Category: Blogs

In a great way to finish the year AEM has closed out its series A investment, round bringing in almost 60% more funding than we originally planned. This means we can accelerate our growth plans even further in 2020! 

Please see the press release below for details – and have a great Christmas!

AEM complete milestone funding round to bring fundraising to over £5m in 2019

North East company, Advanced Electric Machines (AEM) has completed a Series A funding round for £1.9m, to close out a successful year with over £5m of funds being secured. 

Since forming in March 2017 AEM, a spin-out from Newcastle University which designs and manufactures electric motors and drive technologies for the transport sector, has achieved milestones including:

– Winning collaborative research and development projects worth over £16m (receiving over £4.5m of grants and loans directly), starting product development programmes with over 25 organisations including Bentley Motors and CNH International

– Moving to a new 1200m2 facility in Washington capable of building 50,000 motor p.a. and achieving ISO9001 for design and manufacturing processes, driving growth of the team to 17 people 

Recognised by the Engineer Magazine as a leading innovator, having been awarded both the automotive and overall cross-sector ‘Collaborate to Innovate’ awards for their HDSRM product, AEM  has already received their first large commercial order and is now working on opportunities across four continents and six different sectors including automotive, aerospace, marine and energy. 

The funding round, led by Northstar Ventures which has invested £750,000 from the North East Innovation Fund, supported by the European Regional Development Fund and managed by Northstar Ventures, will support the next phase of growth. 

Prof. James Widmer, CEO, said “This latest investment raised almost 60% additional capital above the original target, it will allow AEM to invest in our design and manufacturing capability more quickly than we expected. We are grateful to Northstar, Saker Capital, Tevva and the many small investors who are now supporting us in our vision of manufacturing the most sustainable electric motor technologies on the planet here in the UK.” 

Alex Buchan, Investment Manager at Northstar Ventures, said “Electrification is a key enabler for many sectors and we have real strength in the technologies that will drive it here in the region. We are pleased to be able to support one of the UK’s rising stars in electric motor design and manufacture and help them create jobs in the North East.”.

ENDS

Editor’s notes:

Advanced Electric Machines Group

Advanced Electric Machines Group Ltd. (AEMG) is a motor design and manufacturing business with a focus on magnet free motor designs. Current facilities based in Washington support low/medium volume production (up to 10,000’s per customer) which AEMG will supply to customers individually or with power electronics and transmissions as a complete ‘drive’ system. AEMG is currently focused on the development and production of three motor designs, HDSRM (for commercial vehicle and off-highway applications), SSRD (for passenger car applications) and HEAD (for aerospace applications) and the commercialisation of unique manufacturing IP for the production of motor laminations, wound coils and high performance gears. Focused on working with UK Supply Chain partners AEMG was one of the lead authors of ‘Driving the Electric Revolution’ a recently created £80m government fund to support innovation in the Power Electronics, Machines and Drives (PEMD) sector.

Northstar Ventures Limited 

Northstar Ventures is a venture capital and social investment firm based in the North East. We provide funding for innovative, scalable businesses and high impact social enterprises. We’ve been supporting entrepreneurs since 2004, seeking out strong teams with great ideas that will drive high growth, scalable businesses, and sustainable charities. As the North East’s leading early stage investor, we have invested over £100m into start-ups, early stage businesses and high impact social enterprises in the region. Our investment managers have a wealth of experience supporting new and growing businesses and bring commercial and operational experience, PhDs and MBAs, international careers and a micro-business or two. 

Information About The North East Fund

The North East Fund is a suite five venture capital and loan funds which was established in April 2018, to invest £120m in around 600 North East businesses in the period to March 2023. The fund managers provide business development advice and investment finance to small and medium sized enterprises based in the seven Local Authority areas of North East England: Northumberland, North Tyneside, Newcastle, South Tyneside, Gateshead Sunderland and County Durham. The programme encourages investment in and the commercialisation of new technologies, including low carbon technologies, as well as stimulating new business creation, private investment and entrepreneurialism in the North East, with a view to creating over 2,500 new jobs. The North East Fund has overall responsibility for the programme, which is delivered through five separate funds, each managed by independent, FCA regulated fund managers. Details of these, and up to date information on the progress of the programme, is available on The North East Fund’s website: www.northeastfund.org

The North East Fund has been established with funding from the North East of England European Regional Development Fund programme, the European Investment Bank and from returns on previous North East based, publicly supported investment funds. It is jointly owned by the seven North East local authorities

Information About the European Regional Development Fund

The North East Fund will receive up to £58,500,000 of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government is the Managing Authority for European Regional Development Fund. Established by the European Union, the European Regional Development Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/european-growth-funding.

