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Tiny electric motor can produce more than 1,000 horsepower

supercarblondie.com

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Re: Tiny electric motor can produce more than 1,000 horsepower

#291

Post by bobsmooth »

electrograv wrote: post #238
davedx wrote: post #6

Could lead to significant efficiency gains for EV's, because 1/4 of the motor weight means better power-to-weight ratio... a lot of things will automatically get better. YASA was founded in 2009, a spin out from Oxford University following the PhD of founder and still CTO, Dr Tim Woolmer. "Over the decades that followed both of these technologies were explored. But despite the potential for weight reduction, smaller…

> In 2025, after a £12m investment, YASA opened the UK's first axial-flux super factory, in Oxfordshire. It’s a little sad to me that fundamental innovations in electromechanical engineering like this get just a few million in investment, yet if this had been yet another derivative software startup with “AI” in the pitch, they’d probably have 10x+ or more investments being thrown at them.

Factories take time to build. "Investors" want a get rich quick scheme.

Re: Tiny electric motor can produce more than 1,000 horsepower

#292

Post by iwontberude »

davedx wrote: post #6

Could lead to significant efficiency gains for EV's, because 1/4 of the motor weight means better power-to-weight ratio... a lot of things will automatically get better. YASA was founded in 2009, a spin out from Oxford University following the PhD of founder and still CTO, Dr Tim Woolmer. "Over the decades that followed both of these technologies were explored. But despite the potential for weight reduction, smaller…

It will probably lead to cars that fail sooner and are cheaper to build

Re: Tiny electric motor can produce more than 1,000 horsepower

#293

Post by SkyPuncher »

rkagerer wrote: post #277

How much torque can it generate?

Their website claims "4 X more torque and double the power densities of current technologies".

A bit handwavy, but given the inherent torque advantage of electric, I doubt torque is an issue. If anything, a lot of EVs would probably do better with a touch less torque.

Source: https://yasa.com/technology/

Re: Tiny electric motor can produce more than 1,000 horsepower

#294

Post by kazinator »

davedx wrote: post #6

Could lead to significant efficiency gains for EV's, because 1/4 of the motor weight means better power-to-weight ratio... a lot of things will automatically get better. YASA was founded in 2009, a spin out from Oxford University following the PhD of founder and still CTO, Dr Tim Woolmer. "Over the decades that followed both of these technologies were explored. But despite the potential for weight reduction, smaller…

Only the absolute weight of a motor counts, because consumers of passenger vehicles do not require 1000 hp.

How far does YASA's tech allow the motor weight to scale down, for applications where you don't need the power?

Can you make it 2.8 pounds instead of 28, if all you need is 100 hp? Likely not.

Re: Tiny electric motor can produce more than 1,000 horsepower

#295

Post by Aurornis »

catapart wrote: post #287
Aurornis wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a drive unit , which is more than the motor. Read the description: > This kit includes the Tesla motor, inverter, gear box, power cables and drive shafts. Drive shafts, gearbox, power cables, inverter. Also includes the mounts, which is likely not factored into the lab calculations for this marketing material. You cannot drop 150lbs from the Model 3 motor because it doesn’t even weigh 150lbs.

You're missing the forest for the trees. Dropping 10 lbs per motor is HUGE. Dropping 30 is amazing. Whatever is dropped, it's significant. Pretend that it isn't all you want, but anyone doing production work knows how important this is. I'm happy to compare apples to apples when we can do that, and if you want me to say I was wrong about the Tesla motor size I'm happy to say that I was just going by what was availabl…

> Dropping 10 lbs per motor is HUGE.

Auto makers could drop 10lbs, 100lbs or even more from every EV right now by choosing more expensive materials, more expensive manufacturing processes, or simply cutting back on amenities.

10lbs is not significant in the grand scheme of things. The real question is how much it costs, what are the tradeoffs, and how practical is it.

> But I did so in service of a point which you still haven't actually engaged with beyond "Nu uh!".

That’s not a fair take on what I’ve been posting at all. I said every little bit helps, but pointed out that motor sizes are already small.l

Re: Tiny electric motor can produce more than 1,000 horsepower

#296

Post by alexshendi »

lazide wrote: post #172

How the heck are they dealing with the heat produced? Water cooling?

