EM-TECH: Report on e-motor sustainability assessment (D6.3)

1.1 Overview of project

The Horizon Europe EM-TECH project will develop novel solutions to push the boundaries of electric machine technology for automotive traction, through: i) innovative direct and active cooling designs; ii) virtual sensing functionalities for the high-fidelity real-time estimation of the operating condition of the machine; iii) enhanced machine control, bringing reduced design and operating conservativeness enabled by ii); iv) electric gearing to provide enhanced operational flexibility and energy efficiency; v) digital twin based optimisation, embedding systematic consideration of Life Cycle Analysis and Life Cycle Costing aspects since the early design stages; and vi) adoption of recycled permanent magnets and circularity solutions.

The proposed innovations will be implemented in new series of radial flux direct drive in-wheel motors (IWMs) characterised by so far unexplored levels of torque density (>150 Nm/litre, >50 Nm/kg), and on-board single stator double rotor type ironless axial flux motors (AFMs) providing power density and specific power levels in excess of 30 kW/litre and 10 kW/ kg. The solutions will address both passenger car and van applications (continuous power levels of 50 kW - 120 kW), providing competitive costs (<6 Euro/kW for a production of 100000 units/year), and leading to significant reduction of motor energy loss during real vehicle operation (>25%), and to >60% decrease of the rare earth content, including implementation of magnet recycling solutions.

1.2 Deliverable Objective and Results

Deliverable D6.3 summarizes the outcomes regarding Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC). It is related to Task 6.3, which is concerned with the assessments in terms of environmental and economic impacts, namely LCA and LCC, of the proposed innovations in EM-TECH. The analysis is carried out on two electric drivetrains to which it will be referred to as “EM-TECH solutions”. To address the potential savings of the EM-TECH solutions, they have been compared with state-of-the-art (SotA) e-motors to which it will be referred to as “baseline solutions” afterwards. These baseline solutions are intended to be representative of the state-of-the-art in Europe. The identification and detailed LCA and LCC assessments of the baseline solutions were the objectives of Task 2.2 of WP2 and were included in deliverable D2.2.