Under the direction of Infineon 30 partners from 9 European countries were researching with the aim to increase the range and reliability of electric vehicles while reducing the dependence of Asia (rare earth). In a four day final event at ZF Friedrichshafen the demonstrators from the field of electric mobility were presented to a professional audience consisting of the European Commission and automobile manufacturers.

Belonging to the demonstrator’s novel Battery systems, battery monitoring and torque-sensors, angle and current sensors, and an innovative prototype of an electric motor with a multi-phase system with 9 phases were presented. The integration of engine, gearbox and inverter and the use of newly developed ferrite magnets permitted to build an engine with a reduced weight from about 15% of 90 kg to 77 kg.

Furthermore, it has been possible to build the "Motor Brain" prototype without rare earths, which are currently a major cost driver for permanent magnet motors and are only available from Asia. The MotorBrain electric motor uses ferrite magnets, which are readily available and less expensive. The weaker performance of the ferrite magnets, due to the abstaining from rare earth, is compensated through the specially developed high-speed rotor of the MotorBrain electric motor. Special attention was paid to the development of the motor to functional safety, which is particularly in electric vehicles an absolute must. For this purpose, the motor controller and the battery monitoring of the sensors with safety diagnoses and control mechanisms according to the ISO26262 standard has been developed on a multicore platform, which was built on an inverter board directly to the engine.

Find more information in the publications within the MotorBrain project.