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Automotive

Equipmake announces the world's most power-dense electric motor

By Loz Blain
March 03, 2020
Equipmake announces the world's most power-dense electric motor
The Ampere offers a massive 220 kW at a weight under 10 kg
The Ampere offers a massive 220 kW at a weight under 10 kg
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Using additive manufacturing techniques has allowed Equipmake to further shrink and beef up its spoked magnet electric motors
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Using additive manufacturing techniques has allowed Equipmake to further shrink and beef up its spoked magnet electric motors
Equipmake is hoping for prototypes of its Ampere motor to be ready for testing within 12 months
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Equipmake is hoping for prototypes of its Ampere motor to be ready for testing within 12 months
The Ampere offers a massive 220 kW at a weight under 10 kg
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The Ampere offers a massive 220 kW at a weight under 10 kg
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We last caught up with Equipmake back in 2018, when this British company's spoked magnet electric motors were capable of generating a monster 9 kilowatts of power per kilogram, using cheap materials and standard manufacturing processes. By comparison, the company says its best permanent magnet rivals are still languishing at around 5 kW/kg.

Now, the company has decided to take advantage of additive manufacturing to see how far they can push this thing, and the results could be revolutionary. Its upcoming Ampere motor is projected to weigh less than 10 kg (22 lb) and make a whopping 220 kW (295 hp) at a sky-high 30,000 rpm, meaning it offers more than 20 kW/kg, making some four times as much power as a similarly sized permanent magnet motor.

All advances in electric vehicle tech must be compared against what Elon Musk is doing as far and away the technology leader in the mass production world. The most recent information we can find from Tesla is from six years ago, so no doubt things have improved, but at that point the Model S motor was making 270 kW (362 hp) at a weight of 32 kg (70 lb). That equates to about 8.4 kW/kg, casting some doubt on Equipmake's claims about its competition, but still, the Ampere motor would effectively be offering more than two and a half times the power output at a given weight. More to the point, it would allow a fairly significant weight reduction to the car. Fitted to an electric motorcycle, the Ampere would be truly frightening, which is exactly how we like things.

Equipmake is hoping for prototypes of its Ampere motor to be ready for testing within 12 months
Equipmake is hoping for prototypes of its Ampere motor to be ready for testing within 12 months

Equipmake says the 3D printing technology it's using (in partnership with Bristol-based additive manufacture specialists HiETA) has allowed it to use less metal in its design, combining components into complex shapes that couldn't be achieved with milling or casting, while preserving the spoked magnet design's outstanding cooling capabilities and reducing inertia to allow that crazy-high rotational speed.

The company hopes to have its first prototypes up and running within 12 months, and in the meantime, we can look forward to seeing its regular spoked-magnet motors on the upcoming Ariel Hipercar sometime this year. Light, powerful, torquey and excellent at evacuating heat, they look like seriously impressive motors for high-performance electric vehicles.

Source: Equipmake

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17 comments
Loz Blain
Loz Blain
Loz leads the New Atlas team as Editorial Director, after nearly two decades as one of our most versatile writers. He's also proven himself as a photographer, videographer, presenter, producer and podcast engineer. A graduate in Psychology, former business analyst and touring musician, he's covered just about everything for New Atlas, concentrating lately on clean energy, AI, humanoid robotics, next-gen aircraft, and the odd bit of music, motorcycles and automotive.

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17 comments
Eddy
I think that at those predicted revs, any saving in weight in this design is going to be lost partially by the addition of heavy sound deadening. I don't need a screaming noise like one of those expensive vacuum cleaners when I am driving. Fix that and all good.
Thud
This leap in power to weight just by additive manufacturing sounds... surprising. Additive and other 3D Mfg techniques aren't magic. It's just a faster way to prototype in most situations so I wonder where these gains are achieved?
paul314
If only proportional scaling worked, and you could get a 2.5-kilo version attached to each wheel (yeah, plus a gearbox for another kilo or two).
paul314
@Thud In some cases, additive manufacturing can let you build structures that would be difficult or impossible with ordinary methods. Any standard machined shape has to be designed so that the cutting head can get to all of the surfaces that need to be shaped. (There are ways around this but they're complex and often expensive.) Additive manufacturing can solve some of those problems. In particular for an electric motor, I'd imagine arbitrarily shaped and positioned cooling channels and possibly wiring channels as well. I wonder if you can cast custom-shaped coils in place efficiently.
nick101
Aside from the weight saving, is it more efficient than other electric motors? If it has to spin at 30,000 rpm won't it wear out faster?
Mzungu_Mkubwa
@Thud, as a CAD designer, Loz's comment "...combining components into complex shapes that couldn't be achieved with milling or casting..." summarizes the advantages well. When designing for RP manufacturing, one can slim down and beef up components based on FEA feedback to optimize the material to more precisely match the stresses and forces involved. One doesn't have to be concerned as to whether a milling tool can access a recessed or internal region in order to remove unneeded material. In some cases, multiple-material printing can be achieved to further optimize if needed. RP is going to take mechanical design to new levels, and this is an excellent example of that!
piperTom
Adding to Eddy's misgivings, I'd expect very few loads to match the 30K rpm from the motor. SO, a heavy transmission will be needed. Besides its weight, the transmission will eat up some of the energy. We could appreciate the motor better if the combo were rated against a more typical motor/transmission. Another question: is this a motor/generator? If so, matching it with a gas turbine might be its best use.
mikewax
i don't understand. Are you guys talking about laser sintering with powdered metal? How do you get a 3d printed part that's strong enough AND mass producable?
MemoriaTechnica
Since many modern electric motors are capable of near max output from zero RPMs, wouldn't the 30,000 RPM of this design be more of a capability and less of a requirement to produce it's power? Given it's low weight and high revving capabilities, I could see this being useful in aircraft with electric ducted fan engines. No?
dcard
What people rarely understand is that motor size, weight, and cost is highly a function of TORQUE DENSITY not POWER DENSITY.

You can have two motors with the same horsepower rating (power). One operates at 3,000 RPM, and the other operates at 30,000 RPM.

The one that operates at 30,000 RPM has 1/10th the output torque as the 3,000 RPM motor of same horsepower.

There is nothing magical or special about this development. Yes, high speed motors need special design, but the holy grail is moving in the other direction......higher torque for the same power output.

There is a limit to a simple, inexpensive gearbox of about 8-13 to one ratio. Current EV motors do not have enough torque output to directly drive wheels on a car. There is a typical 10:1 gear ratio between EV motors and the vehicle wheels. You want to put a smaller 30,000 rpm motor of same power in that vehicle, you now need a 100:1 gear ratio. You are into specialty planetary and other designs....big, expensive and not as robust with contaminates.

This is before discussing the performance differences. Motor inertia is a significant issue in performance...both acceleration and braking. And motor inertia reflects through that gearbox as the square of the gear ratio. So that 30,000 rpm motor, with a 100:1 gear ratio will reflect its rotating inertia by 100^2 = 10,000 times its actual rotor moment of inertia. Not good.

The holy grail is much high torque with smaller or no gearbox.
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