Guest Blog: How funding, collaboration and expertise has fuelled YASA's journey from spinout to transformation driver 

On May 13, 2025 YASA, the pioneer in the design, development and supply of ultra-high-performance electric motors, opened its fully upgraded manufacturing facility in Yarnton, near Oxford. The £12m private investment boosts YASA’s manufacturing capacity, setting new benchmarks in e-motor technology and quality, and enabling production to scale beyond 25,000 units per year.

YASA’s longstanding relationship with the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC) helped enable the original development of its Yarnton facility. 

YASA’s relationship with APC began in 2015 with a collaborative R&D project with McLaren Automotive, and hofer. Project Bowscale was formed to provide the UK with capability for the design and manufacture of advanced hybrid transmissions, complementing the next generation of low carbon vehicles.

As a spinout from Oxford University in 2009, YASA believed that small, powerful electric motors would play an increasingly important role in sustainable transportation. This first APC project created confidence for YASA to take a lease on a 48,000sqft facility and subsequently raised ~£30m of private investment to start addressing the requirements of global sports car customers looking to hybridise their vehicles. The Bowscale project also led to hofer having the confidence to invest further in the UK, constructing a manufacturing facility and employing the relevant skills.

The project having been successfully industrialised led to a number of performance car production contracts such as the Ferrari SF90 Stradale, Ferrari 296 GTB, Lamborghini Revuelto and Temerario, all of which use derivatives of the Bowscale technology. 

In 2019 YASA joined Lotus Cars Ltd and Coventry University on project EV-LIFT which would develop a best-in-class electrical drive unit (EDU) for next-generation battery electric vehicles (BEVs). The project focussed on developed advanced YASA motor technology, SiC inverter, and gearbox technology, enabling significant light-weighting and efficiency improvements BEVs

Working with Mercedes-AMG three different motor types have been industrialised for use in the recently announced AMG.EA architecture. 

In parallel to the EV-LIFT project, YASA engaged with the ATF feasibility study in 2020 to build a business case to scale the technology. In 2021, the technology was seen of such strategic importance that the company was purchased by Mercedes-Benz. 

To meet the Mercedes production volumes YASA needed to establish a high-volume production pilot line in a new production facility. A £20m capital injection was made to enable the build of A/B &C samples for the Mercedes project which were built in the YASA new Bicester facility, demonstrating high volume processes and techniques to scale the technology to hundreds of thousands of units pa.  

YASA are currently involved in collaborative R&D projects Additive, and Re-Gen. 

Creating an innovative combined electric propulsion and handling system, which aims to revolutionise existing EV architectures, project Additive combines YASA's axial-flux e-motor technology with Domin's active suspension. Working with Cranfield University, the consortium was formed in 2023 to create an innovative propulsion technology which targets in wheel-motors for the performance and luxury sectors. The project is focused on improving powertrain topology and performance for EVs, by making them lighter and more efficient, with improved driving dynamics, and ultimately reducing cost. 

But it doesn’t end there. Launched in 2024 in partnership with Horiba Mira Ltd and Cambridge GaN Devices Ltd, YASA joined project Re-Gen which aims to enable a step-change in EV architecture through the development of a high-frequency, high-voltage dual inverter with a pioneering dual-redundant braking system. The technology will help to realise significant weight and cost savings whilst increasing regenerative braking potential in battery electric vehicles (BEVs).  This project addresses market demands for improved BEV performance and efficiency, whilst also creating a validated safety case for novel inverter technology.  

YASA are at the cutting edge of paradigm shift in vehicle topology made possible by the switch to EV powertrains.  Their development work on class leading power density for potential in wheel-motors enable a step change in vehicle performance and chassis control, combined with new possibilities in vehicle packaging.  By liberating space once occupied by conventional ICE systems and subsystems in wheel-motor technology will create more customer level utility, be that cabin space for the occupant, reduced vehicle cross section, with associated improvements in aerodynamic efficiency which equates to greater range, or reduced battery size, increased load capacity or a combination of all four.

YASA continues to work closely with the APC on future generations and applications of axial flux technology, ensuring that cutting-edge electric motor innovation remains rooted in the UK for years to come.