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Mercedes‑Benz starts large‑scale production of electric axial flux motor

media.mercedes-benz.com

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Re: Mercedes‑Benz starts large‑scale production of electric axial flux motor

#121

Post by elictronic »

csomar wrote: post #116
mohsen1 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was curious how this thing works and asked Claude to visualize it -- mostly to see how good Fable is and I have to say, what it made was good enough for me to get a gist of it. Posted it here https://azimi.me/axial-flux-motor-explainer/

The issue with this is, without an expert, how do I know I am getting an accurate representation?

Hundreds of examples of axial flux motors exist online. If you look at the visualization it shows the iron cores in a perpendicular orientation with the hub. This is correct, but loses so much of what makes these specific motors interesting. The angled nature of the grey cores and copper wrapping smoothes the transition between each magnetic field.

Basically it is a pretty version of a dumbed down partially incorrect answer. With a knowledgeable user it would be very good, but he has no idea he is wrong. I’m not sure what Dunning Kreguer with graphics should be called.

Re: Mercedes‑Benz starts large‑scale production of electric axial flux motor

#122

Post by prepend »

mohsen1 wrote: post #99
miohtama wrote: post #87

Mercedes acquired Yasa (UK) couple of years ago and now getting up to the speed in the production. Here is a nice video that explains axial flux motors with a factory visit https://youtu.be/B2Hl4c1iZK0?si=VfDYARyuaPVj1nKm They are so, so, small.

I was curious how this thing works and asked Claude to visualize it -- mostly to see how good Fable is and I have to say, what it made was good enough for me to get a gist of it. Posted it here https://azimi.me/axial-flux-motor-explainer/

This viz is superficially neat, but hard to get info out of. It seems like a demo in a movie.

What did you like most about it?

Re: Mercedes‑Benz starts large‑scale production of electric axial flux motor

#123

Post by Vespasian »

small_model wrote: post #112
rsynnott wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... Eh? No. No current large-scale production car uses axial flux motors. You're talking concept cars, plus a few oddities like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McLaren_Artura

I mean in EV's, a fancy expensive concept motor isn't going to help, autonomy should have been their direction 10 years ago, they are on the downward slope of their existence im afraid. Its the equivalent of Blockbuster adding a tape rewinding service to try and boost sales vs Netflix streaming.

That is also not guaranteed. VW (with its array of brands) leads the european BEV market by a lot. [1] (sorry I only found data for April 2026 right now but earlier months were similar)

One additional point of data. In Q1 of this year they delivered 200K BEV worldwide [2] while Tesla did 350k [3].

Calling that 10 years behind is not warranted in my opinion. I would agree to say competitive and challenged.

[1] https://cleantechnica.com/2026/06/01/europe-ev-sales-report-... [2] https://www.volkswagen-group.com/de/pressemitteilungen/volks... [3] https://ir.tesla.com/press-release/tesla-first-quarter-2026-...

Re: Mercedes‑Benz starts large‑scale production of electric axial flux motor

#124

Post by utopiah »

mohsen1 wrote: post #99
miohtama wrote: post #87

Mercedes acquired Yasa (UK) couple of years ago and now getting up to the speed in the production. Here is a nice video that explains axial flux motors with a factory visit https://youtu.be/B2Hl4c1iZK0?si=VfDYARyuaPVj1nKm They are so, so, small.

I was curious how this thing works and asked Claude to visualize it -- mostly to see how good Fable is and I have to say, what it made was good enough for me to get a gist of it. Posted it here https://azimi.me/axial-flux-motor-explainer/

Thanks for sharing. I wish it was a bit more interactive especially when there are parameters, e.g. "Widen the disc and torque rises with diameter cubed" I wish there was a slider to see that effect and thus maybe why there might be a sweet spot.

Also I have "The Way Things Work" on my desk right now and can't help but wonder, could you adapt some of the pages of the book this way? It seems like exactly the kind of content that would benefit from such 3D (interactive) visual explainers.

