Meet the 4000kW electric car made in Australia

Australian eMachine-builder HyperPower has commenced production of its "QFM-360-X" – an electric motor that the company claims to be the world's first MegaWatt "extreme-duty" unit.

Despite its diminutive 43-centimetre width, one single QFM-360-X can produce up to one MegaWatt – or 1000kW.

HyperPower says the QFM-360-X's design has been future-proofed to cater for other non-automotive scenarios, such as light rail and certain high speed rail applications where reliability and serviceability are critical.

Also factored into the QFM-360-X's suitability as a multi-use motor is an extra-low-voltage drive system, which makes the unit ‘non-lethal’ from a safety hazard perspective.

“This motor is the culmination of my career’s effort and a notable milestone for our team to now have the X-series prototype in production, with volume assembly running in parallel,"HyperPower founder and managing director Michael Fragomeni said.

“[This is] our planet’s first brutally race-specific electric motor, and we’ve innovated many novel technical attributes to achieve such”.

The QFM-360-X can be run as an individual unit or stacked with others by way of a scalable common-shaft array. This means up to ten motors can be connected to produce a total of 10,000kW.

Top EV Racing – also owned by Fragomeni – have recently placed four new-minted QFM-360-X motors into a drag-car chassis. The dragster supposedly produces a maximum power output of 4000kW and records the dash from zero to 200km/h in 0.8 seconds, reaching 400km/h in 2.9 seconds and 530km/h in just 3.7 seconds.

The team aims to take out eight world records with the vehicle, including a land speed record of 612km/h.

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