Skip to main content

Confusion over electric motors for heavy trucks

According to Dr Peter Harrop of research company IDTechEx, there is still no agreement on the best type of electric motor to use in heavy trucks. The company’s analysis indicates that the booming, confusing traction motor business will rise to around US$400 billion in 2027. Its new report, Electric Motors for Electric Vehicles 2017-2027 navigates the jargon, the design options and the disagreements. The changing needs and evolving technology are matched to create forecasts and technology timelines based
December 19, 2016 Read time: 4 mins
According to Dr Peter Harrop of research company 6582 IDTechEx, there is still no agreement on the best type of electric motor to use in heavy trucks.

The company’s analysis indicates that the booming, confusing traction motor business will rise to around US$400 billion in 2027. Its new report, Electric Motors for Electric Vehicles 2017-2027 navigates the jargon, the design options and the disagreements. The changing needs and evolving technology are matched to create forecasts and technology timelines based on intensive recent travel and interviews by PhD level analysts.
 
Rotating electric machines (REM) propel electric vehicles at least some all of the time by land, water and air. In a hybrid the motor may sometimes have to run hotter due to hot engine systems nearby and tougher duty cycles. This affects motor design as do cost-performance compromises for the very different duty cycles and environments experienced by vehicles land, water and air. Off-road vehicle REMs are very different from on-road. The second most expensive part of an EV after the energy storage is typically the REM system including its intimately related motor controller.
 
The report reveals how the REM system is taking a larger share of cost over the years as simpler batteries reduce in cost. By contrast, REM systems are variously being asked to grab regenerative energy, eliminate transmission, provide better speed/ torque characteristics and even form part of the structure such as tucked into the wheel with brake and controller.  In hybrids add take-off. Creeping and active cruising with engine off and start and boost the engine. Crucially, in addition to becoming motor-generators, more REMs are being used per vehicle for reasons explained in the report which has in-wheel forecasts for that form of multi-motor.
 
Electric Motors for Electric Vehicles 2017-2027 reports that, increasingly, the choice of REM system benefits the selling propositions of the vehicle. Where it eliminates the need for a gearbox it can increase range 15%. Extreme power-to-weight ratio REMs are sought for most vehicles.
 
A pure-electric heavy construction vehicle with several quiet REMs appropriately placed may have vectored traction so it can cross roads without damaging them and be legally used indoors and at night time as needed. It may operate implements with improved precision and response time and create electricity instead of heat when the vehicle or the implements brake. Start-stop is smoother. Emissions, acceleration, ride, fuel consumption and autonomy of navigation and energy are improved with better REMs. Emissions are reduced or eliminated. There are chapters on how this all fits in with all vehicles, the technology being fully explained.
 
Mechanical parts are rapidly becoming replaced by electrical and electronic ones, creating many new business opportunities. For instance there is a shortage of good designers of motor controllers. The variety of EVs is becoming greater so we now have special coreless motors for the multi-billion dollar market for drones. Small agricultural robots are being contemplated for agriculture that will change completely the type of REM system required.

The report analyses 48V mild hybrid motor-generators as well because later versions of these cars, light commercial vehicles and trucks will have brief electric traction modes. They are the lowest cost way of modifying internal combustion vehicle production to stay legal under impending carbon dioxide emissions laws and they give useful fuel saving but the REM is challenging.
 
Ten important trends receive particular attention in the report are: Multifunction; Proliferation; Integration; Power increase; Voltage increase; Less metal/more electronics; New technology references; Changed location; Less cooling.
 
Harrop says it is not all confusing. Quadcopters nearly all have an out-runner PM REM and forklifts are largely hooked on asynchronous motors. Sense is made of the rest through infograms, roadmaps and forecasts.

Related Content

  • Electric Vehicle Charging Stations - Market Analysis and Forecast to 2020
    July 7, 2014
    GlobalData, the industry analysis specialist, has released its latest research, "Electric Vehicle Charging Stations - Market Analysis and Forecast to 2020", which provides in-depth analysis of the level 2 and 3 electric vehicle (EV) charging station markets at global and country level. The widespread use of EVs has inevitably led to a rise in the installation of EV charging stations. EVs emit less carbon dioxide than internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, and many governments have announced EV target
  • Silk Metal sound barrier for London
    December 7, 2020
    Beep Studio says the project combines public art and acoustic barrier in one structure
  • RAC Foundation: National charge point network needed for electric vehicles
    October 4, 2017
    Potential purchases of electric vehicles with have limited widespread impact without a national charge point network, particularly on motorways and major A-Roads, according to a report by the RAC Foundation. Report author Harold Dermot outlines several challenges that need addressing.Currently, 80% of EV owners have access to home charging, but 93% use the public charging network.
  • Getting C/AVs from pipedream to reality
    October 17, 2019
    The UK government has suggested that driverless cars could be on the roads by 2021. But designers and engineers are grappling with a number of difficult issues, muses Chris Hayhurst of MathWorks Earlier this year, the UK government made the bold statement that by 2021, driverless cars will be on the UK’s roads. But is this an achievable reality? Driverless technology already has its use cases on our roads, with levels of autonomy ranked on a scale. At one end of the spectrum, level 1 is defined by th