Cambridge Vacuum Engineering (CVE) and Ford have successfully completed a GBP 430,000 Innovate UK-funded EB-eDrive project – proving that the manufacture of electric motor stators can be improved by utilising advanced electron beam welding.
As part of Innovate UK’s Driving the Electric Revolution Challenge, CVE and Ford demonstrated that electron beam welding can significantly enhance the quality of electric motor stators and the repeatability of associated production processes, paving the way for widespread industrialisation of the technology.
Findings from the project could help boost the UK’s production of electric vehicles (EV) and support the nation’s net-zero carbon goals.
Using CVE’s proprietary technology, the two partners showed that electron beam welding is an effective and reliable joining method for copper hairpin stators.