With Sevcon partnering UK-based Cummins Generator Technologies, Newcastle University's Power Electronics, Drives Research Group, the group has secured more than £500,000 in matched UK government funding to develop a highly innovative "no rare earth metals" electric drive system for EVs using advanced switched reluctance motor technology.

Sevcon President and chief executive officer, Matt Boyle (Inset), said: ‘Although global demand for hybrid and electric vehicles is likely to grow dramatically over the next 10 years, the automotive industry's ability to meet this demand is being challenged by constraints on the availability of the rare-earth magnets used in the motors that drive these vehicles.

‘Our goal in this collaborative project is to solve this problem by developing for volume production, a new electric motor technology that uses cutting-edge power electronics to eliminate the need for magnets incorporating rare earth metals. As well as providing sufficient power, the new generation system will be designed to be both cost-competitive and suitable for high-volume manufacture.

‘Each member of this newly formed consortium brings unique capabilities to the project, ideally positioning us to succeed in this challenging initiative. Our decades of experience in the field have earned Sevcon worldwide recognition as a leading supplier of advanced motor control technology to the international EV market.

‘Electric machine provider, Cummins Generator Technologies has recently developed a hybrid electric motor for commercial vehicles. Newcastle University augments this automotive drivetrain engineering and manufacturing experience by providing state-of-the-art EV research capability.’