Vitesco Technologies has introduced an upgraded version of its electric axle drive platform for main and auxiliary drives that does not use rare earth elements.

Vitesco’s fourth-generation Electronics Motor Reducer (EMR4) will be based on a non-permanent magnet rotor. This rotor powers an externally excited synchronous machine (EESM) without rare earths, which decreases rotor costs and eliminates the carbon footprint of mining and processing ores. The company claims that this machine saves a watt-hour of electricity per kilometer since there is no drag from a permanent magnet field in the rotor, lowering the drive’s power requirements by up to 5% without a mechanical decoupling mechanism.

“The EESM option requires an additional inverter module to control the coils. Nevertheless, we are really close to an EESM plug-and-play solution,” said Vitesco Technologies Innovation Head Dr. Gerd Rösel.

Source: Vitesco Technologies