NEWS n 5 Yasa’s £12m UK axial-flux motor factory is ‘world’s most advanced’ THE UK AXIAL-FLUX motor developer, Yasa, has opened a £12m manufacturing facility in Yarnton, near Oxford, with the capacity to produce more than 25,000 of its high-efficiency motors every year. The company claims that the 5,574m2 factory is the world’s most advanced axial-flux electric motor manufacturing facility. The operation brings all of Yasa’s production processes under one roof. It also creates a seamless manufacturing ecosystem, with enhanced automation and highly efficient production lines. The facility incorporates cutting-edge technologies including four coil and bar manufacturing cells with state-of-the-art CNC coil winding, assembly and impregnation processes. Other processes performed at the site include: automated laser stripping and brazing; high-accuracy rotor balancing; laser-based stator welding; quality control; and dimensional, electrical and leak testing. Yasa says the plant will enhance its ability to create complete motor sets while improving repeatability and reliability and introducing greater flexibility by overcoming bottlenecks in the component supply chain. “With a multi-million-pound investment into our Yarnton facility, we have transformed our manufacturing capability and significantly accelerated our production capacity,” says Yasa’s founder and chief technology officer, Tim Woolmer. “This latest initiative will enable us to apply our technology with even greater accuracy, pace and scale. “Combined with Yasa’s position as part of the Mercedes-Benz Group, the factory transformation consolidates Yasa’s role as a global leader in developing high-performance, high-efficiency axial-flux e-motors. “As a company, we have come a long way since our humble origin as an Oxford University start-up,” www.drivesncontrols.com June 2025 Woolmer adds. “However, we are still driven by the same passion, spirit and determination to create the world’s most advanced electric mobility technology solutions.” Yasa was acquired by Mercedes-Benz in 2021. Mercedes is also producing Yasa-designed axial-flux motors in Berlin and is expected to start using them in some of its high-performance cars soon. The axial-flux motors are said to deliver up to four times better performance than the radial-flux motors currently used in most vehicles. The compact motors produce high levels of torque and power, and can be used in pure electric or hybrid vehicles. “Each of the numerous technical manufacturing advances we have implemented during the factory transformation consolidates Yasa’s ability to outpace and outperform all existing radial flux technology by delivering more compact, lightweight electric propulsion systems,” says the company’s commercial director, Andy North. “Yasa is now better placed to meet the needs of our OEM customers, such as Ferrari and Lamborghini, and new customers on a global scale than ever before.” The high-tech expansion at Yarnton has been funded privately. Yasa is continuing to work closely with the UK’s Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC), which helped with to develop its original facility, and will collaborate with the APC on future generations of its axial-flux technology, ensuring that cutting-edge motor innovation remains in the UK for years to come. Yasa’s new facility has the capacity to produce more than 25,000 axial-flux motors every year “Yasa is now better placed to meet the needs of our OEM customers, such as Ferrari and Lamborghini, and new customers on a global scale than ever before” THE LOGISTICS GIANT DHL has agreed to buy more than 1,000 of Boston Dynamics’ Stretch box-handling robots for use in its facilities around the world. The companies have signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding under which DHL will also take an active role in shaping, directing and testing robotics developments at BD. DHL has been using Strech robots in North America since 2023, and more recently in the UK and Europe. The robots have achieved unloading rates of up to 700 cases per hour and reduced the need for demanding work in trailers and containers. Looking ahead, DHL plans to use the robots for case-picking – its most labourintensive activity – thus extending the use of the wheeled Stretch robots beyond container loading and unloading . Boston Dynamics and DHL plan to jointly develop, test, and scale technologies for real-time operations. They have already developed end-to-end automation systems that integrate conveyors and palletisers, and demonstrated this in a project in the UK. Over the past three years, DHL has invested more than €1bn in automation for its contract logistics division. Globally, it now uses more than 7,500 robots, more than 200,000 smart handheld devices, and almost 800,000 IoT sensors to optimise its operations and enhance working conditions for its employees. DHL plans to buy more than 1,000 box-handling robots
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