Mahle has developed what it claims is the most durable electric motor available. The traction motor can apparently run indefinitely at high performance levels, a feat made possible thanks to the implementation of a new cooling concept. Furthermore, the motor can also be supplied without the inclusion of any rare earth materials.
“Building large electric motors that deliver short-term high performance is easy. What was still lacking on the market until now were durable yet compact drives to make electric vehicles unrestricted for everyday use,” said Martin Berger, VP of corporate research and advanced engineering at Mahle. “Our new SCT E-motor is the solution.”
The SCT E-motor, as the new machine is dubbed, is designed to be particularly efficient within a certain rpm range. Despite its very compact and light design, its continuous output is more than 90% of its peak output thanks to the use of oil cooling of both the rotor and stator.
The permanently excited motor shown here uses neodymium magnets to generate the magnetic field in the motor. However, to achieve greater independence from raw material prices and geopolitical developments, the SCT E- motor can also be designed without magnets. Thanks to a contactless transformer developed by Mahle, the magnet-free variant would also be wear-free and run efficiently, while requiring only slightly more assembly space.
