Development of high-efficiency, fully recyclable eMotors for light mobility applications produced in the EU

The growing awareness of the environmental impact of human activities, particularly in the field of transport, coupled with the European "Green Deal" strategy aiming for carbon neutrality, has triggered a revolution in mobility compared to the 20th century. Alongside the general focus for automotive sector, light mobility market is particularly rising in current years with tremendous creative solutions as well in terms of functionality as in the design, while the production volumes tend to increase by a fast rate. This domain is being developed using mainly existing permanent magnet rich motor technologies focusing on functionality and cost leaving aside efficiency, lifespan guarantee and end-of-life management which is one of the adjacent problems of the domain. Moreover, European Critical Raw Material act tends to develop a strong, resilient, and sustainable value chains requiring a different approach as well for light mobility powertrains. This article aims at presenting the innovative development and industrialization methods by Mov’Ntec and IFP Energies nouvelles of an alternative European electric powertrain for light mobility sector. Thus, the developed and validated range of low voltage eMotors (2, 4 and 6kW continuous) is based on an innovative approach targeting high efficiency in real life use by active parts design which replaces the rare earth magnets by highly reluctant rotor assisted by low-cost ferrites and use an innovative winding solution. A particular focus was made during the design phase to reduce cost, waste and energy in manufacturing phase, to allow lifespan prolongation by easy servicing and to integrate the end-of-life motors within a circular economy by easy material separation for recycling. Finally, Mov’Ntec integrates their production with regional, and when needed diversified European, supply chain targeting low environmental impact of the product. Project founded by « l’Union européenne - Next Generation EU dans le cadre du plan France Relance »