Abstract This paper describes the development of the drive motor adopted on the newly developed 2013 Model Year (MY) electric vehicle (EV). Based on the 2011MY EV that was specifically designed and engineered for mass-production, the 2013MY powertrain integrates the electric motor, inverter and charging system into one unit in order to achieve downsizing and weight saving, unlike previous 2011 model which had these components segregated. In general, integration of all components into one unit causes deterioration of the noise and vibration performance of vehicles due to an increase in weight and the number of resonance parts. In order to overcome such problems associated with this integration, each component in the 2013 model has been optimized to reduce noise and vibration resulting in high degree of vehicle quietness. Since the electric motor is trigger for the noise and vibration in the vehicle, the electromagnetic field circuit of the electric motor has been reformed and redesigned thoroughly. As a result, the noise and vibration performance of the electric motor has been significantly improved. Furthermore, by optimizing the shape of the electric motor and adopting the new permanent magnet, both improvement of the motor torque performance and downsizing and weight saving of the motor were implemented. This new magnet not only improves the motor torque performance but also significantly reduces the Heavy rare earth (Dysprosium) usage in the electric motor by 40% or more. 1. Introduction NISSAN LEAF is the zero-emission car designed for the mass market. Since December 2010, Nissan sold total of 80,000 Leafs worldwide (as of September 2013), and Nissan has contributed to become widespread to zero emission vehicle.The NISSAN LEAF 11MY was included on Ward's ‘10 Best Engines’ list for 2011, even though the NISSAN LEAF has no engine. It was first electric powertrain (e-PT) winner in award's history. This e-PT has been improved in accordance with the updated and improved version of NISSAN LEAF 13 MY. This document describes mainly about improvement of the 13MY motor, including weight reduction, noise and vibration reduction, and technology adopted to reduce the amount of Heavy rare earth used in motor. 2. Electric Power Train Overview In the NISSAN LEAF 13MY, the vehicle weight is reduced, and the torque performance and a reducer are optimized. The driving distance of the improved version of NISSAN LEAF has been increased compare to the NISSAN LEAF 11MY without sacrificing the acceleration performance (Refer to Table.1 below). Table 1. Evolution from 11MY to 13MY The e-PT component of the NISSAN LEAF 13MY, such as the electric motor, inverter, and the charging system, are all integrated into one unit as shown in Figure 1 , and achieves great weight reduction. The Power Delivery Module (PDM) in Figure 1 is the combined unit and consists of the charger, DC/ DC Converter, and the Junction Box.Development of an Electric Motor for a Newly Developed Electric Vehicle2014-01-1879 Published 04/01/2014 Tohru Nakada, Shigeaki Ishikawa, and Shunji Oki Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. CITATION: Nakada, T., Ishikawa, S., and Oki, S., "Development of an Electric Motor for a Newly Developed Electric Vehicle," SAE Technical Paper 2014-01-1879, 2014, doi:10.4271/2014-01-1879. Copyright © 2014 SAE InternationalFigure 1. Improvement of e-PT (Integration 2-1. e-PT Weight Reduction The 30kg weight reduction of e-PT was not only achieved by the integration of electric units, it was also achieved by applying the design optimization to each component such as motor, inverter, and reducer. For this achievement, reconsideration in the respective design of each component of the 11MY specification was implemented ( Figure 2 ). The motor, the heaviest component in the e-PT and has approximately 40% of the total e-PT weight, implements drastic revision to its design and has the new design in order to reduce the motor