Design and construction of a wheel-directly-coupled axial-flux PM motor prototype for EVs

In electric vehicle (EV) motor drives, the use of a low-speed motor coupled directly to the wheel axle allows a reduction of the vehicle weight and an improvement in the drive efficiency. Slotless axial-flux PM motors are particularly suited for such an application, since they can be designed for high torque-to-weight ratio and efficiency. This paper deals with a 16 poles axial-flux PM motor prototype which is used in the propulsion drive of an electrical scooter. The motor prototype has 45 Nm peak torque, 6.8 kg active materials weight, and is coupled directly to the scooter rear wheel. The paper discusses design and construction of the motor prototype, and reports experimental results achieved from laboratory tests. Finally, details concerning the arrangement of the scooter motor drive are given