During his studies, Gorazd Lampic met Andrej Detela who was actively pursuing innovation in electro-magnetism and several innovations.
“His work on in-wheel motor technology and general holistic approach with the motivation to deliver solutions for the good of humanity inspired me to join him and put all my energy and knowledge into this topic. I soon realized, that beside technical challenges also and entrepreneurial approach will be beneficial. ” shares Mr. Lampic, CEO of Elaphe.
Together, Gorazd and Andrej came up with improved in-wheel motor design as well as analytical and numerical simulations, which led to several motor and vehicle prototypes and foundation of Elaphe Propulsion Technologiesin 2016.
“We started alone with Andrej and a few external collaborators, and, gradually, the remaining team members joined. Today, the team is close to 100 people, but we still need to grow since there are many challenges ahead.”
What Problems Does Elaphe Propulsion Technologies Solve?
The Elaphe innovation and technology DNA, a building block of their in-wheel propulsion platforms, allows for the highest specific torques in the world making in-wheel motors powerful, light and compact enough to be placed inside wheels of any vehicle. .
This, in turn, “allows us to have a light-weight, spacious vehicle, with ample room for the vehicle users or for cargo, batteries, etc,” explains Gorazd Lampic.
That’s not all, though. The innovative solutions of Elaphe let them save a lot on weight, as well as improve certain driving characteristics of the vehicle.
For example, the entire traction system is completely inside the wheels, wrapped around a standard vehicle braking system, using no gears, transmissions or any mechanical energy transfer systems.
This makes the vehicle very agile, with excellent breaking performance, while still being able to accommodate the whims of engineers and designers.
Client Stories, Biggest Achievements, and Future Aspirations
Most of the cooperation Elaphe has with global automotive players is confidential, but from the EU research projects we can see the publicly available information about their cooperation with major OEMs and Tier 1s, such as AVL, Audi, Brembo, Continental, Groupe PSA, JAC, Infineon, IVECO, VOLVO CE, Tenneco, and others.
One of the company’s core achievements is the compact electromagnetic topology, enabling the already mentioned high specific torque.
“To demonstrate performance and the capability of the technology, we prepared Elaphe’s R8 sports car mule to accelerate from 0-100km/h in under 3.3 seconds – a world record for an in-wheel powered vehicle,” proudly shares Mr. Lampic.
Today, Elaphe is on a good track to start the mass production of in-wheel powered EV’s and in the next couple years to become a synonym for electric cars with in-wheel motors.
Connection with TechTour
“We see TechTour as a community that brings us closer to the world-class innovation and partnership circle. It enables us to address new challenges to the community and to demonstrate our impact.
Entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and investors, all working on one collaborative platform, sharing the connections, inspiration, and strategies. This is needed to foster innovation.
I appreciate that and would like to thank William Stevens especially for the long-lasting cooperation and support!” concludes Gorazd Lampic.
