News

UQM Receives USDOE Contract for Electric Motor

July 13, 2003 by Jeff Shepard

UQM Technologies Inc. (Frederick, CO), a developer of alternative energy technologies, announced that it has been awarded a two-year, $750,000 contract from the US Department of Energy (DOE, Washington, DC) to continue the development of a modular line of high-performance motors for hybrid-electric and fuel cell electric vehicles under the Small Business Innovation Research Program.

The current project will focus on the enhancement and integration of electronic control technology for the company's line of modular motors previously developed with funding from the DOE and on the commercial engineering of the company's recently patented rotor-position-sensing technology for this class of UQM® permanent magnet motors and generators. Through innovative cooling concepts, the UQM® modular motors and generators improve the continuous power output of the company's currently offered motors and generators by up to 25% without increasing the size or weight of the machine.

The design can be easily configured to a number of output power levels and applications, and since the family of motors is built with 95% common parts, tooling investments and manufacturing costs are minimized. Presently, the motor can be configured over the power range of 20HP to 110HP (15kW to 80kW). The enhancement and integration of electronic motor controls to be undertaken in this project is expected to further reduce manufacturing cost.

"We are pleased that the Department of Energy is continuing to support the development of our next generation of fully integrated, permanent, magnet motors and generators for hybrid-electric and fuel cell electric vehicles," said William Rankin, president and chief executive officer of UQM Technologies. "This project will not only allow us to continue the development of our next generation of high-performance motors and generators, but also will accelerate the path to commercialization of our patented, rotor-position-sensing technology for which we believe there are broad applications and significant opportunities."