Electric traction motors are at the heart of the transition towards a zero tailpipe emission road mobility landscape, with their performance and cost directly impacting the attainable market penetration of electric vehicles (EV). To accelerate the transition, next-generation electric motors need to push the existing boundaries in terms of efficiency, power density, manufacturability, cost, and environmental sustainability. A reduced and more circular use of rare earth resources is critical to reinforce Europe’s strategic autonomy and establish a more economically sustainable value chain. Recently developed axial flux motor technology based on a yokeless and segmented armature topology yields promising prospects in all these areas, significantly reducing the required amount of rare earth magnet material by design, and combining this with unmatched power density compared to state-of-the-art radial flux machines.

CliMAFlux will thus provide solutions to position AF motor technology as a cornerstone of sustainable EV mobility. Project objectives are therefore converted into a concrete set of activities within the work package structure. Distinct life cycle phases of AF motors (design, manufacturing, use and end of life) are explicitly addressed in the distinct work packages (WPs).

• WP1’s operational objectives are to set up an effective project management structure, which will ensure unambiguous and mutually agreed operating procedures, a quality control scheme for project results and deliverables, efficient information exchange (within the consortium and towards the EC) and that the project is executed according to the contract with the EC.
• WP2’s overall objective is to align and facilitate the technical project activities. WP2 specifically aims at (i) optimizing the global power train architecture for different vehicle segments; (ii) agreeing on the vehicle, subsystem and component specifications (hardware and software); (iii) defining a representative validation plan; (iv) guaranteeing compatibility between available models and devised algorithms, and (v) to draft a tailored framework for holistic benchmarking in production, use and end of life.
• WP3’s overall objective is to develop novel multiphysics design methodologies for and concepts of nextgen axial flux motor drive subsystems with minimal environmental impact and optimised performance. The operational objectives are set as (i) simultaneously optimizing the geometric & electromagnetic design of a yokeless axial flux motor with associated transmission system; (ii) attaining an effective knowledge transfer from the EU HighScape project towards power electronic integration for AF motors; (iii) further reducing the need for rare earth magnets in AF motors by fundamentally redesigning the AF rotor with a hybrid excitation; (iv) integrating nextgen AF motors subsystems throughout the vehicle systems and (v) incorporating the use of multiphysics digital twins.
• WP4 aims to define novel manufacturing options for nextgen AF motor subsystems taking into account circularity principles. The associated operational objectives are (i) to develop a manufacturing decision framework balancing performance (handprint) and environmental impact (footprint); (ii-iv) to investigate predefined concepts in the domains of sustainable materials, circular processes and reusability of critical components and (v) to realise the actual AF traction unit and automotive actuator using novel circularity concepts.