And it's a fraction of the weight of an equivalent internal combustion engine.
UK-based electric motor manufacturer Helix has developed a new low-inductance motor for an unnamed hypercar that delivers just short of 872 continuous horsepower. This hypercar motor project is only known by its internal name, REB, and it's the company's X-Division that is responsible for its most powerful pure electric battery electric vehicle motor yet. Excluding the inverter, the incredibly powerful motor called SPX177 weighs a mere 62 pounds, lighter even than Koenigsegg's ultra-compact Quark E-Motor.
Compared to highly boosted internal combustion engines such as the one in the McLaren Artura, this electric motor weighs less than 1/7th for equivalent continuous power output.
As automakers scramble to advance EV battery technology, Helix's SPX177 is a reminder that the motors themselves are still evolving.
The Chief Engineer at Helix that's responsible for this project is Derek Jordanou-Bailey, and he brings with him plenty of experience that includes a period at Mercedes-AMG HPP (High Performance Powertrains), where he worked on F1 power units. He likens Helix's new motor to “an F1 or Formula E unit” for its high-performance capabilities.
“It's small and weighs just [90 pounds], including the [28-pound] inverter,” says Jordanou-Bailey. “It's a 2x three-phase motor, so its current is shared across two inverters, a necessary approach to meet the phase current demands at 'normal' DC voltages at this extremely high power level. Both the motor and inverter have extremely high power density.”
On the test stand, the motor – as part of the company's Scalable Core Technology package – delivered over 939 hp, and Jordanou-Bailey says that “it could potentially deliver more,” but the company chose not to push it.
Almost 900 hp from a single electric motor is quite something. For some perspective, the Tesla Model S Plaid delivers 1,020 hp from the combination of its three motors. Even something as extreme as the four-motor Rimac Nevera – which makes a combined 1,914 hp – features powerful rear motors that deliver 653 hp each (and another two front motors making 299 hp each). And those are peak outputs, not continuous outputs.
However, Jordanou-Bailey and his team have not been able to work wonders in every area of the powertrain's development and conceded that the battery weighs much more than the IC engine's fuel store. The electric hypercar would then be packaged around the battery, but the entire layout has more flexibility due to the incredibly light weight of the SPX177 since there are more options for where it can be installed, thereby lowering the car's center of gravity.
“The customer told us what peak power they wanted and demanded a very high steady-state output,” said Jordanou-Bailey. “Right now, it is tricky to deliver sufficient energy to maintain that level of output, but in time it is likely to be possible and the customer wanted to ensure their flagship model was ready for that.”
The Chief Engineer said that they ended up with a machine that has more power than initially predicted, a motor that cools very efficiently – heat management is a major factor for electric motors – and that “delivers record-breaking steady-state power.”
Helix will continue to support the customer in integrating the power unit into the mystery hypercar, and we'll be the first ones to tell you as soon as we find out what car that is, but other players in this space should be ready for something spectacular.
Keyword: 872-HP Electric Motor Revealed For Mystery Hypercar