A topology selection consideration of electrical machines for traction applications: towards the FreedomCar 2020 targets

This paper details a qualitative comparison between different types of electrical machine for hybrid electric vehicle traction applications. Targets set by the US Department of Energy for the year 2020 are used as goals. Several types of machine for this application will be discussed, focusing on the benefits and challenges of each machine when applied to these targets. Then the machines are compared based on appropriate quality indices relative to general performance characteristics. It is shown that the interior permanent magnet machine is the most suited topology for traction applications with these challenging targets. Two machine designs for these targets are briefly compared at the end of the paper.