News

YASA Motors Secures £5m Funding

January 15, 2014 by Jeff Shepard

YASA Motors, Ltd. has received a strong boost with the investment of £5m. The new equity finance has been raised from a combination of existing and new investors, and will be used to increase production capacity to meet customer demand and to expand its commercial activities. The company manufactures a highly-differentiated axial-flux electric motor and generator that achieves best-in-class power and torque densities based on its proprietary Yokeless And Segmented Armature (YASA™) technology. YASA motors make more efficient use of key materials, and are produced with simple low cost manufacturing processes.

Chris Harris, CEO of YASA Motors commented: “We are naturally delighted at the support shown by our investors who share our view of the potential for our highly differentiated electric motors. The motors are now being integrated into products by an ever increasing number of customers across a wide range of markets including marine, agriculture, industrial and construction equipment along with automotive and aerospace. The additional financing will allow us to increase our production capacity to meet the anticipated demand, and to expand our commercial organization to better support our customers.”

This investment follows the recent announcement that the company was a finalist for the prestigious SMMT Award for Automotive Innovation. The Company was selected by the judges for its work in providing a high power and torque density electric motor for the Jaguar C-X75 supercar program.

The YASA-400 motor produced for Jaguar Land Rover pushed all the boundaries of what has been possible in automotive electric motors, and addressed issues of power, size, weight and efficiency. The exceptional end result was a 22kg motor, no larger than cake tin (280mm by 75mm) capable of delivering over 180kW and around 400Nm of torque.

The Jaguar C-X75 supercar is a dramatic example of the car of the future, with a downsized conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) and two high power electric motors. The combination of two lightweight YASA motors and a 1.6 liter ICE have been used to create a car with the performance of a Bugatti Veyron yet emissions comparable to a Toyota Prius.