Beyond Motors is developing a new version of its axial motor that is designed for lower-cost production, writes Nick Flaherty.

The company currently has three standard sizes from 70 to 430 kW and can also stack those single models into double or triple stacks to achieve two or three times the power.

“We are developing the X-MP versions that will be designed for mass production with a very similar performance to our existing motors,” said Domen Kočevar, CEO of Beyond Motors in Slovenia.

“Initially, we will keep the same three sizes as we see a good fit for these in the market. We have the electromagnetic design for the new design and the basics stay the same, but we are optimising the performance and efficiency so that the design will enable mass production in the future.

“What we are good at is the power-to-weight ratio because with the cooling system we can extract heat directly from the copper windings. Our advantage is the cooling of the stator.”

This uses a solid block of aluminium that is milled on a CNC machine. “With the MP version, we will simplify certain steps and the motor parts will be produced in other ways as well as using more cost-effective magnets,” he said.

“This will be a bit bigger in size but not drastically, maybe a 10–15% increase to make the assembly easier. Efficiency and power will stay approximately the same or even increase slightly with further geometry optimisation. So, we are aiming for about a 10% lower power-to-weight ratio but we are aiming for a 35–40% lower cost.

“In the current motor, we are using UH [Ultra High] temp magnets. With MP, we will go to SH [Super High] magnets and keep the same performance. We have figured out a new system of cooling and magnet geometry that produces a much lower amount of heat and that’s why we can go to SH, which is significantly cheaper – and we can get those much faster and easier,” he said.

“We use Ansys simulation tools and other software to validate the geometry optimisation, and based on that we came to a more optimised shape of the magnets. It’s not totally different: it’s a couple of features in the shape that makes a big difference. It’s more about the efficiency so that the magnet produces a lower amount of heat and on the rotor side, the whole manufacturing and assembly allows better air ventilation.”

The X-MP will use the same water-cooling system and is aimed at the same applications as now, mainly marine and aviation.

The new design will also stack. “It’s a simple mechanical connection with motors stacked together with a shaft on the rotor side and columns on the stator side, so the motors are rigidly connected to each other. We have interest from a lot of customers using stacked versions in aviation.

“The MP is more or less the same performance, so the exact numbers will be validated in the prototypes and we aim to make the first protypes by the end of this year [2026],” he said.

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