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Oxford electric motors turn heads as well as wheels
Posted on: Mon, 21/12/2009 - 13:46
Attach two Oxford Yasa Motors to the chassis of a family saloon car, rip out most of the heavy stuff from under the bonnet and add a rechargeable electric battery and you'll have Jeremy Clarkson drooling all the way to his local dealership. These tiny, lightweight motors, really pack a punch.
Measuring just 35cm by 7cm, each one delivers 500Nm of torque (or 100bhp). OYM's first customer, Dudley-based Potenza Technologies, should know. They have attached two to a Westfield race car chassis and believe they can power the car to victory on the race track.
A separate project with Morgan, will see four motors installed. "It will be a rocket ship," says OYM's chief executive Nick Farrant.
The electric motors are based on the work of Malcolm McCulloch, head of Oxford University's electronic power group, and Tim Woolmer.
Backed by almost £2m of investment in September, the Abingdon-based company was spun out from the university to commercialise the technology.
"We are very confident that the basic design of the motors is sound," says Mr Farrant. But even with working prototypes in his briefcase, he faces several years of testing. They expect to sell 1,000 in 2010 but harbour hopes of making hundreds of thousands.
Mr Farrant says the key challenges include proving the reliability of the motors over the 150,000 mile lifespan expected from a combustion engine. They also have to work on tooling, moving the motors from hand-built niche products costing thousands of pounds to mass-market equipment costing hundreds. To do this they need to establish relationships with the mass-market car makers.
"We do have to bridge the gap between 100 motors in niche markets to get it positioned in the supply chain so we can supply the original equipment manufacturers," says Mr Farrant.
