Technology
Two universities
successfully conducted experiments of a rare earth-less vehicle motor. Tohoku University drove an electric vehicle loaded with a rare earth-less motor that
it had developed in alliance with JEF Holdings and ENAX that is a lithium-ion
battery manufacturer. The research team will also drive a small-size electric
bus loaded with a rare earth-less motor coming July. Tokyo Institute of Technology verified a rare earth-less motor using a commercially-available
e-vehicle and confirmed that there was virtually no difference in noise and
ride quality between an rare earth-containing motor and the new rare earth-less
motor.
The two rare
earth-less motors are switched reluctance motors. The concept of a switched reluctance motor was invested in the 1830, and part of it was put into
practical use in the 1950s. However, it was too big and too noisy to be built
in an e-vehicle. It was widely believed that the switched reluctance motor
would be applied only to construction and agricultural machinery. The research
team of Tohoku University devised a system to strictly control the current
transmitted to a motor using semiconductors and reduced the rotational
fluctuations. The team members drove a single-seater e-vehicle with the
developed motor that weighs 220 kg at 40 km/h and confirmed that both
acceleration and deceleration were very smooth. They are confident that it will
not be difficult to increase the speed to 60 km/h if the system with improved
system. They are developing a motor for an electric bus that will be driven for
experiment coming July.
A professor from
Tokyo Institute of Technology and a professor from Tokyo University of Science
drove an e-vehicle loaded with the newly developed motor and confirmed that it
has almost the same energy efficiency as the motor built in a Toyota’s hybrid
vehicle. However, the former is 15% heavier than the latter. The two professors
are trying to reduce the weight in alliance with automakers.
Switched reluctance motor test
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