New Welsh electric motor will 'beat a Ferrari'

A revolutionary new motor could in future be used to power electric cars faster than Ferraris, it is claimed by the powerplant…

A revolutionary new motor could in future be used to power electric cars faster than Ferraris, it is claimed by the powerplant's developers.

The motor may herald the arrival of a new age of rapid, pollution-free electric transport.

As well as high performance vehicles, a battery-powered family car with a range of hundreds of miles is in prospect. To date, electric cars have been more reminiscent of milk floats than Formula One. And the most ambitious, Clive Sinclair's C5 electric three-wheeler also proved to be the format's most catastrophic flop.

But the new motor being developed by IMP, a Welsh engineering company based in Neath, could put electric vehicles in the fast lane. The motor is revolutionary in that it contains no bulky permanent magnets. Instead it relies on transmitting electric pulses across up to seven rotors, arranged in different phases. There are no gears, which translates into increased energy efficiency - and reduced size and weight.

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The motor can be scaled to any size, and produce 400 per cent more torque than any electric power unit currently available.

The design team is now looking to link up with a motor manufacturer, probably a specialist sports car maker.

"Electric vehicles still carry the stigma of the Sinclair," says John Bryant, IMP's managing director. "Forget it. This will outstrip a Ferrari.

"The big difference will be the sound - or lack of it. So we're not only talking about making a significant improvement in carbon emissions and air quality, but reducing noise pollution too."

The motor generates little heat and can be controlled by lightweight cables. It can also run on both alternating and direct electric current.

Because it's magnet-free, the motor free-wheels when the power is removed. Downhill, a car could free-wheel without using energy while driving a generator to top-up its batteries.

"We're looking to install the design architecture for a four-wheel drive vehicle," says Bryant. "Each drive motor will be in the wheels using fly-by-wire, and each wheel would be powered by two lightweight batteries.

"We're also looking to install just four batteries - two each on either the front or rear - to create a lower powered vehicle with even longer range."

The IMP motor is featured in the latest issue of The Engineer magazine. Its development was made possible by €88,000 (£60,000) in grants from the Welsh Development Agency.