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Mahle has developed an electric motor that uses no rare earth minerals... and can change the parameters of the rotor’s magnetism (cleantechnica.com)

submitted 3 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Tier One automotive supplier Mahle has developed an electric motor for EVs that uses no permanent magnets. It is not the first to do so, but it is the first to create a motor that is scalable to fit the needs of many sizes of vehicles, from subcompact cars to medium duty trucks. Mahle says the ability to tune and change the parameters of the rotor’s magnetism instead of being stuck with what a permanent magnet offers has allowed its engineers to achieve efficiencies above 95% right through the range of operating speeds. Only the motors used in Formula E cars offer such efficiency, according to New Atlas.

As a result, there’s practically nothing to wear out, says IEEE Spectrum. “There are no contacts to transmit electricity, no abrasion, no dust formation, no mechanical wear,” Berger, said Wednesday during an online press conference. He adds that the new motor combines the best points of several motor designs by offering good efficiency at both low and high torque.

See https://cleantechnica.com/2021/05/17/mahle-develops-magnet-free-motor-for-electric-vehicles/

#technology #environment #EV

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY6TuVUxYQw

found the quick demo intro video

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (1 children)

So how is this different from a regular squirrel cage induction motor (https://yewtu.be/watch?v=AQqyGNOP_3o, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squirrel-cage_rotor) which uses eddy currents to turn laminated metal sheets in the rotor into an electromagnet? Those don't have permanent magnets either and are very commonly used in industry where three phase power is available.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 years ago (1 children)

I think the article did mention that it was not the first, but apparently first to make it work in most sizes and most of them require some sort of rotating contact device to send electricity to the copper coils in the rotor.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 years ago (1 children)

That "rotating contact device" is called a commuator, and is a feature of DC motors. AC induction motors typically don't have them, although some "universal" motors do. AC induction motors are ubiquitous in industry and used in many electric vehicles. Siemens offers a range of induction motors for EVs of various sizes. Nothing in this article indicates that the company has developed anything new. It seems like it is probably just a promotion to attract investment.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 years ago (1 children)

Yes that was pointed out quite clearly in the article - it is more to do with the packaging and the fact it is an actual EV motor. Others using similar tech are not for EV use, so this is the first of this kind available. It was clearly not trying to claim something it is not - if the full linked article was read. It is the first one for EV use.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (1 children)

That's honestly surprising, since the three phase induction motor (the one I mentioned) was one of the first mass market electric motors, invented independently by Nikola Tesla and Galileo Ferraris. All that's needed to run them is for an inverter to generate 3-phase power, and the speed is controlled by varying the frequency.

IIRC they're pretty standard on electric trains.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 years ago

OK but what exactly is unbelievable as they never claimed to invent this - they have developed the first one in electric cars where everyone else has been using magnets? Something was not obvious though otherwise everyone would have done it without the rare earth magnets.