Information About the European Investment Bank

The European Investment Bank (EIB) will lend up to £60,000,000 to the North East Fund programme. The European Investment Bank is the long-term lending institution of the European Union owned by its Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals. For more information, visit: http://www.eib.org/about/index.htm

Last Night James and Andy were down in London with some partners collecting two awards from the Engineer Magazine for the successful launch of our HDSRM product. We won both the Automotive and the overall ‘Grand Prix’ Awards at the ‘Collaborate to Innovate’ (C2I) event for the story of how HDSRM moved from a University concept to a fully commercial product. 

The video below helps tell the story in our own

 words.

In competition with industry giants such as BAE Systems, McLaren Automotive, Airbus, Rolls Royce and leading Universities including Oxford, Cambridge, Warwick, Nottingham, Manchester and Bristol, AEM was chosen because of the huge promise it shows for the sector. 

We are very proud of our collaborations and HDSRM would not have happened without the support of Newcastle University, Tevva Motors, Motor Design Limited and Innovate UK, so a big well done and thanks to them too!

New press coverage from the LA Times showing the impact of the increased use of Rare Earths in Electric Vehicles and other applications – this is why it is AEM’s mission to design these materials out of our traction motors.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/spotlight/the-hidden-costs-of-chinas-rare-earth-trade/ar-AAF3GjN?ocid=spartanntp

Although We’ve been quiet for a while it doesn’t mean things haven’t been busy at AEM. Today the results have been announced for the Innovate UK IDP15 grant funding competition and the group is pleased to announce we’re playing a leading role in 4 of the successful projects!

The projects support both our HDSRM and SSRD technologies and bring us a further significant boost towards developing our next generation of designs. 

We’ll tell you more about each project in the next few weeks but in the meantime here’s a link to the full list of winners – congratulations to all of those innovators who’ve been successful this time

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/801829/idp-15-winners.pdf

Future Powertrain Conference 2019 was the first time that both AEM and AEMR have exhibited at a UK low carbon vehicle event. 

A little under 12 months after AEMR was formed we were able to show the work we have been doing with key end user customers in developing our new motor concepts into technologies which meet both the performance characteristics and package demands of future vehicles. We were also able to show the latest version of our current HDSRM product ready to be produced in volume in our new facility in Washington.   

Always a go to date on the UK calendar FPC generated lots of interest from the stand with over 40 new contacts and enquiries looking to work with us gong forward. 

It was noticeable that there was a focus on the broader sustainability challenge that we still face as electrification gathers momentum with a great paper from the Mahle Powertrain team highlighting the particular impact energy generation methods may have on CO2 emissions during both the manufacturing and in-use phase of an electric vehicle. The UK was currently very much middle of the pack where Europe was concerned, beating both Germany and Eastern European countries but still with work to do to rival France and Sweden. 

Sustainability remains a key driver for us as we continue to shape our future technologies, we believe our magnet free solutions continue to offer a cleaner route to traction with no compromise in performance… 

We’re currently working through the contacts we made and hope to follow up with everyone soon but please feel free to let us know if you need us to get back to you quickly

This week AEM has completed it’s move to our new Washington premises. This new 1000m^2 building, with 1200m^2 of external land allowing future expansion, will give us the space to support our growing customer base. The hard work has now started to commission our new manufacturing facility, allowing production of up to 12,000 HDSRM traction motors per year.

Another milestone achieved – our first transmission suitable for 14 tonne commercial vehicles has now been completed and is ready to go on test.

In the second of the blogs from our interns we turn to Paige. 

Paige has just completed her BSc in Geography / Environmental Science, and with results due any day (good luck Paige!!), has spent part of her first couple of weeks travelling with us to see how suppliers in Europe are starting to respond to the challenge of electrification. 

Here are her thoughts on that, and the role AEM may play in helping bring all that together… over to you Paige!

‘Whilst I have long had a fascination about the sheer scale and prominence of the automotive industry, it was through my final year research project on Daimler AG and their collaborative approach towards low-carbon vehicles that I came to comprehend the true extent and influence of this industry. Having witnessed the success of Daimler’s open and cooperative qualities I want to help to transfer these into UK-based firms, and Advanced Electric Machines Ltd. seems the perfect place to start!

From my first day AEM’s passion and drive for change is evident in every conversation – it is so energising to see a small start-up thinking on such a large scale, and I am excited to join the team at a pivotal moment in their journey towards revolutionising the electrification of vehicles. Their tenacious ambition for bringing magnet-free motors to market perfectly exemplifies the versatility of the industry to consider the whole picture in the pursuit for global sustainability. 

Despite only having been here two weeks I have already learned so much about the inner workings of the industry, and everyday I am a part of the conversation at AEM as they work tirelessly to create a motor far beyond what everyone else is doing. 

Just now as I write this blog they have come across a small hiccup in the manufacturing process, and yet without skipping a beat they have discussed improvements, communicated with suppliers and moved to make the changes needed to deliver a quality solution. Observing this will for change through such a collaborative approach is so inspiring and I am definitely looking forward to spreading AEM’s determination and success to the wider industry.

