84422High Efficiency Traction Motor with Enhanced Mechanical StabilityClosedCollaborative R&DInnovate UKFuel economy is a critical metric driving intense competition among the manufacturers to engineer vehicles that are more fuel efficient and more economical to manufacture over time. This project addresses the need for increased efficiency and longevity of electric powertrains in response to high energy efficiency requirement and the 'million-mile' automotive market. The vision of this project is to develop a high efficiency traction motor having enhanced mechanical stability. With enhanced mechanical stability comes lower noise, vibration and harshness (NVH), better product reliability and longevity -- all are value-add to the customers. Using a high voltage architecture, the motor current requirement can be lowered and hence losses can be reduced. Electric Drive Technologies' ultimate goal is to integrate a permanent magnet traction motor and a silicon carbide-based inverter into a single compact unit. Such an integrated electric drive is suitable for deployment in medium/high-end EVs, commercial vehicles or HGVs markets. This 6-month R&D project focusses exclusively on the development of a traction motor. The objectives of this project are to design and build a prototype traction motor and demonstrate that noise and vibrations due to the bearings or shaft can be significantly reduced with Electric Drive Technologies' proprietary technology. ========================= Request for using foreign subcontractors and suppliers One of my colleagues and I have been in China since mid-November 2020, participating in various electric powertrains and EV events to interview Tier-1 suppliers and automotive OEMs. We were due to return to the UK in January but had to extend our stay due to the lockdown and travel restrictions. Our project milestones have not been impacted as the work packages in Q1 were predominantly designs and simulations which can be undertaken remotely. We were informed recently by Arnold Magnetics, a supplier based in Sheffield, that the magnets have a much longer lead time due to Covid-19 restrictions. Arnold Magnetics source their magnets from their Chinese counterpart and the lead time is now up to 14 weeks. Such a long lead time would delay our schedule by 9 weeks and could impact the outcome of our project. We then approached several Chinese magnet manufacturers and found a couple that can supply the required magnets in just 4 weeks. Lead time for other materials is significantly longer as well. For example, the lead time for manufacturing stator/rotor cores is around 6 weeks if purchased from the UK suppliers. A Chinese manufacturer we know can turnaround the cores in just 2 weeks. The UK suppliers import enamelled copper wires from the US where lead time is between 4 to 8 weeks. The Chinese manufacturers, on the other hand, can dispatch the copper wires immediately as they are ex-stock items. For machining components we will be using a UK-based subcontractor that has China operations to reduce lead time. In view of the unanticipated long lead times for the aforementioned parts, we would like to request permission to use Chinese subcontractors and purchasing materials directly from Chinese suppliers. This will help cut down the lead times significantly. For logistic reasons we will build the motor, assemble and commission the test rig in our temporary workshop in China before shipping them back to the UK. We hope you understand that using foreign subcontractors and suppliers is critical to the success of this project. Thank you for your consideration.