Niche Vehicle Network

The Challenge

The iNetic iEV range of motors began life in 2019 as an in house design project with the aim of providing a cost effective range of traction motors in a modular format to facilitate the large number of niche and small to medium volume electric vehicle projects in the UK. Design for Manufacture, Design for Cost and Design for Quality were baked into the design from a clean sheet. 

What did the project do?

There was a clear 3 step cost down program in the design. Step 1 was press tools for the laminations after the EMag design had been validated, this was funded in house. Step 2 was replacing the billet housing and end frames with an extrusion and castings, this was funded by the NVN in 2019. Step 3 was manufacturing the hairpin tooling, the motors were designed as hairpin machines but prototypes were wire-wound, step 3 was funded by the NVN in 2020. The innovate insertion and “Super High Current PCB” based hairpin connection method developed by iNetic in the iEV motors has reduced production time from 6 days to 4 hours on the largest iEV motors and has generated huge interest with OEMs in the UK, Europe and South East Asia. 

The results

The next step is adding power electronics to the PCB which already exists in the iNetic design to connect the hairpins, this technology is in development right now as a partnership between iNetic and a South East Asian OEM, eventual volumes are likely to approach 500k units per year.