UWindsor researchers score funding to design next-gen EV motor

Research engineers at the University of Windsor have received $1.9 million from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to develop lightweight, compact, aluminum-intensive induction motors for electric vehicles. The public funding is in addition to $2.4 million from Ford Motor Company of Canada, D&V Electronics, and Nemak for nearly $4.3 million in total.

Lead researcher, Narayan Kar, says that to increase range and performance, electric vehicles will require motors that are high-performing, compact, lighter, cost-effective and easy to manufacture.

“This collaboration aims to directly address these needs by developing lightweight, multi-material, and high-efficient traction motors with improved thermal and structural integrity,” says Kar, who leads UWindsor’s Centre for Hybrid Automotive Research and Green Energy.

For its part of the project, Nemak will cast the motor components UWindsor develops from its proprietary electrically conductive aluminum alloy while D&V Electronics will apply its testing technologies to assess the new motors.

Six UWindsor researchers will contribute to the project, including Xueyuan Nie, Henry Hu, and Ofelia Jianu from the Department of Mechanical, Automotive and Materials Engineering; dean Mehrdad Saif from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Nick Vukotic from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry; and Ziad Kobti, director of the School of Computer Science.

The project is funded through an NSERC Alliance Grant, which encourages university researchers to collaborate with private, public or not-for-profit sector organizations.
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