HANGZHOU, June 6 (Xinhua) -- China has made a new breakthrough in high-performance axial flux motors, injecting fresh momentum into the country's booming electric drive industry.

Leveraging independently developed high-performance materials, this new generation of electric motor, featuring a more compact size, lighter weight, and higher energy efficiency, has entered mass production and applications, according to its developer.

This new-generation axial flux motor is jointly developed by the high-tech enterprise PanGood Power and the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (NIMTE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

In Lanxi City, east China's Zhejiang Province, electric-drive buses are shuttling through the streets. Unlike conventional buses, they have a completely flat interior with no steps, making it much easier for seniors and strollers to board and alight.

The "secret" lies in their motors. Thanks to the flat structure of axial flux motors, the power systems are integrated into the wheel sides, significantly saving interior space and enabling a flat passenger floor.

"An 8-meter bus body can now achieve the passenger capacity of a conventional 10-meter bus, with overall vehicle weight reduced and range extended," said Han Jun, founder of PanGood Power.

Constrained by the radial structural design, the volume and weight of conventional radial flux motors have limited further motor performance gains.

Axial flux motors can leverage their flat structure to achieve around a 50 percent reduction in both volume and weight at equivalent power output, according to Han.

The new design can free up more battery layout space and extend the range for new energy vehicles. Moreover, axial flux motors enable humanoid robots to have more compact and powerful joints, power low-altitude aircraft with a better thrust-to-weight ratio, and deliver significant energy savings in diverse fields, such as industrial fans, pumps, and other equipment.

This breakthrough stems from a convergence of innovation and industry.

"Since the launch of its research and development, we have fully studied the demands of application scenarios to carry out this customized development," said Ding Guangfei, a senior engineer at the NIMTE.

Ding said that to meet market and manufacturing demands, the NIMTE research team developed specialized magnetic steel that remains stable under high temperatures, high speeds, and heavy loads, along with a set of mass-production processes.

Currently, the axial flux motor sector is at a critical stage, transitioning from small-batch production to large-scale manufacturing, as major global players gear up to ramp up mass production of related products.

Amid surging tech-innovation trends in China and globally, the axial flux motor sector is poised to benefit electric-drive sectors by offering space efficiency, power density and energy conservation.

Thanks to continuous innovation and a wide range of application scenarios, China's electric drive industry is advancing steadily. To date, PanGood Power has introduced axial-flux motors in diverse applications, including new-energy commercial vehicles, agricultural machinery, and robotics, according to the company.