Motors for Automotive Electrification: A GM Perspective, Pete Savagian

With increased vehicle electrification, the importance of electric traction motors is increased, as more or all of the energy used to propel the vehicle pass electric power now passes through the electric traction motor. For such vehicles, like E-REVs and BEVs, vehicle range and efficiency are now directly proportional to electric motor efficiency when running on electric power alone. Thermal demands are much higher as the entire vehicle's traction power must pass through the motor. This need for high efficiency and high thermal duty is a departure from much lower thermal-duty HEV "peak-shaving" applications and this calls for the application of new motor technologies. We discuss one such technology of specialized motor stator construction that significantly improves motor efficiency and motor thermal duty necessary for all-electric driving.