# [TECH] Electric Motors & Power Electronics

**Electric Motors** convert electrical energy into mechanical motion; **Power Electronics** (inverters, converters, variable-frequency drives) control that conversion with high efficiency. Together they form the primary drivetrain technology of electric vehicles, industrial automation, and HVAC.

## Overview

Michael Faraday demonstrated the first electric motor (1821) using the force between a current-carrying wire and a magnet. Boris Jacobi built the first practical DC motor (1834). Nikola Tesla's AC induction motor (1888) and Westinghouse's polyphase AC system made variable-speed electric drives universal in industry.

Modern power electronics — thyristors (1957), MOSFETs (1960s), IGBTs (1980s), SiC and GaN devices (2000s–2010s) — allow variable-frequency drives that control motor speed and torque with >97% efficiency. An EV powertrain uses a permanent-magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) or AC induction motor driven by a three-phase SiC inverter — the combination achieving 300+ km range from a 60–100 kWh battery pack.

Electric motors currently drive ~45% of global electricity consumption; virtually all mechanical actuation in manufacturing, transport, and buildings uses them.

## Key Actors

- **Companies**: Siemens (motors, 1847), ABB (drives, 1988), Tesla (EV motors, 2003), Bosch, Denso, Nidec, Rockwell Automation
- **Inventors**: Michael Faraday (1791–1867), Nikola Tesla (1856–1943), Boris Jacobi (1801–1874)

## Key Patents

- Tesla, N. US Patent 381,968 (1888) — AC induction motor
- Nakamura, J. (GE) US Patent 4,364,046 (1982) — IGBT (insulated-gate bipolar transistor)

## Economic Value

Global electric motor market: USD 120 billion/year (2023, Allied Market Research). Variable-frequency drives: USD 25 billion/year. EV motors and inverters: USD 40 billion/year (growing to USD 200+ billion by 2030). Motors enable industrial production worth more than USD 20 trillion/year globally.

## Notes

IEA estimates electric motors account for 45% of global electricity consumption. Allied Market Research Electric Motor Market Report 2023. EV motor market from BloombergNEF EV Outlook 2023.

## What This Enables

- **[TECH] Electric Vehicles (EVs)** — PMSM or AC induction motors, controlled by semiconductor inverters, are the propulsion technology replacing the ICE.

## Discovery Character
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**Surprise level**: Moderate — Faraday's 1821 electromagnetic rotation demonstration — that a current-carrying wire rotates continuously around a magnet — was a surprising consequence of Oersted's 1820 discovery of magnetic effects of current. The subsequent development into powerful industrial motors was more engineering than surprise.
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**Mode**: Systematic-experimental into Edisonian engineering. Faraday's discovery was systematic follow-up of Oersted. Tesla's polyphase AC motor (1888) was a conceptual breakthrough (the rotating magnetic field), reportedly visualised in a flash of inspiration while reciting Goethe's Faust in a Budapest park. Modern power electronics (IGBT, SiC) enabling high-efficiency drives were systematic semiconductor engineering, each generation improving on the last.
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# Parents

* [SCI] Classical Electromagnetism
* [SCI] Classical Electromagnetism
* [SCI] Semiconductor Physics