Milton Keynes firm Integral Powertrain leads world in electric motor revolution

A Milton Keynes company is leading the charge in the electric motor revolution.
Supercar superstarsSupercar superstars
Supercar superstars

Integral Powertrain designs and builds world class alternative propulsion systems for clients such as Aston Martin, Triumph motorcycles and a record-breaking Volkswagen race car.

The company’s power dense electric motors and inverters are in big demand as automotive, aerospace and marine manufacturers race to develop new ways of powering the cars, boats and planes of the future.

With the polluting internal combustion engine’s days clearly numbered, Integral Powertrain is positioning itself to take advantage of the huge upheaval ahead.

From left, Integral Powertrain chief technical officer Andrew Cross, chief operating officer Alan Cherrington, Mayor of Milton Keynes councillor
Sam Crooks and Integral Powertrain chief commercial officer Neil TyagiFrom left, Integral Powertrain chief technical officer Andrew Cross, chief operating officer Alan Cherrington, Mayor of Milton Keynes councillor
Sam Crooks and Integral Powertrain chief commercial officer Neil Tyagi
From left, Integral Powertrain chief technical officer Andrew Cross, chief operating officer Alan Cherrington, Mayor of Milton Keynes councillor Sam Crooks and Integral Powertrain chief commercial officer Neil Tyagi

It has just begun work on a state-of-the-art technical centre at Shenley Wood with three times the floor area of its existing premises in Bletchley.

After watching new Milton Keynes mayor councillor Sam Crooks officiate at the ground-breaking ceremony for the 47,000 sq ft first phase, director John McLean said: “This represents a major milestone for Integral Powertrain.

“The new site will be used to house our growing teams, provide new conference areas, much greater stores and build capacity, a larger e-Drive test centre, new materials and research and development facilities and larger machining and fabrication areas.

“It will allow most of our engineering and support teams to be on one site, bringing efficiency that will enable us to develop innovative products to meet growing customer demand.”

The record-breaking, multiple award winning company has three divisions - e-Drive, Integral Powertrain and Integral e-Hub - employing 175 people at its Milton Keynes engineering and emissions centres.

The global engineering enterprise began life 20 years ago and has since been continuously developing next generation technologies as part of the move towards a more sustainable way of powering vehicles.

Its engineers create innovative, complex and market leading power-train and e-Drive solutions for a wide range of applications in motorsport, passenger and off-highway vehicles, as well as aerospace, marine and industrial equipment.

Integral Powertrain’s chief commercial officer Neil Tyagi said: “During the last four years we have achieved remarkable success as a company and this move, coupled with our ambitious growth plans, will generate further work in the area and offers our loyal and dedicated staff security.

“It is a very exciting move for the company and it is very important that we re-invest some of that success back into our infrastructure for future growth.”

Maintaining the company’s position at the leading edge of its industry requires continuous investment in research and development and world class facilities.

Extending the boundaries of what is possible with electric machines is the key to its future success.

New Triumph in innovation

Integral Powertrain will develop a new way of powering Britain’s legendary Triumph motorbikes in a unique collaboration project.

The company is joining experts from Williams Advanced Engineering, the University of Warwick and Innovate UK in a two-year scheme focused on developing technical innovation.

Triumph Motorcycles will lead the project, while Integral Powertrain’s e-Drive division will design bespoke electric motors and inverter integrated into a single housing.

Andrew Cross, Integral Powertrain’s chief technical officer, said: “This project will draw upon the extensive motor and EV gained over the past 20 years.

“We are extremely pleased to be supporting Triumph Motorcycles with their future electrification strategy and in a project where we can apply our experience to engineer an extremely power dense, efficient and highly integrated motorcycle electric drive.”

David Greenwood, professor of advanced propulsion systems at the University of Warwick, said: “Electric motorcycles will have a vital role to play in future transport across the globe, delivering reduced congestion and improved urban air quality as well as easing parking.

“They will also be great to ride, with copious, easily controlled torque delivered smoothly at all road speeds."