Re: Mercedes‑Benz starts large‑scale production of electric axial flux motor

#125

Post by csomar »

Grombobulous wrote: post #108
picofarad wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> develop and iterate leading electric vehicles so fast. How do you know this for a fact? Chinese press releases? You've driven one? Some auto blogger drove one? After world war 2 Gorbachev or whoever visited the United States and during that trio visited a supermarket. He thought it was a facade, possibly, put on just for him, there's no way Americans are this prosperous (or whatever, this good at agriculture, farm…

I am somewhat confused at the intensity of pushback for the statement “leading electric vehicles.” Chinese EVs are leading and that doesn’t necessarily mean being the best, most advanced vehicles. They are leading in value/pricing, and in many regions they are leading in sales. BYD sells almost double the EV volume of Tesla globally as of December 2025. They are objectively leading in that respect. I think the parent…

I think with xiaomi yu7 and Tesla killing the model S, the chinese are leading in everything when it comes to EVs.

Re: Mercedes‑Benz starts large‑scale production of electric axial flux motor

#126

Post by tclancy »

mohsen1 wrote: post #99
miohtama wrote: post #87

Mercedes acquired Yasa (UK) couple of years ago and now getting up to the speed in the production. Here is a nice video that explains axial flux motors with a factory visit https://youtu.be/B2Hl4c1iZK0?si=VfDYARyuaPVj1nKm They are so, so, small.

I was curious how this thing works and asked Claude to visualize it -- mostly to see how good Fable is and I have to say, what it made was good enough for me to get a gist of it. Posted it here https://azimi.me/axial-flux-motor-explainer/

Every plausibly cool electric car innovation leads me to the same thought: “5-10 years from now, the restomod potential will be wild once these come down in cost.” For this, I am imagining retrofitting a Pontiac Fiero to reduce as much weight as possible and see if extended flight becomes possible.

Re: Mercedes‑Benz starts large‑scale production of electric axial flux motor

#127

Post by utopiah »

swiftcoder wrote: post #57
chinathrow wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Click "More" and scroll down: "In contrast to conventional radial flux motors, the electromagnetic flux in an axial flux motor runs parallel to the axis of rotation. The key components are arranged in a disc‑shaped layout: two rotors sandwich the stator from the left and right. This design enables an especially compact motor architecture, high power and torque density, and new freedoms in drivetrain packaging. In the…

This is the same design that enables the PCB Stator Motors, right?

"Advantages : A motor can be built upon any flat structure, such as a PCB, by adding coils and a bearing." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axial_flux_motor with image of "A miniature DC brushless axial motor used in a Digital Data Storage drive, showing the integration with PCB construction techniques."

Re: Mercedes‑Benz starts large‑scale production of electric axial flux motor

#128

Post by [deleted] »

[deleted] wrote: post #105
chinathrow wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Click "More" and scroll down: "In contrast to conventional radial flux motors, the electromagnetic flux in an axial flux motor runs parallel to the axis of rotation. The key components are arranged in a disc‑shaped layout: two rotors sandwich the stator from the left and right. This design enables an especially compact motor architecture, high power and torque density, and new freedoms in drivetrain packaging. In the…

[deleted]

[deleted]

Re: Mercedes‑Benz starts large‑scale production of electric axial flux motor

#129

Post by BigTTYGothGF »

picofarad wrote: post #103
originalvichy wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how developing electric motors compares to combustion engines. My hunch says that it’s the main reason the Chinese high-tech electronics industry was able to develop and iterate leading electric vehicles so fast. (Edit: My more clarified point is regarding the machinery required + place to accommodate them to work on electric motors vs. ICE metal parts and all the intermediary parts transfering power in the…

> develop and iterate leading electric vehicles so fast. How do you know this for a fact? Chinese press releases? You've driven one? Some auto blogger drove one? After world war 2 Gorbachev or whoever visited the United States and during that trio visited a supermarket. He thought it was a facade, possibly, put on just for him, there's no way Americans are this prosperous (or whatever, this good at agriculture, farm…

Aren't you getting your analogy backwards? American supermarkets have the same role in the story as Chinese cars.

Re: Mercedes‑Benz starts large‑scale production of electric axial flux motor

#130

Post by SJC_Hacker »

deadeye wrote: post #90
DonsDiscountGas wrote: post #80

Only slightly related but does anyone know anything about motors with magnetic bearings? As in, no contact or friction. I'm looking for a hardware project

I wonder if that is even possible since the whole point of the motor is an imbalance of magnetic forces.

Theoreticaly the rotor could float on top of the stator, although It it would have to be always on.
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