London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Wheels of fortune? A new age for electric motors

When it comes to making electric cars better, it's the batteries that you'll hear about the most.

But what about the motor that actually drives the car?

Car enthusiasts have long-obsessed about what is under the bonnet of a traditional car, but in the electric world the motor gets little attention.

That might be about to change, according to Dave OudeNijeweme, head of technology trends at the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC), a joint venture between the UK government and the automotive industry.

He says improvements in motor technology are set to have a profound effect on the performance of electric vehicles in the coming years.

"Electrification is based on three main pillars: batteries, electric motor and the powertronics [the power management system]," he says.

"It's not all about batteries. They do get a lot of headline news but the motors and the powertronics are absolutely key."

And with new technologies, from 3D printing to in-wheel motors (IWMs) that allow a car to spin on the spot, electric motors could be grabbing more of the limelight.

Most electric car motors follow the same basic principles, tightly wound coils of wire interact with powerful magnets to create rotation.

But despite a relatively simple set-up, there's still plenty of room for improvement.

"The power of a motor goes up with its speed. What you want to do is spin it as fast as possible in order to make it as small as possible - but then you get into problems of cooling," says Ian Foley, managing director of British motor manufacturer Equipmake.

"The limitation now on how you improve the performance of electric motors, is how effectively you can get the heat out of them."

Equipmake's solution is to rearrange the motor's magnets so that they're positioned like the spokes of a wheel.

This not only increases torque (the force which causes rotation), says Mr Foley, but also makes the magnets more accessible, so that cooling water can be run directly over them.

The company is also now using additive manufacturing - 3D printing - to improve cooling and also cut costs.

"There are two main benefits we'll get from additive manufacturing. One is that you can integrate multiple components, so you end up with a much lower component count because things that would previously have been bolted together are all in one piece," says Mr Foley.

"The other main thing is the issue of cooling.

"In order to cool you need much more effective heat exchanges, and with additive manufacturing you can effectively increase the surface area inside the motor for the cooling surfaces and therefore get much greater cooling potential."

The company is expecting to have its motors in production in around 18 months' time, initially selling them for use in supercars and electric buses - where they're efficient enough to be able to run all day on a single charge. It has already signed a deal with Brazilian automotive manufacturer Agrale.

And other manufacturers are thinking about a more radical shift.

In most electric cars, the motor is found on one axle and in four-wheel drive cars there will be two motors, one on each axle.

But some companies are working on a radical redesign, placing motors in the wheels themselves.

According to Chris Hilton, CTO of Protean Electric, in-wheel motors improve handling because the performance of each wheel can be finely controlled.

"They also lower the overall centre of gravity and help to reduce weight and optimise weight distribution in the vehicle," he says.

"Also, because IWMs are located in the wheel, there are minimal losses in transmission of the torque to the road, meaning they are more efficient. This means greater vehicle range, or the same range from a smaller battery."

Protean's technology is currently being tested by manufacturers of passenger cars, commercial vehicles and even autonomous "pods".

Another firm working on in-wheel motors is Japan's Nidec, which announced its prototype earlier this year.

According to Nidec, the motor has a long list of advantages, not all of them obvious - less noise, for example, thanks to fewer moving parts.

But perhaps the biggest advantage is space. "Cars that use in-wheel motors don't need a motor compartment," says the firm.

"Also, with the elimination of the drive shafts, the wheels can rotate freely. For example, it becomes possible to rotate the wheels 90 degrees and drive to the left or the right, or even rotate in place, instead of just driving forward or backward. This adds another dimension to how the car can move around and makes it easy to navigate tight spaces."

APC has set out a roadmap of how it sees electric motors developing; and, by 2025, it expects costs per kilowatt to almost halve, while power density triples.

"For the same amount of power they generate, they'll weigh a third as much and be one third of the package size as well. At the same time the costs will reduce," says Mr OudeNijeweme.

"The electric motor will dramatically change. I don't know how quickly, but ten years from now it will be unrecognisable from what you see today, not in how it looks - but in what it does."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
After 200,000 Orders in 2 Minutes: Xiaomi Accelerates Marketing in Europe
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
×