The rapid development of electric mobility leads to improve the performance of all the powertrain components. There is still a high need to maximize their efficiency for autonomy reasons, but weight and volume are critical parameters for automotive, aeronautic or train applications. This paper focuses on electrical machines, especially the permanent magnet synchronous axial flux motors (PMSAFM) which offer advantages in terms of power density and volumetric electromagnetic torque. The paper proposes a panorama of solutions for designing such a motor, with an application case to 100 kW – 10000 rpm, and an objective of 12 kW/kg at steady state. Obtaining such a power density can be obtained by optimizing the design, by boosting the current, using a high DC voltage, choosing a high-performance electrical steel and adapted permanent magnets, etc). For the PMSAFM topologies several configurations can be considered, and the authors show that a double rotor PMSAFM surface-mounted magnets configuration leads to the best power density. Different cooling technics are described. Then, magnetic materials as FeSi or FeCo steel are analyzed, as well as the impact of the process on the magnetic circuit performance, especially how rolling the laminations can drastically modify the permeability and iron losses. The authors describe the different permanent magnets configurations, and the influence of their segmentation on the losses. The last part is dedicated to the insulated windings, especially those able to work at high temperature, up to 350°C.