agreement with the Danfoss Power Solutions (US) Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Denmark-based Danfoss A/S, under which Danfoss will acquire all outstanding common shares of UQM for $1.71 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $100 million, including the... Read more →

Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) have developed a new magnet technology that could benefit virtually any technology that draws power from electric motors or generates power from generators. HyMag significantly increases the usable magnetic flux density of a permanent magnet by 10 to... Read more →

Infinitum Electric, developer of ultra high-efficiency, durable, lightweight and cost-effective electric motors built with patented printed circuit board (PCB) stator technology and integrated control systems, has closed a $1.8-million Series A round of financing, led by Cottonwood Technology Fund (CTF). To date, Infinitum has received a total of $2.7 million... Read more →

The new electric car brand Aion S—recently unveiled at Auto Guangzhou 2018 by GAC NE, GAC MOTOR’s new energy vehicle arm—will be the first line of cars to adopt Nidec’s fully integrated traction motor system (E-Axle) (earlier post). The super e-car with a driving mileage of more than 500 kilometers... Read more →

On 15 December, the new BMW iFE.18 and the BMW i Andretti Motorsport Team will contest their first race in the ABB FIA Formula E Championship in Ad Diriyah (KSA). At the heart of the car, which was developed for Season 5, lies the drivetrain: the Racing eDrive01. Drivetrain components:... Read more →

Engineers seeking to significantly improve the efficiency and performance of electric motors could benefit from using aluminum matrix composites (AMCs), according to research from the Innovate UK ‘Make it Lighter with Less’ R&D competition. Metal Matrix Composites are metallic materials that have been reinforced with a secondary high-performance material. The... Read more →

The BMW Group and Turkish manufacturer Karsan have signed an agreement for the supply of BMW i3 motors and batteries for the battery-electric 6-meter city bus “Jest electric”, which is produced in Bursa in Turkey for both the domestic market and for international markets. The electric motors and high-voltage batteries... Read more →

MTS Systems Corporation, a global supplier of high-performance test systems and sensors, announced further power density improvements to its electric motor and inverter technology for motorsport. Power density is a key component of successful racing. Leveraging experience and technology gained from developing energy recovery systems for Formula 1 racecars, MTS... Read more →

The US Department of Energy’s Critical Materials Institute (CMI) has taken a major step toward printed, aligned anisotropic magnets via additive manufacturing processes. The Energy Innovation Hub manufactured hybrid nylon-bonded neodymium-iron-boron and samarium-iron-nitrogen magnets using the Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The research is... Read more →

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have used magnets recovered from used computer hard drives in an electric motor. The permanent magnets made from rare earth elements were reused without alteration in an axial gap motor, which can be adapted for use in electric vehicles and industrial machinery. In... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded MIT associate professor of metallurgy Antoine Allanore a $1.9-million grant to run larger scale tests of a new one-step, molten electrolysis process (earlier post) to produce copper from sulfur-based minerals—the main source of copper. One of Allanore’s primary goals is to make... Read more →

The UK’s Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) has awarded £35 million (US$45.5 million) to three UK-based low carbon automotive powertrain projects. The technologies developed will support aspirations for the UK to be a world leader in zero emissions technology as part of the Industrial Strategy and recently-published Road to Zero strategy.... Read more →

The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Tongji University in Shanghai are researching standardizable methods for joint technology development in dispersed locations. In the research project Project MovE2China, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Chinese government, engineers in Germany and China will simultaneously... Read more →

Series production of electric motors officially started in Audi’s Győr, Hungary plant. The electric motors are produced on floor space of 8,500 square meters using an innovative modular assembly production concept. The company has invested a double-digit million amount to set up the motor production facility. Tubing the various coil... Read more →

West Virginia University (WVU) researchers are opening a new facility to capture rare earth elements (REEs) from acid mine drainage (AMD) from coal mining. Through a collaborative research and development program with the US Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), WVU is opening the Rare Earth Extraction... Read more →

Building on its years of experience and expertise in engine and powertrain applications, leading adhesives provider Henkel is actively investing in new technologies and products for efficient large-scale manufacturing of safe and reliable electric drive systems. Key solutions include innovative liquid gasketing, magnet bonding, thermal management and potting products as... Read more →

As part of its contribution to a recently completed major European research initiative to achieve more efficient and cost-effective hybrid powertrains for both passenger cars and commercial vehicles, Ricardo developed a new 48V e-motor offering up to a 50% increase in power density compared with current production machines. Ricardo designed... Read more →

Power management company Eaton is addressing increasing demand for high-voltage electrified vehicle technologies with the creation of its new eMobility business. eMobility is poised to capitalize on a global vehicle electrification market projected to grow to 15 million pure battery-electric vehicles and another 30 million hybrids, from mild to plug-in,... Read more →

DARPA’s Ground X-Vehicle Technologies (GXV-T) program (earlier post) aims to improve mobility, survivability, safety, and effectiveness of future combat vehicles without piling on armor. Several Phase 2 contract awardees recently demonstrated advances on a variety of potentially groundbreaking technologies to meet the program’s goals. We’re looking at how to enhance... Read more →

Dana Incorporated and Hydro-Québec announced a joint-venture partnership in which TM4 Inc., a subsidiary of Hydro-Québec, will become Dana’s source for electric motors, power inverters, and control systems. As part of this agreement, Dana will become a majority shareholder of TM4 in exchange for CA$165 million (approximately US$127 million). Hydro-Québec... Read more →

Fisker Inc.’s Orbit autonomous electric shuttle, will feature Protean Electric’s in-wheel eDrive technology, specifically, the Pd18 system with peak torque of 1,250 N·m and peak power of 80 kW (60 kW continuous). ProteanDrive motors use patented technologies, digital control, and are packaged with a friction brake. Designed to withstand 300,000... Read more →