Sona Comstar Announces Strategic Partnership with Enedym Inc. to Produce Magnet-less EV Motors

“Enedym’s novel switched reluctance motors with advanced acoustic noise control will help us offer high-efficiency and high-performance magnet-less motors to our discerning customers. This is yet another step towards offering environmentally sustainable and cost-effective solutions to drive faster adoption of electric mobility in India and globally.” - Kiran M Deshmukh, Group CTO of Sona Comstar

April 2022 : Sona BLW Precision Forgings Ltd (Sona Comstar), a leading global automotive technology company, has formed a strategic partnership with Enedym Inc. (Enedym) of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, the technology company that develops next generation switched reluctance motors (SRMs), electric propulsion, and electrified powertrains. Under the agreement, the parties will develop SRM drive platforms for Indian road and usage conditions targeting 3-wheeler electric vehicles and 2-wheeler high-performance motorcycles having 10kW or greater nominal power and 4-wheeler cargo delivery electric vehicles having 20kW or greater nominal power. In addition, Enedym will license its SRM technologies to Sona Comstar for manufacturing the drive motors, controllers, and drivetrains for the target applications exclusively in India. The serial production of these systems is likely to commence in 2023.

Enedym has developed novel families of next-generation SRMs with improved efficiencies, power density, and performance for varied applications. By taking the permanent magnets out, Enedym’s novel SRMs have the potential to significantly reduce the cost of propulsion motors. It offers significant additional advantages like a low-cost and straightforward structure, high efficiency at high speeds, fault-tolerant operations and suitability for operating in harsh environments and high-temperature conditions.

Electric three-wheelers are leading the transition to EVs in India, as the segment achieved over 14% share in the overall three-wheelers sales in FY21. The catalyst of this fast adoption is the expansion in the supply chain infrastructure by eCommerce and logistic providers, coupled with growth in eCommerce and consumer demand. We believe the shift towards sustainable mobility will continue in the first and the last mile, given lower operating costs and growth in eCommerce, thus, creating a potentially large market for electric drivetrains.

Commenting on the partnership, Kiran M Deshmukh, Group CTO of Sona Comstar, said, “We are excited to announce our collaboration with Enedym. This partnership opens doors for us to the inventions developed by Dr Ali Emadi and his research group at the McMaster Automotive Resource Centre, McMaster University. Enedym’s novel switched reluctance motors with advanced acoustic noise control will help us offer high-efficiency and high-performance magnet-less motors to our discerning customers. This is yet another step towards offering environmentally sustainable and cost-effective solutions to drive faster adoption of electric mobility in India and globally.”

Dr. Ali Emadi, Founder, President, and CEO of Enedym commented, “We are thrilled to announce this partnership with Sona Comstar. This collaboration will effectively bridge the gap between supplying next generation SRM motor technologies by Enedym, which require no rare earth metals, reduce cost significantly through advanced digitization, and achieve class leading performance, with a trusted and highly capable partner, Sona Comstar, to supply highly engineered automotive systems and components to OEMs. Electric three-wheelers are at the forefront of the vehicle electrification transition in India and, therefore, our combined efforts will have a significant impact both in terms of sustainability, efficiency, cost reduction, and performance improvements.”

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