A Comprehensive Review of the Multiphase Motor Drive Topologies for High-Power Electric Vehicle: Current Status, Research Challenges, and Future Trends

Compared to three-phase motors, multiphase motors (MPMs) can achieve higher power output, less motor torque pulsation, superior fault-tolerant performance, and more flexible control freedom. With these several advantages, multiphase drive systems have become a candidate for three-phase motor drive systems in electric vehicle (EV) applications. As a result, there have been a large number of researches and reports on multiphase drives in the past few years. Based on this, the purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the multiphase motor drives (MPDs) configurations in recent years with a new perspective, and to comprehensively review, analyze, and summarize the performance advantages and disadvantages of the various MPDs configurations. The aspects elaborated also include a general introduction to MPMs, with six-phase configurations highlighted here due to their three-phase and multiphase characteristics, which simplify the production process. In addition, the current state of the art of MPDs used in heavy-duty EVs and industrial traction is included. The article concludes with an analysis and discussion of future trends and challenges for MPDs systems.