Oil cooling. Besides this is a peak power value, so thermal constraints don't matter. Continous power is given around 350-400 kW.

(Sources: https://yasa.com/news/yasa-smashes-own-unofficial-power-dens... and https://yasa.com/technology/)

Re: Tiny electric motor can produce more than 1,000 horsepower

#297

Post by linsomniac »

hedora wrote: post #275
linsomniac wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...with 1,000 horsepower. =:-)

In fairness, ICE engines have been able to provide too much horsepower for those use cases for a long time. Cutting the motor weight probably matters more for smaller vehicles than bigger ones though.

That wasn't so much a criticism of the electric motor, which it sounds like they can scale down, as the Neanderthal part of my brain lighting up. Mongo like power to weight ratio.

Re: Tiny electric motor can produce more than 1,000 horsepower

#298

Post by ErroneousBosh »

ehnto wrote: post #224
ErroneousBosh wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess if you can make the motor and a suitable reduction box lighter than the equivalent bearing and driveshaft combination you could make the suspension arms mechanically simpler. By using motors at each wheel you'd eliminate the need for a differential, saving a good 40-50kg or so. Of course, if you kept the drive shafts and put the motor and reduction box in the middle, you'd be able to use inboard brakes and sa…

I wonder if that would be legal, or if there is a regulation about where you can put your brakes?

There are cars with inboard brakes, although not recently. From a packaging point of view putting them out at the wheel makes sense, since there's a lot of space you're not using otherwise.

It's hard to fit inboard brakes to front wheel drive cars because there's so little space but Citroën managed it with the 2CV and various derivatives, and the GS/GSA/Birotor family. They had an inline engine with a very compact gearbox behind, with the brake discs (drums, on very early 2CVs) right on the side of the gearbox.

You got lower unsprung weight and possibly more usefully the kingpin was aligned with the centre of the tyre, so when you steered the tyre turned "on the spot" rather than rotating through a curve.

Some old Jags and Alfas had inboard discs on the rear axle, which was of course rear wheel drive. They were a bit of a pain to get at.

Re: Tiny electric motor can produce more than 1,000 horsepower

#299

Post by mlmonkey »

electrograv wrote: post #238
davedx wrote: post #6

Could lead to significant efficiency gains for EV's, because 1/4 of the motor weight means better power-to-weight ratio... a lot of things will automatically get better. YASA was founded in 2009, a spin out from Oxford University following the PhD of founder and still CTO, Dr Tim Woolmer. "Over the decades that followed both of these technologies were explored. But despite the potential for weight reduction, smaller…

> In 2025, after a £12m investment, YASA opened the UK's first axial-flux super factory, in Oxfordshire. It’s a little sad to me that fundamental innovations in electromechanical engineering like this get just a few million in investment, yet if this had been yet another derivative software startup with “AI” in the pitch, they’d probably have 10x+ or more investments being thrown at them.

They should have named their company "YASAI" (pronounced as "Yes AI") and just watched the investments roll in ...

Re: Tiny electric motor can produce more than 1,000 horsepower

#300

Post by gwbas1c »

neuroelectron wrote: post #220
gwbas1c wrote: post #210

It's easy to forget that most of the weight in an electric car is the battery . It's ICE cars where a lot of the weight is in the motor. That being said, could this be adapted so that a 2.8lb motor produces 100 hp? That would allow putting a small motor in each wheel, thus completely eliminating axels, driveshafts, and allow recapturing the space they used to occupy. It also wouldn't significantly impact unsprung wei…

Is it really easy to forget?

People used to say they would only get a Tesla if it was offered with a manual transmission.

It's easy to laugh at, but there are still many people who haven't shifted, in their mind, to the differences.

Even after driving EVs for over a decade, I still need to shift. My habit is to turn the car off and close the garage inside the car. My new EV only controls the garage if it's on, so I had to get used to closing the garage with the car on. There's still a part of my brain that screams "but carbon monoxide" every time I do it.

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