Donut Lab, a subsidiary of Finland-based Verge Motorcycles, claims to have a motor with the highest power density of any such unit in the world.
At CES 2025, Donut Lab announced it had achieved this feat with donut-shaped motors designed to be integrated with a vehicle’s wheels and tires. This adds unsprung mass, which can make tuning for ride and handling difficult, but Donut claims this is minimized by the light weight of its motors.
The company plans to offer a family of five motors for different designs, including a 21-inch-diameter automotive version that produces 844 hp and 3,171 pound-feet. However, it also weighs 88 pounds—still a lot of unsprung mass. For the same weight, Donut Lab also has a 21-inch motor designed for semi trucks that produces 268 hp and 2,212 lb-ft.
Donut Lab electric motors
Moving down in size, a 17-inch motorcycle motor that weighs 46 pounds produces a claimed 201 hp and 885 lb-ft. There’s also a 12-inch, 17-pound scooter motor rated at 20 hp and 221 lb-ft. Donut Lab even has a 4.7-inch motor designed for drones that generates 4 hp and 14 lb-ft.
By extracting more power from a smaller package, Donut Lab believes it can lower the cost of manufacturing electric vehicles by using less material. To make that easier, it’s offering these motors as part of a complete platform including battery packs, control units, and software—although it hasn’t confirmed how these motors stand with respect to efficiency.
In-wheel motors are not new. Porsche recently reminded us that it’s been working on them for a long time—over a century, in fact. Even Ferrari has considered a type of in-wheel motors.
Donut Lab electric motors
But attempts to commercialize in-wheel motors have been mixed. They’re currently used in at least one Chinese-market sedan, but startups Lightyear and Lordstown Motors stalled before getting them into U.S.-market production vehicles. That leaves Aptera, which had initially seen in-wheel motors as an efficiency play for its electric 3-wheeler.
When it comes to conventional motors, Lucid has the lightest in a production EV, at about 68 pounds each. That automaker’s core propulsion technology is set to be used in future Aston Martin EVs.