A Comprehensive Study on Different Motor Topologies Used in Passenger Car EV Segment

This paper presents a comparative study between different electrical machine topologies used in automotive segment. Focus is placed on the passenger car segment of the electric vehicles where electrical machine in the range of 120 kW to 500 kW are being manufactured and designed for passenger B to D segment representing small to premium vehicles. The comparison is made taking into account major automotive attributes of efficiency, cost, sustainability, weight and performance. Different electrical machine topologies discussed in this paper are interior permanent magnet machines, externally excited synchronous machines, axial flux permanent magnet machines, and dual-rotor permanent magnet machines. This study is carried out on a 255 kW electrical machine used in D-E segment passenger cars, however, the results of this paper and conclusion made may be extended also to other passenger car segments. As well as the comparison in attributes, production aspects are also taken into account in this study. Focus in this study is put on central-drive propulsion architecture which covers majority of the passenger car market today and in-wheel configuration is not taken into account.