Last week I had the privilege of attending the CWIEME exhibition in Berlin.

Showcasing over 750 potential suppliers from across the world and specialising in coil winding and lamination production, CWIEME is one of the biggest electric motor supply chain events in the world – attracting more than 6,700 visitors in 2017 with this year predicted to have been much bigger. 

Although the usual flight delays had me running across airports I thoroughly enjoyed seeing first-hand the interactions between key industry figures as they work towards a new era of electrification. I attended the EV Momentum conference new to CWIEME this year to hear a charged discussion about the sustainability of the e-mobility supply chain itself and the reliance on certain raw materials. It really opened my eyes to the scale and scope of the industry’s global production network, and in turn the magnitude of the sustainability challenge we are facing.

After speaking to a host of prospective suppliers in everything from electrical steel to ball bearings I was able to sit in on a meeting between Mike W, representing the North East Automotive Alliance, the event organisers and CWIEME’s managing director. The conversation that ensued focused on how to build the UK e-mobility supply chain, which has never been more critical with Brexit looming, and how organisations can combine their efforts to present Britain as a serious competitor in the automotive market. It is fascinating to be a part of the discussion looking at the bigger picture and is something I strive to become more involved in – helping collaborations find solutions and opportunities beyond individual agendas.

That same evening, I went for dinner with four colleagues from different businesses, each holding very different positions within the automotive sector. Despite the different backgrounds, they shared the unanimous opinion that the shift towards sustainable solutions needs to pick up pace across the industry. It was also agreed that engaging with the public has never been more crucial to ensure these solutions are readily adopted and integrated into everyday life. I find it so important to engage with the debate on sustainability, and to see the passion these individuals have is both reassuring and encouraging as we endeavour to improve the industry’s involvement.

AEM demonstrate every day that change is not only possible but it is actually happening as they propel towards revolutionising the electric motor. It has already proven so fulfilling to be surrounded by such a supportive and inspiring team, and so I am looking forward to the coming weeks as we help spread the word to slowly but surely begin shifting towards a more sustainable industry.’

Thanks Paige – its been a great start from both you and Luiggi… we hope we’ll hear more from you both as the weeks progress… and maybe you can help teach the rest of the team to bring some of their thoughts to our website too! 

We recently brought in some new members of the team – Paige and Luiggi, as interns from Newcastle University. 

We are really pleased to support them in the next steps of their career and hope that their time at AEM will inspire them to become involved in Low Carbon Vehicle technologies in the long term. In order to make sure we get off to a good start we have asked them each to give us their first impressions of AEM and this piece is from Luiggi.

Originally from Peru, he is just about to complete his MSc in Automation and Control and will be working with us through until September… over to you Luiggi!

‘A week has passed since I joined the superb team of Advanced Electric Machines Ltd. And now, with a bunch of technical articles read and a warm cup of coffee at my side, I will share my first impressions. 

On my first day I was bombarded with information and was introduced to the company’s great plans for implementing cutting edge drives and motor technologies, however the strongest qualities of AEM come from another angle. From the moment I came through the door I was received with great Friendliness, everyone is willing to help and move this project forward. Feeling welcome really motivates me to give my best and not disappoint the team. 

Another thing that I liked was their willingness to take action. For example, currently we are assembling a new test rack for the motors and everyone got involved by helping and sharing ideas on how to build it in the best way possible. I admire this Hands-on approach to problems and I hope to soon catch on with everyone’s rhythm. Things are moving fast and everyone is involved in their respective tasks, I can tell by the way they work and communicate between them that Smartness is a common quality on the team. All of these are signs that this is the right place for me. 

I defined my objectives since day one and, now that I am settled in position, I will move towards them at maximum speed. Although I had some background on electric motors, I believe this company is the perfect place to really understand them from a design, manufacturing process, and control (my favourite part) perspective. So, my first objective is Learning as much as I can by observing and asking questions, just in this one week I learned so much and I can tell there is much more to discover through my time here. 

Once I get my head around the key concepts of our motor I will start delivering this information in understandable chunks for blogs and social media platforms.Communicating is the main purpose of the internship and I plan to deliver high quality content that reflects the high quality of our products and manufacturing processes. 

Finally, I want to put all the acquired knowledge to use and that is why my personal main goal is to Help. I hope to be useful in every activity in which I will be involved and leave a good precedent for future interns from Newcastle University. 

AEM Ltd. is a small company in size, but full of energy and with a vision way bigger than anything I have heard before. Yes, it is all about technology and manufacturing the motor of the future, but is also about responsibility to the costumers, the country and the environment.’

We’re proud to announce that the first motor has rolled off our new production line in Blaydon – the first of up to 3000 a year in the not too distant future!