Don’t Do It: Ignore Radial-Flux Motors for Top-End Mobility

The electric-vehicle industry has increasingly focused on axial-flux motor architectures as the future of high-performance propulsion. But is this assumption justified? In a new article published in Electronic Design, Helix’s Chief Innovation Officer Andrew Cross argues that dismissing radial-flux motors would be premature—and potentially costly.

While axial-flux motors offer advantages in compact, space-constrained applications, they face significant practical challenges in scaled production. The double air gap inherent to most axial-flux designs introduces twice the magnetic reluctance of radial-flux systems, and maintaining balanced gaps across temperature and vibration becomes increasingly complex. Radial-flux systems, by contrast, remain the most power-dense motors currently on the market and offer far superior scalability—a 50% torque increase requires only extending motor length, with minimal tooling changes.

Cross highlights an often-overlooked factor: radial-flux innovation is far from complete. Thermal management breakthroughs, new winding geometries, and expertise from combustion-engine engineers transitioning to EVs promise substantial future improvements. Rather than one architecture replacing the other, both radial and axial-flux motors will likely dominate different segments of the high-performance mobility market for years to come.

Read the full article: Don’t Do It: Ignore Radial-Flux Motors for Top-End Mobility — Electronic Design